New Revised Standard NRS
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.
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Now the Lord said to Abram, Go out from your country and from your family and from your father's house, into the land to which I will be your guide:
2 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.
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And I will make of you a great nation, blessing you and making your name great; and you will be a blessing:
3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
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To them who are good to you will I give blessing, and on him who does you wrong will I put my curse: and you will become a name of blessing to all the families of the earth.
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 Haran.
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So Abram went as the Lord had said to him, and Lot went with him: Abram was seventy-five years old when he went away from Haran.
5 Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother's son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan,
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And Abram took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son, and all their goods and the servants which they had got in Haran, and they went out to go to the land of Canaan.
6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
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And Abram went through the land till he came to Shechem, to the holy tree of Moreh. At that time, the Canaanites were still living in the land.
7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
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And the Lord came to Abram, and said, I will give all this land to your seed; then Abram made an altar there to the Lord who had let himself be seen by him.
8 From there he moved on 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 invoked the name of the Lord.
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And moving on from there to the mountain on the east of Beth-el, he put up his tent, having Beth-el on the west and Ai on the east: and there he made an altar and gave worship to the name of the Lord.
9 And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.
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And he went on, journeying still to the South.
10 Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to reside there as an alien, for the famine was severe in the land.
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And because there was little food to be had in that land, he went down into Egypt.
11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "I know well that you are a woman beautiful in appearance;
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Now when he came near to Egypt, he said to Sarai, his wife, Truly, you are a fair woman and beautiful to the eye;
12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, "This is his wife'; then they will kill me, but they will let you live.
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And I am certain that when the men of Egypt see you, they will say, This is his wife: and they will put me to death and keep you.
13 Say you are my sister, so that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared on your account."
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Say, then, that you are my sister, and so it will be well with me because of you, and my life will be kept safe on your account.
14 When Abram entered Egypt the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.
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And so it was that when Abram came into Egypt, the men of Egypt, looking on the woman, saw that she was fair.
15 When the officials of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.
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And Pharaoh's great men, having seen her, said words in praise of her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into Pharaoh's house.
16 And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female slaves, female donkeys, and camels.
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And because of her, he was good to Abram, and he had sheep and oxen and asses, and men-servants and women-servants, and camels.
17 But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.
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And the Lord sent great troubles on Pharaoh's house 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?
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Then Pharaoh sent for Abram, and said, What have you done to me? why did you not say 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 be gone."
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Why did you say that she was your sister? so that I took her for my wife: now, take your wife and go on your way.
20 And Pharaoh gave his men orders concerning him; and they set him on the way, with his wife and all that he had.
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And Pharaoh gave orders to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and all he had.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.