God Calls Abram

12 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country, your family and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you. ² And I will make you a great nation. I will bring good to you. I will make your name great, so you will be honored. ³ I will bring good to those who are good to you. And I will curse those who curse you. Good will come to all the families of the earth because of you.”

⁴ So Abram left as the Lord told him to do, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. ⁵ Abram took his wife Sarai, and his brother’s son Lot, and all the things they had gathered, and the people who joined them in Haran. And they left to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. ⁶ Abram passed through the land as far as the oak of Moreh at Shechem. The Canaanite people were living in the land at that time. ⁷ Then the Lord showed Himself to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your children and to your children’s children.” So Abram built an altar there to the Lord Who had shown Himself to him. ⁸ Then he went from there to the mountain east of Bethel. He put up his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. ⁹ Then Abram traveled on, still going toward the Negev.

¹⁰ Now there was no food in the land. So Abram went south to Egypt to stay there, because it was very hard to live in the land with no food. ¹¹ When he was about to go into Egypt, Abram said to his wife Sarai, “I know that you are a beautiful woman. ¹² When the men of Egypt see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ And they will kill me, but they will let you live. ¹³ Say that you are my sister. Then it may go well with me because of you. And because of you they will not kill me.”

¹⁴ When Abram came into Egypt, the men of Egypt saw that the woman was very beautiful. ¹⁵ Pharaoh’s rulers saw her and told Pharaoh of her beauty. So the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. ¹⁶ And Pharaoh acted well toward Abram because of Sarai. He gave Abram sheep, cattle, male and female donkeys, and camels, and men and women servants. ¹⁷ But the Lord sent much sickness upon Pharaoh and his house because of Abram’s wife Sarai. ¹⁸ Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? ¹⁹ Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife.’ Take her and go.” ²⁰ And Pharaoh told his men what to do with Abram. They led him away with his wife and all that belonged to him.

Abram and Lot Go Different Ways

13 So Abram left Egypt and went to the Negev, with his wife and all that belonged to him. And Lot went with him. ² Now Abram was very rich in cattle, silver and gold. ³ He traveled from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, ⁴ where he had made an altar. And there Abram called on the name of the Lord. ⁵ Now Lot, who went with Abram, had flocks and cattle and tents of his own. ⁶ There was not enough land to feed all the animals while they lived together. They owned so many things that they were not able to stay together. ⁷ There was fighting between those who cared for Abram’s animals and those who cared for Lot’s animals. The Canaanite and the Perizzite were living in the land at that time. ⁸ So Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no fighting between you and me or between the men who take care of our animals, for we are brothers. ⁹ Is not the whole land in front of you? Let each of us go a different way. If you go to the left, then I will go to the right. Or if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.”

¹⁰ Lot looked and saw that the Jordan valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go to Zoar. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) ¹¹ So Lot chose all the Jordan valley for himself. And as Lot traveled east, they went apart from each other. ¹² Abram made his home in the land of Canaan. Lot made his home in the cities of the valley and moved his tents as far as Sodom, ¹³ whose men were sinful, sinning against the Lord.

¹⁴ The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had left him, “Raise your eyes and look from where you are to the north and south and east and west. ¹⁵ For I will give all the land that you see to you and to your children and to your children’s children forever. ¹⁶ I will make your family after you like the dust of the earth. So if anyone could number the dust of the earth, then he could number your children’s children. ¹⁷ Rise up and walk far and wide upon the land. For I will give it to you.” ¹⁸ Then Abram moved his tent and came to live among the oaks of Mamre in Hebron. There he built an altar to the Lord.

14 It was in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, ² that they made war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). ³ All these joined together in the valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea). ⁴ They had been ruled by Chedorlaomer for twelve years. But in the thirteenth year they went against him. ⁵ Then in the fourteenth year, Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and won a war against the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shavehkiriathaim, ⁶ and the Horites in their Mount Seir as far as El-paran near the desert. ⁷ Then they turned around and came to Enmishpat (that is, Kadesh). There they won a war against all the country of the Amalekites and the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-tamar. ⁸ Then the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and Bela (that is, Zoar) went out and joined in war against them in the valley of Siddim. ⁹ They fought against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar, four kings against five. ¹⁰ Now the Siddim valley was full of deep holes with tar. The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah turned and ran, and some fell there. But the others ran away into the hill country. ¹¹ Then those who won the war took all that belonged to Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their food, and left. ¹² They also took Lot, the son of Abram’s brother, who lived in Sodom, and all that belonged to him, and left.

¹³ Then one who had run for his life came and told Abram the Hebrew. Abram was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and Aner, who were friends of Abram. ¹⁴ When Abram heard that one of his family had been taken away, he led 318 men who had been born in his house and whom he had taught to fight. They went after them as far as Dan. ¹⁵ Abram divided his army against them by night, he and his servants. They won the war against them, and followed them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. ¹⁶ Then Abram returned with all the things they had taken. He also returned with his brother’s son Lot and all that belonged to him, and the women and the people.

¹⁷ After Abram returned from destroying Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s valley). ¹⁸ Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was a religious leader of God Most High. ¹⁹ And Melchizedek honored Abram and said, “May good come to Abram from God Most High, Maker of heaven and earth. ²⁰ Honor and thanks be to God Most High, Who has given into your hand those who fought against you.” Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all he had taken. ²¹ And the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people, but take the riches and food for yourself.” ²² But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have promised the Lord God Most High, Maker of heaven and earth, ²³ that I will not take a piece of string or piece of leather or anything that is yours. Or else you might say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ ²⁴ I will take nothing but what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me. Let Aner, Eshcol and Mamre take their share.”

God’s Agreement with Abram

15 After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a special dream, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your safe place. Your reward will be very great.” ² Then Abram said, “O Lord God, what will You give me? For I have no child. And the one who is to receive what belongs to me is Eliezer of Damascus.” ³ Abram said, “Because You have not given me a child, one born in my house will be given all I have.” ⁴ Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be given what is yours. But he who will come from your own body will be given what is yours.” ⁵ He took him outside and said, “Now look up into the heavens and add up the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then He said to him, “Your children and your children’s children will be as many as the stars.” ⁶ Then Abram believed in the Lord, and that made him right with God.

⁷ God said to him, “I am the Lord Who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land for your own.” ⁸ And Abram said, “O Lord God, how may I know that it will be mine?” ⁹ So the Lord said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old cow, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰ Then Abram brought all these to Him, and cut them in two. And he laid each half beside the other. But he did not cut the birds. ¹¹ When the meat-eating birds came down upon the dead animals, Abram made them go away.

¹² When the sun was going down, Abram went into a sleep as if he were dead. And much fear and darkness came upon him. ¹³ God said to Abram, “Know for sure that your children and those born after them will be strangers in a land that is not theirs. There they will be servants and suffer for 400 years. ¹⁴ But I will punish the nation they will serve. And later they will come out with many riches. ¹⁵ You will live many years, die in peace and be buried. ¹⁶ Then your great great-grandchildren will return here. For the sins of the Amorite are not yet finished.”

¹⁷ When the sun had gone down and it was very dark, a fire pot of smoke and a burning fire passed between these parts of animals. ¹⁸ The Lord made an agreement with Abram on that day. He said, “I have given this land to your children and to their children’s children, from the river of Egypt as far as the big Euphrates River, ¹⁹ the land of the Kenite, the Kenizzite, the Kadmonite, ²⁰ the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Rephaim, ²¹ the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Girgashite and the Jebusite.”