1 Then the LORD said to Abram, “Leave your country, your kindred, and your father’s household, and go to the land 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 curse those who curse you; and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you.” 4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had directed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. 5 And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions and people they had acquired in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the Oak of Moreh at Shechem. And at that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” So Abram built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him. 8 From there Abram 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 the LORD, and he called on the name of the LORD. 9 And Abram journeyed on toward the Negev. 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, “Look, I know that you are a beautiful woman, 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. 13 Please say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake, and on account of you my life will be spared.” 14 So when Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 15 When Pharaoh’s officials saw Sarai, they commended her to him, and she was taken into the palace of Pharaoh. 16 He treated Abram well on her account, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels. 17 The LORD, however, afflicted Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Abram’s wife Sarai. 18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram and asked, “What have you 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 as 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 away with his wife and all his possessions.
Genesis · Majority Standard Bible
Genesis 12 Majority Standard Bible
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
Bethel
Bethel ('house of God') is usually identified with Beitin, north of Jerusalem (location approximate). Jacob's ladder vision and Jeroboam's calf shrine are set here.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 28:19; Genesis 12:8; 1 Kings 12:29
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)