Genesis 12

Abram’s Call

1The LORD said to Abram, “Leave your land, your relatives, and your father's household. Go to the land I will show you. 2I will make you a great nation and bless you. I will make your name great. Be a blessing. 3I will bless those who bless you, and curse whoever treats you with contempt. Through you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

4Abram went as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five when he left Haran. 5He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had gathered, and the people they had acquired in Haran. They set out for Canaan and arrived there.

6Abram traveled through the land as far as Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. The Canaanites were living in the land at that time. 7The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” Abram built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

8From there he moved into the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the LORD's name. 9Abram moved on, traveling in stages toward the Negev.