Genesis 12-15

Genesis 12

¹Now the LORD said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto the land that I will shew thee:

²and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing:

³and I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

⁴So Abram went, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.

⁵And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.

⁶And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Shechem, unto the oak of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.

⁷And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.

⁸And he removed from thence unto the mountain on the east of Beth-el, and pitched his tent, having Beth-el on the west, and Ai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.

⁹And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.

¹⁰And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was sore in the land.

¹¹And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon:

¹²and it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive.

¹³Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake, and that my soul may live because of thee.

¹⁴And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair.

¹⁵And the princes of Pharaoh saw her, and praised her to Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.

¹⁶And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he-asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she-asses, and camels.

¹⁷And the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife.

¹⁸And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?

¹⁹Why saidst thou, She is my sister? so that I took her to be my wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way.

²⁰And Pharaoh gave men charge concerning him: and they brought him on the way, and his wife, and all that he had.

Genesis 13

¹And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the South.

²And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.

³And he went on his journeys from the South even to Beth-el, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Beth-el and Ai;

⁴unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the LORD.

⁵And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents.

⁶And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together.

⁷And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.

⁸And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we are brethren.

⁹Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou take the right hand, then I will go to the left.

¹⁰And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the Plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou goest unto Zoar.

¹¹So Lot chose him all the Plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.

¹²Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the Plain, and moved his tent as far as Sodom.

¹³Now the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners against the LORD exceedingly.

¹⁴And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward and southward and eastward and westward:

¹⁵for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.

¹⁶And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.

¹⁷Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for unto thee will I give it.

¹⁸And Abram moved his tent, and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD.

Genesis 14

¹And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim,

²that they made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar).

³All these joined together in the vale of Siddim (the same is the Salt Sea).

⁴Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

⁵And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim,

⁶and the Horites in their mount Seir, unto El-paran, which is by the wilderness.

⁷And they returned, and came to En-mishpat (the same is Kadesh), and smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that dwelt in Hazazon-tamar.

⁸And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar); and they set the battle in array against them in the vale of Siddim;

⁹against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings against the five.

¹⁰Now the vale of Siddim was full of slime pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell there, and they that remained fled to the mountain.

¹¹And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way.

¹²And they took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.

¹³And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew: now he dwelt by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner; and these were confederate with Abram.

¹⁴And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued as far as Dan.

¹⁵And he divided himself against them by night, he and his servants, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.

¹⁶And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

¹⁷And the king of Sodom went out to meet him, after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him, at the vale of Shaveh (the same is the King’s Vale).

¹⁸And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was priest of God Most High.

¹⁹And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth:

²⁰and blessed be God Most High, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him a tenth of all.

²¹And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.

²²And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth,

²³that I will not take a thread nor a shoelatchet nor aught that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:

²⁴save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me; Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, let them take their portion.

Genesis 15

¹After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.

²And Abram said, O Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and he that shall be possessor of my house is Dammesek Eliezer?

³And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.

⁴And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This man shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.

⁵And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to tell them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.

⁶And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

⁷And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.

⁸And he said, O Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?

⁹And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.

¹⁰And he took him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each half over against the other: but the birds divided he not.

¹¹And the birds of prey came down upon the carcases, and Abram drove them away.

¹²And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.

¹³And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

¹⁴and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

¹⁵But thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.

¹⁶And in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.

¹⁷And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces.

¹⁸In that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

¹⁹the Kenite, and the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite,

²⁰and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Rephaim,

²¹and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.