Genesis 12
New American Standard Bible
Abram Journeys to Egypt
12 Now (A)the Lord said to Abram,
“Go from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you;
2 And (B)I will make you into a great nation,
And (C)I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And you shall (D)be a blessing;
3 And (E)I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who [a]curses you I will [b]curse.
(F)And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
4 So Abram went away as the Lord had spoken to him; and (G)Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot, and all their (H)possessions which they had accumulated, and (I)the [c]people which they had acquired in Haran, and they [d]set out for the land of Canaan; (J)so they came to the land of Canaan. 6 Abram passed through the land as far as the site of (K)Shechem, to the [e]oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanites were in the land at that time. 7 And the Lord (L)appeared to Abram and said, “(M)To your [f]descendants I will give this land.” So he built (N)an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. 8 Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent with (O)Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and (P)called upon the name of the Lord. 9 Then Abram journeyed on, continuing toward (Q)the [g]Negev.
10 Now there was (R)a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a time, because the famine was (S)severe in the land. 11 It came about, when he [h]was approaching Egypt, that he said to his wife Sarai, “See now, I know that you are a [i](T)beautiful woman; 12 (U)and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Please say that you are (V)my sister so that it may go well for me because of you, and that [j](W)I may live on account of you.” 14 Now it came about, when Abram entered Egypt, that the Egyptians [k]saw that the woman was very beautiful. 15 Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and (X)the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. 16 Therefore (Y)he treated Abram well for her sake; and [l](Z)he gave him sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
17 But the Lord (AA)struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 18 Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “(AB)What is this that you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for myself as a wife? Now then, [m]here is your wife, take her and go!” 20 And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they [n]escorted him away, with his wife and all that belonged to him.
Footnotes
- Genesis 12:3 Or reviles
- Genesis 12:3 Or bind under a curse
- Genesis 12:5 Lit souls
- Genesis 12:5 Lit went forth to go to
- Genesis 12:6 Or terebinth
- Genesis 12:7 Lit seed
- Genesis 12:9 I.e., South country
- Genesis 12:11 Lit came near to enter
- Genesis 12:11 Lit woman of beautiful appearance
- Genesis 12:13 Lit my soul
- Genesis 12:14 Lit saw the woman that she was
- Genesis 12:16 Lit there was to him
- Genesis 12:19 Or behold
- Genesis 12:20 Lit sent
Genesis 12
Living Bible
12 God had told Abram, “Leave your own country behind you, and your own people, and go to the land I will guide you to. 2 If you do, I will cause you to become the father of a great nation; I will bless you and make your name famous, and you will be a blessing to many others.[a] 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you; and the entire world will be blessed because of you.”[b]
4 So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed him, and Lot went too; Abram was seventy-five years old at that time. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all his wealth—the cattle and slaves he had gotten in Haran—and finally arrived in Canaan. 6 Traveling through Canaan, they came to a place near Shechem, and set up camp beside the oak at Moreh. (This area was inhabited by Canaanites at that time.)
7 Then Jehovah appeared to Abram and said, “I am going to give this land to your descendants.” And Abram built an altar there to commemorate Jehovah’s visit. 8 Afterwards Abram left that place and traveled southward[c] to the hilly country between Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he made camp, and made an altar to the Lord and prayed to him. 9 Thus he continued slowly southward to the Negeb, pausing frequently.
10 There was at that time a terrible famine in the land: and so Abram went on down to Egypt to live. 11-13 But as he was approaching the borders of Egypt, he asked Sarai his wife to tell everyone that she was his sister! “You are very beautiful,” he told her, “and when the Egyptians see you they will say, ‘This is his wife. Let’s kill him and then we can have her!’ But if you say you are my sister, then the Egyptians will treat me well because of you, and spare my life!” 14 And sure enough, when they arrived in Egypt everyone spoke of her beauty. 15 When the palace aides saw her, they praised her to their king, the Pharaoh, and she was taken into his harem.[d] 16 Then Pharaoh gave Abram many gifts because of her—sheep, oxen, donkeys, men and women slaves, and camels.
17 But the Lord sent a terrible plague upon Pharaoh’s household on account of her being there. 18 Then Pharaoh called Abram before him and accused him sharply. “What is this you have done to me?” he demanded. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? 19 Why were you willing to let me marry her, saying she was your sister? Here, take her and be gone!” 20 And Pharaoh sent them out of the country under armed escort—Abram, his wife, and all his household and possessions.
Footnotes
- Genesis 12:2 you will be a blessing to many others, or “I will make your name so famous that it will be used to pronounce blessings on others.”
- Genesis 12:3 the entire world will be blessed because of you, or “the nations will bless themselves because of you.”
- Genesis 12:8 traveled southward, implied.
- Genesis 12:15 into his harem, literally, “into the household of Pharaoh.”
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.