Genesis 12 EasyEnglish Bible
Abram leaves Haran
12 The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country and the people of your father's family. Go to the land that I will show you.[a]
2 I will cause your descendants to become a great nation. I will bless you. Everyone will know your name. You will bring my blessing to other people. 3 I will bless those people who bless you. But I will curse anyone who insults you. Through you, I will bless all the families of people on the earth.’[b]
4 Abram did what the Lord had told him. He left Haran. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran. Lot went with him. 5 Abram took his wife Sarai, and his nephew Lot. He took everything that belonged to them. He also took the people that worked for them in Haran. They all left to go to the land of Canaan.
When they arrived in Canaan, 6 Abram walked through the land. He went as far as Shechem, to the special oak tree of Moreh. At that time, Canaanites lived in this land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram there. He said, ‘I will give this land to your descendants.’ So Abram built an altar in that place to worship the Lord.[c] He did that because the Lord had appeared to him.
8 Then Abram left Shechem. He went to the hills that are on the east of Bethel. He put up his tent in that place. Bethel was towards the west, and Ai was towards the east. Abram also built an altar there to worship the Lord.
9 Then Abram took his tent and he left that place. He continued to travel towards the Negev.[d]
Abram and Sarai in Egypt
10 There was a famine in the land of Canaan. So Abram went to live in Egypt for some time, because the famine was very bad.[e]
11 When Abram came near to Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, ‘Listen to me. I know that you are a very beautiful woman. 12 When the Egyptians see you they will say, “This is Abram's wife.” Then they will kill me, but they will let you live.[f] 13 So tell them that you are my sister. Then they will do good things to me, because they want to please you. They will not kill me because they will think that you are my sister.’
14 When Abram arrived in Egypt, the people saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman. 15 The king's officers saw her. They told Pharaoh that she was very beautiful. They took her to the king's palace.[g]
16 Pharaoh did good things to help Abram because of Sarai. He gave Abram sheep, cows, donkeys and camels. He also gave Abram male servants and female servants.
17 But the Lord made Pharaoh and the people in his palace very ill. The Lord did this because the king had taken Abram's wife Sarai. 18 So Pharaoh called Abram to come to him. Pharaoh said, ‘You have done this bad thing to me! You did not tell me that Sarai is your wife! Why not? 19 You told me “She is my sister”. As a result, I took her to be my wife. Now, here is your wife. Take her and go away!’
20 Pharaoh told his officers what to do with Abram. They sent Abram away, with his wife and everything that belonged to them.
Footnotes
- 12:1 The Lord had said this to Abram when he lived in Ur, among the Chaldeans. See Joshua 24:2.
- 12:3 Jesus Christ is a descendant of Abram. Through Jesus, God blesses all the nations and families of people on the earth.
- 12:7 The Canaanites did not worship God. The oak tree of Moreh was a place where the Canaanites worshipped false gods. Abram built an altar to worship God. The Canaanites would see that Abram worshipped the Lord. But Abram was not afraid. He knew that this place belonged to God.
- 12:9 The Negev is a dry land. It is between Egypt and Canaan.
- 12:10 Egypt did not often have a famine because the River Nile went through the land.
- 12:12 Abram thinks that the king of Egypt might want to take Sarai as one of his wives. If he knows that Sarai is Abram's wife, the king will have to kill Abram.
- 12:15 A palace is a large house for a king.
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.