Genesis 12

1 And the Lord said to Abram, “Go out from your land, from your kindred, and from your father’s house, and come into the land that I will show you. † 2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great, and you will be blessed. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you, and in you all the tribes of the earth will be blessed.”

4 So Abram went, just as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran. 5 Abram took his wife Sarai, and Lot his brother’s son, and all the possessions they had gathered and every soul they had gained in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan — and they came into the land of Canaan. 6 Abram passed through the land, the whole length of it, as far as the place called Shechem, to the high oak. At that time the Canaanites were living in the land. [a] 7 And the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I will give this land to your seed.” And Abram built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved on to the mountain east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel toward the sea and Ai to the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. [b] 9 Then Abram set out again, and went on, and camped in the wilderness. [c]

10 Now a famine came over the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to stay there for a time, because the famine had grown severe in the land. 11 As he was drawing near to Egypt, Abram said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are. 12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’ — and they will kill me and keep you alive. 13 So say that you are my sister, so that it may go well with me because of you, and my life will be spared on your account.” 14 And so it was: when Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that his wife was very beautiful. 15 Pharaoh’s rulers saw her and praised her to Pharaoh, and she was brought into Pharaoh’s house. 16 They treated Abram well on her account, and he came to have sheep, calves, donkeys, male and female servants, mules, and camels. 17 But God struck Pharaoh and his house with great and terrible afflictions because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.

18 So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have 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 a wife for myself? Now look, here is your wife. Take her and go, quickly.” 20 And Pharaoh gave his men orders about Abram, to send him on his way with his wife and all that he had — and Lot with him. [d]