¹Now the LORD said to Abram, “Leave your country, and your relatives , and your father’s house , and go to the land that I will show you .

²I will make of you a great nation . I will bless you and make your name great . You will be a blessing .

³I will bless those who bless you , and I will curse him who treats you with contempt . All the families of the earth will be blessed through you .”

⁴So Abram went , as the LORD had told him . Lot went with him . Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran .

⁵Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother’s son , all their possessions that they had gathered , and the people whom they had acquired in Haran , and they went to go into the land of Canaan . They entered into the land of Canaan .

⁶Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem , to the oak of Moreh . At that time , Canaanites were in the land .

⁷The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring .”[#12:7 or, seed]

He built an altar there to the LORD , who had appeared to him .

⁸He left from there to go to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west , and Ai on the east . There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the LORD ’s name .[#12:8 or GOD in all caps is from the Hebrew יהוה Yahweh except when otherwise noted as being from the short form יה Yah.]

⁹Abram travelled, still going on towards the South .

¹⁰There was a famine in the land. Abram went down into Egypt to live as a foreigner there , for the famine was severe in the land.

¹¹When he had come near to enter Egypt , he said to Sarai his wife, “See now , I know that you are a beautiful woman to look at .

¹²It will happen that when the Egyptians see you , they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ They will kill me , but they will save you alive .

¹³Please say that you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake , and that my soul may live because of you .”

¹⁴When Abram had come into Egypt , some Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful .

¹⁵The princes of Pharaoh saw her , and praised her to Pharaoh ; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh ’s house .

¹⁶He dealt well with Abram for her sake . He had sheep , cattle , male donkeys , male servants , female servants , female donkeys , and camels .

¹⁷The LORD afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai , Abram’s wife.

¹⁸Pharaoh called Abram and said , “What is this that you have done to me ? Why didn’t you tell me that she was your wife?

¹⁹Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now therefore , see your wife, take her , and go your way .”

²⁰Pharaoh commanded men concerning him , and they escorted him away with his wife and all that he had .