Limitless Word
And Abram journeyed on toward the Negev.
Genesis 12:9 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Abram traveled, still going on toward the South.
  • KJV And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.
  • NKJV So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.
  • NASB Then Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev.
  • NLT Then Abram continued traveling south by stages toward the Negev.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Abram continued journeying toward the South (the Negev). He keeps moving as a pilgrim through the promised land.

Overview

This brief travel note shows Abram steadily traversing the land God promised, taking it in by faith. His southward movement sets up the famine and Egypt episode that follows. The verse pictures the patriarch's ongoing pilgrimage, dwelling in the land as a stranger while trusting God's pledge.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 5

  • Gen 13:3From the Negev he journeyed from place to place toward Bethel, until he came to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had formerly been pitched,
  • Gen 13:1So Abram went up out of Egypt into the Negev—he and his wife and all his possessions—and Lot was with him.
  • Gen 24:62Now Isaac had just returned from Beer-lahai-roi, for he was living in the Negev.
  • Ps 105:13they wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another.
  • Heb 11:13–14All these people died in faith, without having received the things they were promised. However, they saw them and welcomed them from afar. And they acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Genesis videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Genesis 12:9YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on GenesisMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.

How Genesis 12:9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.