The Calling of Abram

1And the Lord said to Abram, Go forth out of thy land and out of thy kindred, and out of the house of thy father, and come into the land which I will shew thee.

2And I will make thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and magnify thy name, and thou shalt be blessed.

3And I will bless those that bless thee, and curse those that curse thee, and in thee shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed.

4And Abram went as the Lord spoke to him, and Lot departed with him, and Abram was seventy-five years old, when he went out of Charrhan. 5And Abram took Sara his wife, and Lot the son of his brother, and all their possessions, as many as they had got, and every soul which they had got in Charrhan, and they went forth to go into the land of Chanaan. 6And Abram traversed the land lengthwise as far as the place Sychem, to the high oak, and the Chananites then inhabited the land. 7And the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, I will give this land to thy seed. And Abram built an altar there to the Lord who appeared to him. 8And he departed thence to the mountain eastward of Baethel, and there he pitched his tent in Baethel near the sea, and Aggai toward the east, and there he built an altar to the Lord, and called on the name of the Lord. 9And Abram departed and went and encamped in the wilderness.

Abram and Sarai in Egypt

10And there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, because the famine prevailed in the land. 11And it came to pass when Abram drew nigh to enter into Egypt, Abram said to Sara his wife, I know that thou art a fair woman. 12It shall come to pass then that when the Egyptians shall see thee, they shall say, This is his wife, and they shall slay me, but they shall save thee alive. 13Say, therefore, I am his sister, that it may be well with me on account of thee, and my soul shall live because of thee. 14And it came to pass when Abram entered into Egypt—the Egyptians having seen his wife that she was very beautiful— 15that the princes of Pharao saw her, and praised her to Pharao and brought her into the house of Pharao. 16And they treated Abram well on her account, and he had sheep, and calves, and asses, and men-servants, and women-servants, and mules, and camels.

17And God afflicted Pharao with great and severe afflictions, and his house, because of Sara, Abram's wife. 18And Pharao having called Abram, said, What is this thou hast done to me, that thou didst not tell me that she was thy wife? 19Wherefore didst thou say, She is my sister? and I took her for a wife to myself; and now, behold, thy wife is before thee, take her and go quickly away. 20And Pharao gave charge to men concerning Abram, to join in sending him forward, and his wife, and all that he had.