< Genesis 12 >
1 Now the LORD had said to Abram, Depart from thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, to a land that I will show thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken to him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed from Haran.
5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went to go forth into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.
6 And Abram passed through the land to the place of Sichem, to the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.
7 And the LORD appeared to Abram, and said, To thy seed will I give this land: and there he built an altar to the LORD, who appeared to him.
8 And he departed from there to a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east: and there he built an altar to the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.
9 And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.
10 And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to dwell there; for the famine was grievous in the land.
11 And it came to pass, when he had come near to enter into Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon:
12 Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive.
13 Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.
14 And it came to pass, that, when Abram had come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair.
15 The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.
16 And he treated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and male donkeys, and male and female servants, and female donkeys, and camels.
17 And the LORD afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife.
18 And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What is this that thou hast done to me? why didst thou not tell me that she is thy wife?
19 Why saidst thou, She is my sister? so I might have taken her to me for a wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way.
20 And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.
