The call of Abram, and the promise made to him. He sojourns in Chanaan, and then by occasion of a famine, goes down to Egypt.

¹ Then the Lord said to Abram: “Depart from your land, and from your kindred, and from your father’s house, and come into the land that I will show you.

² And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and magnify your name, and you will be blessed.

³ I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

⁴ And so Abram departed just as the Lord had instructed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

⁵ And he took his wife Sarai, and Lot, the son of his brother, and all the substance which they had come to possess, and the lives which they had acquired in Haran, and they departed in order to go to the land of Canaan. And when they arrived in it,

⁶ Abram passed through the land even to the place of Shechem, as far as the famous steep valley. Now at that time, the Canaanite was in the land.

⁷ Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and he said to him, “To your offspring, I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

⁸ And passing on from there to a mountain, which was opposite the east of Bethel, he pitched his tent there, having Bethel to the west, and Hai on the east. He also built an altar there to the Lord, and he called upon his name.

⁹ And Abram traveled, going out and continuing further on, toward the south.

¹⁰ But a famine occurred in the land. And Abram descended to Egypt, to sojourn there. For famine prevailed over the land.¹

1. 12:10People went to Egypt during a famine. For famines were often caused by droughts. Israel and the surrounding regions have little rain even in a year of average rainfall. When there is a drought, they cannot grow crops without rain. And many of their smaller rivers or streams would dry up completely during a drought. But even during a severe drought, the river Nile never went dry. So Egypt could always grow food.(Conte)

¹¹ And when he was close to entering Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai: “I know you to be a beautiful woman.

¹² And when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘She is his wife.’ And they will put me to death, and retain you.

¹³ Therefore, I beg you to say that you are my sister, so that it may be well with me because of you, and so that my soul may live by your favor.”¹

1. 12:13My sister: This was no lie; because she was his niece, being daughter to his brother Aran, and therefore, in the style of the Hebrews, she might truly be called his sister, as Lot is called Abram’s brother, Gen. 14.14. See Gen. 20.12.(Challoner)

¹⁴ And so, when Abram had arrived in Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was exceedingly beautiful.

¹⁵ And the princes reported it to Pharaoh, and they praised her to him. And the woman was inducted into the house of Pharaoh.

¹⁶ In truth, they treated Abram well because of her. And he had sheep and oxen and male donkeys, and men servants, and women servants, and female donkeys, and camels.

¹⁷ But the Lord scourged Pharaoh and his house with great wounds because of Sarai, the wife of Abram.

¹⁸ And Pharaoh called Abram, and he said to him: “What is this that you have done to me? Why did you not tell me she was your wife?

¹⁹ For what reason did you claim her to be your sister, so that I would take her to me as a wife? Now therefore, behold your mate, receive her and go.”

²⁰ And Pharaoh instructed his men about Abram. And they led him away with his wife and all that he had.