Genesis 12:1-9

Listen to Genesis 12:1-9

The Call of Abram

1 Then the LORD said to Abram, “Leave your country, your kindred, and your father’s household, and go to the land I will show you. ^[a] ¹

2 I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you; and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you. ^[b]”

4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had directed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.

5 And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions and people they had acquired in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,

6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the Oak ^[c] of Moreh at Shechem. And at that time the Canaanites were in the land.

7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring. ^[d]” So Abram built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

8 From there Abram moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built an altar to the LORD, and he called on the name of the LORD.

9 And Abram journeyed on toward the 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.