1 ^mNow the Lord said¹ to Abram, ⁿ“Go ^ofrom your country² and your kindred and your father’s house to ^pthe land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a ^qgreat nation, and I will ^rbless you and ^smake your name great, so that ^tyou will be a blessing. 3 ^uI will bless those who bless you, and ^vhim who dishonors you I will curse, and ^win you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”³

4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was ^xseventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the ^yoak⁴ of Moreh. ^zAt that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the Lord ^aappeared to Abram and said, ^b“To your offspring I will give this land.” So he ^cbuilt there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and ^dcalled upon the name of the Lord. 9 And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.

10 ^eNow there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to ^fsojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. 11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman ^gbeautiful in appearance, 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will ^hkill me, but they will let you live. 13 Say ⁱyou are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.” 14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 15 And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they ^jpraised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. 16 ^kAnd for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

17 But the Lord ^lafflicted Pharaoh and his house with great ^mplagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 18 So 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; ⁿtake her, and go.” 20 And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.