Genesis 12 · Parashat Lech-Lecha

Now the Lord said to Avram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, to the land that I will show thee:

and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curses thee: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

So Avram departed, as the Lord had spoken to him; and Lot went with him: and Avram was seventy five years old when he departed out of Ḥaran.

And Avram took Saray his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had acquired in Ḥaran; and they went forth to go to the land of Kena῾an; and into the land of Kena῾an they came.

And Avram passed through the land to the place of Shekhem unto the terebinth of More. And the Kena῾ani was then in the land.

And the Lord appeared to Avram, and said, To thy seed will I give this land: and there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

And he removed from there to a mountain on the east of Bet-el, and pitched his tent, having Bet-el on the west, and ῾Ay on the east: and there he built an altar to the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord.

And Avram journeyed, going on still toward the Negev.

And there was famine in the land: and Avram went down to Miżrayim to sojourn there; for the famine was severe in the land.

And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter to Miżrayim that he said to Saray his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon:

therefore it shall come to pass, when the Miżrim shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive.

Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.

And it came to pass, that, when Avram was come to Miżrayim, the Miżrim beheld the woman that she was very fair.

The princes also of Par῾o saw her, and commended her before Par῾o: and the woman was taken into Par῾o’s house.

And he treated Avram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels.

And the Lord plagued Par῾o and his house with great plagues because of Saray, Avram’s wife.

And Par῾o called Avram, and said, What is this that thou hast done to me? why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?

Why didst thou say, She is my sister? so I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way.

And Par῾o commanded his men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.