Abram's Call
12 1 Now our Father said to Abram, "Go from your land, your relatives, and your father's house, to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and through you all the families of the earth will be blessed." a a v3 Paul calls this verse the gospel preached to Abraham in advance — every family on earth blessed through him, fulfilled in Jesus (Galatians 3:8).
4 So Abram went, as our Father had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. 5 Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had gathered, and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan. And they came to the land of Canaan. 6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
7 Then our Father appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So Abram built an altar there to our Father, who had appeared to him. b b v7 Paul reads "offspring" here as one descendant — Jesus — through whom the Abrahamic blessing reaches every nation (Galatians 3:16).
8 From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built an altar to our Father and called on the name of our Father. 9 Then Abram continued on his way, journeying toward the Negev.
Famine and the Road to Egypt
10 Now there was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while, because the famine was severe. 11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "I know what a beautiful woman you are. 12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me but let you live. 13 Please say that you are my sister, so that it will go well with me for your sake, and my life will be spared because of you."
14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 15 And when Pharaoh's officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's palace. 16 He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels. 17 But our Father struck Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. 18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram and said, "What is this you have done to me? Why didn't you tell me she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go."
20 Then Pharaoh gave his men orders concerning Abram, and they sent him on his way with his wife and everything he had.