Genesis 12:2-12

2 I will make of you a great nation, I will bless you, and I will make your name great; and you are to be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you, but I will curse anyone who curses you; and by you all the families of the earth will be blessed."

4 So Avram went, as ADONAI had said to him, and Lot went with him. Avram was 75 years old when he left Haran.

5 Avram took his wife Sarai, his brother's son Lot, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, as well as the people they had acquired in Haran; then they set out for the land of Kena'an and entered the land of Kena'an.

6 Avram passed through the land to the place called Sh'khem, to the oak of Moreh. The Kena'ani were then in the land.

7 ADONAI appeared to Avram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." So he built an altar there to ADONAI, who had appeared to him.

8 He left that place, went to the hill east of Beit-El and pitched his tent. With Beit-El to the west and 'Ai to the east, he built an altar there and called on the name of ADONAI.

9 Then Avram traveled on, continuing toward the Negev.

10 But there was a famine in the land, so Avram went down into Egypt to stay there, because the famine in the land was severe.

11 When he came close to Egypt and was about to enter, he said to Sarai his wife, "Here now, I know that you are a good-looking woman;

12 so that when the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife,' and kill me but keep you alive.

Genesis 12:2-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 12

In this chapter an account is given of the call of Abram to depart from his own country, with a promise of a divine blessing, Ge 12:1-3 of his obedience to it, Ge 12:4,5 of his journey through the land of Canaan, and of the Lord's appearance to him in it, and his promise of it to his seed, and of Abram's building altars in it, and calling on the name of the Lord, Ge 12:6-9 and of a famine there, which occasioned him to go into Egypt, Ge 12:10 where, through fear of being slain, he desired his wife to call herself his sister, Ge 12:11-13 and she being greatly admired by the Egyptians for her beauty, it went well with Abram for her sake, Ge 12:14-16 but the Egyptians were plagued because of her, who, when they understood she was Abram's wife, sent them both away, and all that belonged to them, Ge 12:17-20.