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.

I WILL MAKE YOU A GREAT NATION, AND WILL BLESS YOU AND WILL MAKE YOUR NAME GREAT SO THAT YOU WILL BE A BLESSING.

THOSE WHO BLESS YOU, I WILL BLESS. AND THOSE WHO CURSE YOU, I WILL CURSE.

AND IN YOU SHALL ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH BE BLESSED.

So Abram went as the Lord had told him. He was 75 years old when he departed from Haran.

Abram took his wife, Sarai, and his brother's son, Lot, and all the possessions and persons 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, they passed through the land to the place at Schechem, to the oak of Moreh. (The Canaanites were in the land then.)

And the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him:

TO YOUR OFFSPRING I WILL GIVE THIS LAND.

So Abram built there an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him. And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.

Now there was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt, to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai:

I KNOW THAT YOU ARE A WOMAN BEAUTIFUL TO BEHOLD. WHEN THE EGYPTIANS SEE YOU, THEY WILL SAY,

'THIS IS HIS WIFE,' AND THEN THEY WILL KILL MEAND LET YOU LIVE.

SAY THAT YOU ARE MY SISTER, SO THAT IT MAY GO WELL WITH ME BECAUSE OF YOU, THAT MY LIFE MAY BE SPARED ON YOUR ACCOUNT.

When Abram entered Egypt,

the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful! When the officials of Pharoah saw her, the praised her to Pharoah, and she was taken into Pharoah's house. And because of her, Pharoah dealt well with Abram.

But the Lord afflicted Pharoah and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. So Pharoah called Abram and said:

WHAT IS THIS YOU HAVE DONE TO ME?WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT SHE WAS YOUR WIFE?WHY DID YOU SAY, 'SHE IS MY SISTER'?TAKE HER AND GET OUT OF HERE!

And Pharoah gave his men orders concerning Abram. And they set him on his way with his wife and all that he had.