Genesis 12:1-9

Abram Journeys to Egypt

1 Now ¹the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you;

2 And ²I will make you a great nation, And ³I will bless you, And make your name great; And so ⁴you shall be a blessing;

3 And ⁵I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. ⁶And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."

4 So Abram went forth as the LORD had spoken to him; and ⁷Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

5 Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew *, and all their ⁸possessions which they had accumulated, and ⁹the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set * out for the land of Canaan; ¹⁰thus they came to the land of Canaan.

6 Abram passed through the land as far as the site of ¹¹Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land.

7 The LORD ¹²appeared to Abram and said, "¹³To your descendants I will give this land." So he built ¹⁴an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.

8 Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with ¹⁵Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and ¹⁶called upon the name of the LORD.

9 Abram journeyed on, continuing * toward ¹⁷the Negev.

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Genesis 12:1-9 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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

5 Things to Know about God’s Promise to Abraham Clarence L. Haynes Jr.

What Was God’s Promise to Abraham? Amy Swanson

Cross References 17

1. Genesis 15:7; Acts 7:3; Hebrews 11:8
2. Genesis 17:4-6; Genesis 18:18; Genesis 46:3; Deuteronomy 26:5
3. Genesis 22:17
4. Zechariah 8:13
5. Genesis 24:35; Genesis 27:29; Numbers 24:9
6. Genesis 22:18; Genesis 26:4; Genesis 28:14; Acts 3:25; Galatians 3:8
7. Genesis 11:27, 31
8. Genesis 13:6
9. Genesis 14:14; Leviticus 22:11
10. Genesis 11:31; Hebrews 11:8
11. Genesis 35:4; Deuteronomy 11:30
12. Genesis 17:1; Genesis 18:1
13. Genesis 13:15; Genesis 15:18; Deuteronomy 34:4; Ps 105: 9-12; Acts 7:5; Galatians 3:16
14. Genesis 13:4, 18; Genesis 22:9
15. Joshua 8:9, 12
16. Genesis 4:26; Genesis 21:33
17. Genesis 13:1, 3; Genesis 20:1; Genesis 24:62

Footnotes 9

[a]. Lit "Go for yourself"
[b]. Lit "be a blessing"
[c]. Or "reviles"
[d]. Or "bind under a curse"
[e]. Lit "souls"
[f]. Lit "went forth to go to"
[g]. Or "terebinth"
[h]. Lit "seed"
[i]. I.e. South country