Abram's Call
Our Father tells Abram to leave everything familiar for an unnamed land, promising blessing that reaches all families of the earth. Abram goes at seventy-five. Then famine drives him to Egypt, where he passes Sarai off as his sister to stay alive.
12 1Now our Father said to Abram, "Go from your land, your relatives, and your father's house, to the land that I will show you. 2I 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. 3I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and through you all the families of the earth will be blessed." a a v3 Paul calls this verse the gospel preached to Abraham in advance — every family on earth blessed through him, fulfilled in Jesus (Galatians 3:8).
4Abram went as our Father told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five when he left Haran. 5Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had gathered, and the people they had acquired in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan, and came to the land of Canaan. 6Abram passed through the land to the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. The Canaanites were then in the land.
7Then our Father appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So Abram built an altar there to our Father, who appeared to him. b b v7 Paul reads "offspring" here as one descendant — Jesus — through whom the Abrahamic blessing reaches every nation (Galatians 3:16).
8From there he moved to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, Bethel to the west, Ai to the east. He built an altar there to our Father and called on our Father's name. 9Then Abram continued on his way, journeying toward the Negev.
Famine and the Road to Egypt
10Since famine struck the land, Abram went down to Egypt to stay there, for the famine was severe in the land. 11Nearing Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "I know you are a beautiful woman. 12When the Egyptians see you, they'll say, 'This is his wife,' and kill me but keep you alive. 13Please say you're my sister, so it goes well for me because of you, and I stay alive for your sake."
14When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 15Pharaoh's officials saw her, praised her to Pharaoh, and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's palace. 16He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep, cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels. 17But our Father struck Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. 18Pharaoh summoned Abram: "What is this you've done to me? Why didn't you tell me she was your wife? 19Why did you say, 'She's my sister,' so I took her as my wife? Here's your wife now—take her and go."
20Pharaoh ordered his men about Abram, and they sent him off with his wife and all he owned.
