Abram and Lot Separate

1 So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, ^ainto the Negeb.

2 ^bNow Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. 3 And he journeyed on from the Negeb as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, 4 to ^cthe place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of the Lord. 5 And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, 6 so that ^dthe land could not support both of them dwelling together; for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together, 7 ^eand there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. At that time ^fthe Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land.

8 Then Abram said to Lot, ^g“Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, ^hfor we are kinsmen.¹ 9 ⁱIs not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.” 10 And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the ^jJordan Valley was well watered everywhere like ^kthe garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of ^lZoar. (This was before the Lord ^mdestroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other. 12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. 13 Now the men of Sodom ⁿwere wicked, great sinners against the Lord.

14 The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, ^onorthward and southward and eastward and westward, 15 for all the land that you see I will give ^pto you and ^qto your offspring forever. 16 ^rI will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. 17 Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” 18 So Abram moved his tent and came and ^ssettled by the ^toaks² of Mamre, which ^uare at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord.

Abram Rescues Lot

1 In the days of Amraphel king of ^vShinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of ^wElam, and Tidal king of Goiim, 2 these kings made war with ^xBera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of ^yAdmah, Shemeber king of ^yZeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). 3 And all these joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (^zthat is, the Salt Sea). 4 Twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled. 5 In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the ^aRephaim in ^bAshteroth-karnaim, the ^cZuzim in Ham, the ^dEmim in Shaveh-kiriathaim, 6 and the ^eHorites in their hill country of Seir as far as ^fEl-paran on the border of the wilderness. 7 Then they turned back and came to En-mishpat (that is, ^gKadesh) and defeated all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who were dwelling ^hin Hazazon-tamar.

8 Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out, and they joined battle in the Valley of Siddim 9 with Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar, four kings against five. 10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of ⁱbitumen pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into them, and the rest fled ^jto the hill country. 11 So the enemy took ^kall the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way. 12 They also took Lot, ^lthe son of Abram’s brother, ^mwho was dwelling in Sodom, and his possessions, and went their way.

13 Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, ⁿwho was living by the ^ooaks³ of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and of Aner. These were allies of Abram. 14 When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, ^pborn in his house, 318 of them, and went in pursuit as far as ^qDan. 15 And he divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus. 16 Then he brought back all the possessions, and also brought back his kinsman Lot ^rwith his possessions, and the women and the people.

Abram Blessed by Melchizedek

17 After his return from the defeat of 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 ^sKing’s Valley). 18 And ^tMelchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was ^upriest of ^vGod Most High.) 19 And he blessed him and said,

And Abram gave him ^ya tenth of everything. 21 And the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself.” 22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, ^z“I have lifted my hand⁵ to the Lord, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth, 23 that ^aI would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should 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 ^bAner, Eshcol, and Mamre take their share.”

God’s Covenant with Abram

1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: ^c“Fear not, Abram, I am ^dyour shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue⁶ childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and ^ea member of my household will be my heir.” 4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; ^fyour very own son⁷ shall be your heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and ^gnumber the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, ^h“So shall your offspring be.” 6 And ⁱhe believed the Lord, and ^jhe counted it to him as righteousness.

7 And he said to him, “I am the Lord who ^kbrought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans ^lto give you this land to possess.” 8 But he said, “O Lord God, ^mhow am I to know that I shall possess it?” 9 He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 And he brought him all these, ⁿcut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But ^ohe did not cut the birds in half. 11 And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

12 As the sun was going down, a ^pdeep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain ^qthat your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and ^rthey will be afflicted for ^sfour hundred years. 14 But ^tI will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward ^uthey shall come out with great possessions. 15 As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; ^vyou shall be buried in a good old age. 16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for ^wthe iniquity of the Amorites ^xis not yet complete.”

17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, ^y“To your offspring I give⁸ this land, from ^zthe river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, 19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”

Sarai and Hagar

1 ^aNow Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was ^bHagar. 2 And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children⁹ by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 So, after Abram ^chad lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. 4 And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, ^dshe looked with contempt on her mistress.¹⁰ 5 And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May ^ethe Lord judge between you and me!” 6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.

7 The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to ^fShur. 8 And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” 9 The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.” 10 The angel of the Lord also said to her, ^g“I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” 11 And the angel of the Lord said to her,

13 So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,”¹² for she said, ^k“Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.”¹³ 14 Therefore the well was called ^lBeer-lahai-roi;¹⁴ it lies between ^mKadesh and Bered.

15 And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

The Temptation of Jesus

1 ^sThen Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness ^tto be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting ^uforty days and forty nights, he ^vwas hungry. 3 And ^wthe tempter came and said to him, “If you are ^xthe Son of God, command ^ythese stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, ^z“It is written,

5 ^bThen the devil took him to ^cthe holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

and

7 Jesus said to him, “Again ^eit is written, ^f‘You shall not ^gput the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 ^hAgain, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, ⁱSatan! For ^jit is written,

11 Then the devil left him, and behold, ^mangels came and were ministering to him.

Jesus Begins His Ministry

12 Now when he heard that ⁿJohn had been arrested, ^ohe withdrew into Galilee. 13 And leaving ^pNazareth he went and lived in ^qCapernaum by ^rthe sea, in the territory of ^sZebulun and Naphtali, 14 ^tso that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

17 ^xFrom that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ^z“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”¹

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

18 ^aWhile walking by ^bthe Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you ^cfishers of men.”² 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Jesus Ministers to Great Crowds

23 ^dAnd he went throughout all Galilee, ^eteaching in their synagogues and ^fproclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and ^ghealing every disease and every affliction among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all ^hSyria, and ^gthey brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and ⁱpains, ^jthose oppressed by demons, ^kthose having seizures, and ^lparalytics, and he healed them. 25 ^mAnd great crowds followed him from Galilee and the ⁿDecapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.