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Chapter 12
The Call of Abram
1The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.
2“I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
3I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”
4So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran.
5He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
6Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
7The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspringOr seed I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
8From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.
9Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.
Abram in Egypt
10Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.
11As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are.
12When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live.
13Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”
14When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that she was a very beautiful woman.
15And when Pharaoh's officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace.
16He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels.
17But the LORD inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram's wife Sarai.
18So Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What have you done to me?” he said. “Why didn't you tell me she was your wife?
19Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!”
20Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.
Chapter 13
Abram and Lot Separate
1So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him.
2Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.
3From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier
4and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the LORD.
5Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents.
6But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together.
7And quarreling arose between Abram's herdsmen and the herdsmen of Lot. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time.
8So Abram said to Lot, “Let's not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers.
9Is not the whole land before you? Let's part company. If you go to the left, I'll go to the right; if you go to the right, I'll go to the left.”
10Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, toward Zoar. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)
11So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company:
12Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom.
13Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.
14The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west.
15All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspringOr seed; also in verse 16 forever.
16I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.
17Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”
18So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.
Chapter 14
Abram Rescues Lot
1At this time Amraphel king of Shinar,That is, Babylonia; also in verse 9 Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam and Tidal king of Goiim
2went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).
3All these latter kings joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (the Salt SeaThat is, the Dead Sea).
4For twelve years they had been subject to Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.
5In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him went out and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim
6and the Horites in the hill country of Seir, as far as El Paran near the desert.
7Then they turned back and went to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they conquered the whole territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who were living in Hazazon Tamar.
8Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out and drew up their battle lines in the Valley of Siddim
9against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five.
10Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and when the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some of the men fell into them and the rest fled to the hills.
11The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food; then they went away.
12They also carried off Abram's nephew Lot and his possessions, since he was living in Sodom.
13One who had escaped came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew. Now Abram was living near the great trees of Mamre the Amorite, a brotherOr a relative; or an ally of Eshcol and Aner, all of whom were allied with Abram.
14When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan.
15During the night Abram divided his men to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus.
16He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people.
17After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley).
18Then Melchizedek king of SalemThat is, Jerusalem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High,
19and he blessed Abram, saying,
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
CreatorOr Possessor; also in verse 22 of heaven and earth.
20And blessed beOr And praise be to God Most High,
who delivered your enemies into your hand.”
Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
21The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself.”
22But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and have taken an oath
23that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the thong of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’
24I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share that belongs to the men who went with me—to Aner, Eshcol and Mamre. Let them have their share.”

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