Genesis 12; Genesis 13; Genesis 14; Genesis 15

1 The Lord said to Abram, "Leave your country, your relatives, and your father's family, and go to the land I will show you.

2 I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you. I will make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others.

3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will place a curse on those who harm you. And all the people on earth will be blessed through you."

4 So Abram left Haran as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. At this time Abram was 75 years old.

5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and everything they owned, as well as all the servants they had gotten in Haran. They set out from Haran, planning to go to the land of Canaan, and in time they arrived there.

6 Abram traveled through that land as far as the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. The Canaanites were living in the land at that time.

7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, "I will give this land to your descendants." So Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

8 Then he traveled from Shechem to the mountain east of Bethel and set up his tent there. Bethel was to the west, and Ai was to the east. There Abram built another altar to the Lord and worshiped him.

9 After this, he traveled on toward southern Canaan.

10 At this time there was not much food in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to live because there was so little food.

11 Just before they arrived in Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "I know you are a very beautiful woman.

12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This woman is his wife.' Then they will kill me but let you live.

13 Tell them you are my sister so that things will go well with me and I may be allowed to live because of you."

14 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was very beautiful.

15 The Egyptian officers saw her and told the king of Egypt how beautiful she was. They took her to the king's palace, and

16 the king was kind to Abram because he thought Abram was her brother. He gave Abram sheep, cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.

17 But the Lord sent terrible diseases on the king and all the people in his house because of Abram's wife Sarai.

18 So the king sent for Abram and said, "What have you done to me? Why didn't you tell me Sarai was your wife?

19 Why did you say, 'She is my sister' so that I made her my wife? Now, here is your wife. Take her and leave!"

20 Then the king commanded his men to make Abram leave Egypt; so Abram and his wife left with everything they owned.

1 So Abram, his wife, and Lot left Egypt, taking everything they owned, and traveled to southern Canaan.

2 Abram was very rich in cattle, silver, and gold.

3 He left southern Canaan and went back to Bethel where he had camped before, between Bethel and Ai,

4 and where he had built an altar. So he worshiped the Lord there.

5 During this time Lot was traveling with Abram, and Lot also had flocks, herds, and tents.

6 Abram and Lot had so many animals that the land could not support both of them together,

7 so Abram's herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen began to argue. The Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at this time.

8 Abram said to Lot, "There should be no arguing between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, because we are brothers.

9 We should separate. The whole land is there in front of you. If you go to the left, I will go to the right. If you go to the right, I will go to the left."

10 Lot looked all around and saw the whole Jordan Valley and that there was much water there. It was like the Lord's garden, like the land of Egypt in the direction of Zoar. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)

11 So Lot chose to move east and live in the Jordan Valley. In this way Abram and Lot separated.

12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, but Lot lived among the cities in the Jordan Valley, very near to Sodom.

13 Now the people of Sodom were very evil and were always sinning against the Lord.

14 After Lot left, the Lord said to Abram, "Look all around you -- to the north and south and east and west.

15 All this land that you see I will give to you and your descendants forever.

16 I will make your descendants as many as the dust of the earth. If anyone could count the dust on the earth, he could count your people.

17 Get up! Walk through all this land because I am now giving it to you."

18 So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at the city of Hebron. There he built an altar to the Lord.

1 Now Amraphel was king of Babylonia, Arioch was king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer was king of Elam, and Tidal was king of Goiim.

2 All these kings went to war against several other kings: Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela. (Bela is also called Zoar.)

3 These kings who were attacked united their armies in the Valley of Siddim (now the Dead Sea).

4 They had served Kedorlaomer for twelve years, but in the thirteenth year, they all turned against him.

5 Then in the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings with him came and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, and the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim.

6 They also defeated the Horites in the mountains of Edom to El Paran (near the desert).

7 Then they turned back and went to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh). They defeated all the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who lived in Hazazon Tamar.

8 At that time the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela went out to fight in the Valley of Siddim. (Bela is called Zoar.)

9 They fought against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Babylonia, and Arioch king of Ellasar -- four kings fighting against five.

10 There were many tar pits in the Valley of Siddim. When the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and their armies ran away, some of the soldiers fell into the tar pits, but the others ran away to the mountains.

11 Now Kedorlaomer and his armies took everything the people of Sodom and Gomorrah owned, including their food.

12 They took Lot, Abram's nephew who was living in Sodom, and everything he owned. Then they left.

13 One of the men who was not captured went to Abram, the Hebrew, and told him what had happened. At that time Abram was camped near the great trees of Mamre the Amorite. Mamre was a brother of Eshcol and Aner, and they had all made an agreement to help Abram.

14 When Abram learned that Lot had been captured, he called out his 318 trained men who had been born in his camp. He led the men and chased the enemy all the way to the town of Dan.

15 That night he divided his men into groups, and they made a surprise attack against the enemy. They chased them all the way to Hobah, north of Damascus.

16 Then Abram brought back everything the enemy had stolen, the women and the other people, and Lot, and everything Lot owned.

17 After defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, Abram went home. As he was returning, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (now called King's Valley).

18 Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was a priest for God Most High

19 and blessed Abram, saying, "Abram, may you be blessed by God Most High, the God who made heaven and earth.

20 And we praise God Most High, who has helped you to defeat your enemies." Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything he had brought back from the battle.

21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, "You may keep all these things for yourself. Just give me my people who were captured."

22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I make a promise to the Lord, the God Most High, who made heaven and earth.

23 I promise that I will not keep anything that is yours. I will not keep even a thread or a sandal strap so that you cannot say, 'I made Abram rich.'

24 I will keep nothing but the food my young men have eaten. But give Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre their share of what we won, because they went with me into battle."

1 After these things happened, the Lord spoke his word to Abram in a vision: "Abram, don't be afraid. I will defend you, and I will give you a great reward."

2 But Abram said, "Lord God, what can you give me? I have no son, so my slave Eliezer from Damascus will get everything I own after I die."

3 Abram said, "Look, you have given me no son, so a slave born in my house will inherit everything I have."

4 Then the Lord spoke his word to Abram: "He will not be the one to inherit what you have. You will have a son of your own who will inherit what you have."

5 Then God led Abram outside and said, "Look at the sky. There are so many stars you cannot count them. Your descendants also will be too many to count."

6 Abram believed the Lord. And the Lord accepted Abram's faith, and that faith made him right with God.

7 God said to Abram, "I am the Lord who led you out of Ur of Babylonia so that I could give you this land to own."

8 But Abram said, "Lord God, how can I be sure that I will own this land?"

9 The Lord said to Abram, "Bring me a three-year-old cow, a three-year-old goat, a three-year-old male sheep, a dove, and a young pigeon."

10 Abram brought them all to God. Then Abram killed the animals and cut each of them into two pieces, laying each half opposite the other half. But he did not cut the birds in half.

11 Later, large birds flew down to eat the animals, but Abram chased them away.

12 As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep. While he was asleep, a very terrible darkness came.

13 Then the Lord said to Abram, "You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers and travel in a land they don't own. The people there will make them slaves and be cruel to them for four hundred years.

14 But I will punish the nation where they are slaves. Then your descendants will leave that land, taking great wealth with them.

15 And you, Abram, will die in peace and will be buried at an old age.

16 After your great-great-grandchildren are born, your people will come to this land again. It will take that long, because I am not yet going to punish the Amorites for their evil behavior."

17 After the sun went down, it was very dark. Suddenly a smoking firepot and a blazing torch passed between the halves of the dead animals.

18 So on that day the Lord made an agreement with Abram and said, "I will give to your descendants the land between the river of Egypt and the great river Euphrates.

19 This is the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,

20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,

21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites."