1 Now the Lord said to Abram, Go out from your country and from your family and from your father's house, into the land to which I will be your guide: 2 And I will make of you a great nation, blessing you and making your name great; and you will be a blessing: 3 To them who are good to you will I give blessing, and on him who does you wrong will I put my curse: and you will become a name of blessing to all the families of the earth. 4 So Abram went as the Lord had said to him, and Lot went with him: Abram was seventy-five years old when he went away from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son, and all their goods and the servants which they had got in Haran, and they went out to go to the land of Canaan. 6 And Abram went through the land till he came to Shechem, to the holy tree of Moreh. At that time, the Canaanites were still living in the land. 7 And the Lord came to Abram, and said, I will give all this land to your seed; then Abram made an altar there to the Lord who had let himself be seen by him. 8 And moving on from there to the mountain on the east of Beth-el, he put up his tent, having Beth-el on the west and Ai on the east: and there he made an altar and gave worship to the name of the Lord. 9 And he went on, journeying still to the South. 10 And because there was little food to be had in that land, he went down into Egypt. 11 Now when he came near to Egypt, he said to Sarai, his wife, Truly, you are a fair woman and beautiful to the eye; 12 And I am certain that when the men of Egypt see you, they will say, This is his wife: and they will put me to death and keep you. 13 Say, then, that you are my sister, and so it will be well with me because of you, and my life will be kept safe on your account. 14 And so it was that when Abram came into Egypt, the men of Egypt, looking on the woman, saw that she was fair. 15 And Pharaoh's great men, having seen her, said words in praise of her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into Pharaoh's house. 16 And because of her, he was good to Abram, and he had sheep and oxen and asses, and men-servants and women-servants, and camels. 17 And the Lord sent great troubles on Pharaoh's house because of Sarai, Abram's wife. 18 Then Pharaoh sent for Abram, and said, What have you done to me? why did you not say that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say that she was your sister? so that I took her for my wife: now, take your wife and go on your way. 20 And Pharaoh gave orders to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and all he had.
Genesis · Bible in Basic English
Genesis 12 Bible in Basic English
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Abraham
Called by God, he left home in faith to become the father of a chosen people.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 12–25
Lot
Abraham's nephew who chose the plain of Jordan and settled near Sodom.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 11–14; 19
Places
Haran
A caravan city in Upper Mesopotamia and the family's waypoint between Ur and Canaan. Abraham departed from here for Canaan; Jacob later sojourned with Laban nearby.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 11:31; Genesis 12:4; Genesis 28:10
Shechem
Shechem lay between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. Abram built an altar here, Joshua gathered Israel for covenant renewal, and Jacob's well stands nearby.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 12:6; Joshua 24:1; John 4:5
Cross references (19)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Hebrews 11:8; Nehemiah 9:7; Acts 7:2–6; Isaiah 51:2; Joshua 24:2–3
- 2 2 Samuel 7:9; Galatians 3:14; Genesis 18:18; Genesis 17:4–6; Genesis 28:3–4
- 3 Galatians 3:8; Genesis 22:18; Genesis 27:29; Acts 3:25–26; Numbers 24:9
- 4 Hebrews 11:8; Genesis 11:31; Genesis 11:27
- 5 Genesis 14:14; Genesis 11:31; Acts 7:4; Hebrews 11:8–9; Genesis 10:19
- 6 Hebrews 11:9; Deuteronomy 11:30; Genesis 13:7; Genesis 35:4; Genesis 15:18–21
- 7 Genesis 17:8; Genesis 17:1; Genesis 13:15; Genesis 18:1; Galatians 3:16
- 8 Nehemiah 11:31; Genesis 4:26; Genesis 21:33; Genesis 13:4; 1 Corinthians 1:2
- 9 Genesis 13:3; Genesis 13:1; Genesis 24:62; Hebrews 11:13–14; Psalm 105:13
- 10 Genesis 43:1; Genesis 26:1–3; 2 Samuel 21:1; Genesis 47:13; Jeremiah 14:1
- 11 Genesis 26:7; Proverbs 21:30; Genesis 12:14; Genesis 29:17; Song of Songs 1:14
- 12 Genesis 20:11; Genesis 26:7; Matthew 10:28; 1 John 1:8–10; Proverbs 29:25
- 13 Genesis 26:7; Genesis 20:12–13; Genesis 20:2; Genesis 20:5; Ezekiel 18:4
- 14 Genesis 6:2; Matthew 5:28; Genesis 3:6; Genesis 39:7
- 15 Genesis 20:2; Genesis 41:1; 1 Kings 3:1; Hosea 7:4–5; Genesis 40:2
- 16 Genesis 20:14; Genesis 13:2; Genesis 24:35; Job 42:12; Genesis 32:5
- 17 1 Chronicles 16:21; Genesis 20:18; Psalm 105:14–15; 1 Chronicles 21:22; Hebrews 13:4
- 18 Genesis 20:9–10; Genesis 26:9–11; 1 Samuel 14:43; Proverbs 21:1; Genesis 44:15
- 20 Proverbs 21:1; Psalm 105:14–15; 1 Samuel 29:6–11; Exodus 18:27
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." And again, on his departing from Lot, God said to him.
When, after the record of the death of Terah, the father of Abraham, we next read, "And the Lord said to Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house," etc., it is not to be supposed, because this follows in the order of the narrative, that it also followed in the chronological …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
Now Abraham was seventy-five years old when he departed out of Haran." How can this be true if he departed from Haran after his father's death?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
… of Terah in Haran were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran," the Scripture, going back to what had been passed over in order to complete what had been begun about Terah, says, "And the Lord said to Abram, Get thee out of thy country," etc.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)