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Genesis 12

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Part of Abraham📖 Genesis introduction

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1Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; ✦ 2And I will make you into a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing; ✦ 3And 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 will be blessed.” ✦ 4So Abram went away as the Lord had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. ✦ 5Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the people which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; so they came to the land of Canaan. ✦ 6Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanites were in the land at that time. ✦ 7And the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. ✦ 8Then he proceeded from there to the mountain 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 called upon the name of the Lord. ✦ 9Then Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev. ✦ 10Now there was a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a time, because the famine was severe in the land. ✦ 11It came about, when he was approaching Egypt, that he said to his wife Sarai, “See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman; ✦ 12and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. ✦ 13Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well for me because of you, and that I may live on account of you.” ✦ 14Now it came about, when Abram entered Egypt, that the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. ✦ 15Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. ✦ 16Therefore he treated Abram well for her sake; and he gave him sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants and female servants, female donkeys, and camels. ✦ 17But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. ✦ 18Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this that you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? ✦ 19Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for myself as a wife? Now then, here is your wife, take her and go!” 20And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they escorted him away, with his wife and all that belonged to him. ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

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

In this chapter

Person / place Abraham

Where this chapter connects

Gen 26 ·10Gen 13 ·9Gen 20 ·8Heb 11 ·6Ps 105 ·6Gal 3 ·6Gen 28 ·5Gen 11 ·5

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 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.

Resources, by level

Lay

  • ★ Start hereDocumentaryExpedition BibleJoel Kramer · Free · evangelical

    On-location biblical archaeology from a credentialed archaeologist (M.A., excavated in Israel) — the best free place to start on "did it really happen?"

  • ★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical

    A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

  • ★ Start hereVideoOverview: Genesis 1–11BibleProject · 9 min · Free

    The single best free starting point for Genesis 1–11 — clear, visual, and faithful to the literary design.

  • VideoSpoken GospelSpoken Gospel · Free · evangelical

    Short, gospel-centered videos and spoken-word poems showing how each passage points to Jesus — especially strong on the Old Testament.

  • ReferenceBook of Genesis — Visual GuideBibleProject · Free

    A free structured guide to the whole book — outline, themes, and links to each video.

  • DocumentaryIs Genesis History?Del Tackett · Free · evangelical

    A young-earth-creationist case for a literal Genesis, free on YouTube. (YEC is one view held by faithful Christians; others read Genesis differently — see the genre guide on how to read it.)

Pastoral

  • SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical

    Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Seminary

  • ★ Start hereCommentaryGenesis (Word Biblical Commentary)Gordon J. Wenham · Paid · evangelical

    For decades the gold-standard commentary on Genesis — technical but rich. (See the ranked list for alternatives like Hamilton, NICOT.)

  • BookThe Pentateuch as NarrativeJohn H. Sailhamer · ~560 pp · Library · evangelical

    A literary-theological reading that makes Genesis's design visible.

Commentaries & study tools

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