1 Now ^mthe Lord said¹ to Abram, “Go from your country² and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 ⁿAnd I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 ^oI will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and ^pin 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 seventy-five years old when he departed from ^qHaran. 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 ^rpassed through the land to the place at Shechem, to ^sthe oak⁴ of ^tMoreh. At that time ^uthe Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ^v“To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of ^wBethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. 9 And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.

10 Now ^xthere was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn 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 beautiful in appearance, 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they ^ywill kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Say you 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 praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. 16 And 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 ^zafflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues 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; take her, and go.” 20 And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.

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 continue¹ 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 son² 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 give³ 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.”

1 And the Lord appeared to him by the ^ooaks¹ of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. 2 He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. ^pWhen he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth 3 and said, “O Lord,² if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. 4 Let a ^qlittle water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, 5 while I bring a morsel of bread, that ^ryou may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—^ssince you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” 6 And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick! Three seahs³ of fine flour! Knead it, and make cakes.” 7 And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man, who prepared it quickly. 8 Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

9 They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is ^tin the tent.” 10 The Lord said, “I will surely return to you ^uabout this time next year, and ^vSarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. 11 Now ^wAbraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. 12 ^xSo Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ^y“After I am worn out, and ^zmy lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” 13 The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ 14 ^aIs anything too hard⁴ for the Lord? ^bAt the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” 15 But Sarah denied it,⁵ saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

16 Then the men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way. 17 The Lord said, ^c“Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be ^dblessed in him? 19 For I have ^echosen⁶ him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” 20 Then the Lord said, “Because ^fthe outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, 21 ^gI will go down to see whether they have done altogether⁷ according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, ^hI will know.”

22 ⁱSo the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham ^jstill stood before the Lord. 23 Then Abraham drew near and said, ^k“Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, ^lso that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! ^mShall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” 26 And the Lord said, ⁿ“If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

27 Abraham answered and said, ^o“Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. 28 Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” 29 Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” 30 Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” 31 He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” 32 Then he said, ^p“Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” 33 And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

1 After these things ^kGod tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to ^lthe land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy¹ will go over there and worship and come again to you.” 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and ^mlaid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, ⁿ“God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and ^olaid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, ^p“Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for ^qnow I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, ^r“The Lord will provide”;² as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”³

15 And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, ^s“By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring ^tas the stars of heaven and ^uas the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess ^vthe gate of his⁴ enemies, 18 and ^win your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, ^xbecause you have obeyed my voice.” 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to ^yBeersheba. And Abraham lived at ^yBeersheba.

20 Now after these things it was told to Abraham, “Behold, ^zMilcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: 21 ^aUz his firstborn, ^bBuz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, 22 Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” 23 (^cBethuel fathered Rebekah.) These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. 24 Moreover, his concubine, whose name was Reumah, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.