12
{One day} Yahweh commanded Abram, "You must leave behind your homeland and your relatives, including your father's family, {and move} to the land that I will guide you to. 2 I will make you {and your descendants} become an important people group, and I will bless you {all}. I will make you important {and well-known}, and you {and your descendants} will bless {many people}. 3 I will bless everyone who blesses you, but I will curse anyone who curses you. I will use you {and your descendants} to bless all the people on the earth.”4 So Abram left {the city of Haran} just as Yahweh had commanded him {to do}, and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he left from there. 5 He took {with him} his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot and everything that they owned, including servants {and everything else} they had acquired in {the city of} Haran, and they {all} started traveling to the land of Canaan. When they arrived there, 6 they traveled through the land as far as the city of Shechem, to Moreh's oak tree. At that time the Canaanites were {still living} in that land, 7 but Yahweh appeared to Abram and said {to him}, "I will give this land to your descendants.” So Abram built an altar {out of stones} in that place {and burned sacrifices on it} to Yahweh, because Yahweh had appeared to him {there}.
8 From {the city of} Shechem, Abram {and his family} moved {south} to the hill country that was east of {the town of} Bethel. They set up their tents between Bethel to the west and {the town of} Ai to the east. There Abram built another altar {and burned sacrifices on it} to Yahweh, and he addressed Yahweh by his name as he worshiped him. 9 Then Abram {and his family} moved from place to place {southward} until they reached the Negev {Desert}.
10 Now there was a famine in the Negev {Desert}, so Abram {and his family} headed {further} south toward {the country of} Egypt to live there for a while, because the famine was {so} severe. 11 Just before they arrived in Egypt, Abram said to his wife Sarai, "Please listen {to me}, I know that you are a very beautiful woman. 12 When the people in Egypt see you {with me}, they will say that you are my wife. Then they will kill me and let you live {so that they can take you}. 13 {So} please tell people that you are my sister, so that they will treat me well because of you and let me live.”
14 That's {exactly} what happened: When Abram {and his family} arrived in {the country of} Egypt, the people there saw that Sarai was very beautiful. 15 When the {Egyptian} king's officials spotted her, they highly recommended her to the king. So he had them bring her to his palace {to be one of his wives}. 16 The king thought that Abram was Sarai's brother, so he treated him well. He gave him {many} sheep and cattle, as well as men and women servants, male and female donkeys, and camels.
17 But since the king had taken Abram's wife Sarai, Yahweh afflicted the king and his family with severe illnesses. 18 So the king summoned Abram {before him} and said {to him}, "You have treated me very badly! You should have told me that Sarai is your wife! 19 You should not have said that she is your sister, so that I ended up taking her to be my wife! So now, here is your wife. Take her and leave {my country}!” 20 Then the king ordered {some of} his soldiers to make sure that Abram left, so they forced him to leave {the country}, along with his wife and everything that he owned.