A modern English translation drawn directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. Translated word-for-word where possible, by a committee with scholarly oversight.
Uses the same source texts as the ESV, NASB, and most academic Bibles, including the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Nestle-Aland critical edition.
Genesis 12
Genesis 12 is the twelfth chapter of the book of Genesis and marks a major turning point in the book. The 20-verse chapter introduces Abram (later called Abraham), the man through whom God will fulfill his plan to bless the nations.
The chapter opens with the LORD speaking to Abram in Haran. The instruction is direct: "Go forth from your country, your kindred, and your father's house, to the land I will show you." God then makes a promise in five parts. He will make Abram into a great nation. He will bless Abram. He will make Abram's name great. Abram will be a blessing. And the LORD will bless those who bless Abram and curse those who curse him, so that all the families of the earth will be blessed through him.
Abram leaves Haran at age 75. He takes his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all their possessions, and all the people they have acquired, and they set out for Canaan.
They arrive in Canaan and travel to the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. The LORD appears to Abram and tells him that he will give this land to Abram's offspring. Abram builds an altar there.
Abram continues south, building another altar between Bethel and Ai. He then travels into the Negev.
A famine forces Abram to go down to Egypt. There he tells Sarai to say she is his sister, because she is beautiful and he is afraid Pharaoh's men will kill him to take her. Sarai is taken into Pharaoh's palace, and Pharaoh treats Abram well for her sake, giving him sheep, cattle, donkeys, servants, and camels.
The LORD afflicts Pharaoh's household with serious plagues because of Sarai. Pharaoh discovers the deception, confronts Abram, and sends him away with his wife and everything he has. Abram leaves Egypt and heads back into the Negev.
Verse 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.
Verse 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.
Verse 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.”
Verse 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.
Verse 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,
Verse 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.
Verse 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.
Verse 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.
Verse 9. And Abram journeyed on toward the Negev.
Verse 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.
Verse 11. As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, I know that you are a beautiful woman,
Verse 12. and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live.
Verse 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.”
Verse 14. So when Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.
Verse 15. When Pharaoh’s officials saw Sarai, they commended her to him, and she was taken into the palace of Pharaoh.
Verse 16. He treated Abram well on her account, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels.
Verse 17. The LORD, however, afflicted Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Abram’s wife Sarai.
Verse 18. So Pharaoh summoned Abram and asked, “What have you done to me? Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?
Verse 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!”
Verse 20. Then Pharaoh gave his men orders concerning Abram, and they sent him away with his wife and all his possessions.
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