Day 3 of 14

¹Now the Lord said to Abram, "Get out of your country, and from your relatives, and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you.

²I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing.

³I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. In you will all of the families of the earth be blessed."

⁴So Abram went, as the Lord had spoken to him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed out of Haran.

⁵Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother's son, all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls whom they had gotten in Haran, and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan. Into the land of Canaan they came.

⁶Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. The Canaanite was then in the land.

⁷The Lord appeared to Abram and said, "I will give this land to your seed." He built an altar there to the Lord, who appeared to him.

⁸He left from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having 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.

⁹Abram traveled, going on still toward the Negev.

¹⁰There was a famine in the land. Abram went down into Egypt to live as a foreigner there, for the famine was severe in the land.

¹¹It happened, when he had come near to enter Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, "See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman to look at.

¹²It will happen, when the Egyptians will see you, that they will say, 'This is his wife.' They will kill me, but they will save you alive.

¹³Please say that you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that my soul may live because of you."

¹⁴It happened that when Abram had come into Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.

¹⁵The princes of Pharaoh saw her, and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.

¹⁶He dealt well with Abram for her sake. He had sheep, cattle, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

¹⁷The Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.

¹⁸Pharaoh 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 to be my wife? Now therefore, see your wife, take her, and go your way."

²⁰Pharaoh commanded men concerning him, and they brought him on the way with his wife and all that he had.

¹After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward."

²Abram said, "Lord God, what will you give me, seeing I go childless, and he who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?"

³Abram said, "Behold, to me you have given no seed: and, behold, one born in my house is my heir."

⁴Behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, "This man will not be your heir, but he who will come forth out of your own body will be your heir."

⁵The Lord brought him outside, and said, "Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them." He said to Abram, "So shall your seed be."

⁶He believed in the Lord; and he reckoned it to him for righteousness.

⁷He said to him, "I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it."

⁸He said, "Lord God, how will I know that I will inherit it?"

⁹He said to him, "Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon."

¹⁰He brought him all of these, and divided them in the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not divide the birds.

¹¹The birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

¹²When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. Now terror and great darkness fell on him.

¹³He said to Abram, "Know for sure that your seed will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years.

¹⁴I will also judge that nation, whom they will serve. Afterward they will come out with great wealth,

¹⁵but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried in a good old age.

¹⁶In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full."

¹⁷It came to pass that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.

¹⁸In that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your seed I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:

¹⁹the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,

²⁰the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,

²¹the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."

¹It happened after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" He said, "Here I am."

²He said, "Now take your son, your only son, whom you love, even Isaac, and go into the land of Moriah. Offer him there for a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you of."

³Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. He split the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went to the place of which God had told him.

⁴On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place far off.

⁵Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go yonder. We will worship, and come back to you."

⁶Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. He took in his hand the fire and the knife. They both went together.

⁷Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and said, "My father?" He said, "Here I am, my son." He said, "Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"

⁸Abraham said, "God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So they both went together.

⁹They came to the place which God had told him of. Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, on the wood.

¹⁰Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to kill his son.

¹¹The angel of the Lord called to him out of the sky, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" He said, "Here I am."

¹²He said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy, neither do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."

¹³Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and saw that behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering instead of his son.

¹⁴Abraham called the name of that place the Lord Will Provide. As it is said to this day, "On the Lord's mountain, it will be provided."

¹⁵The angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of the sky,

¹⁶and said, "I have sworn by myself, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son,

¹⁷that I will bless you greatly, and I will multiply your seed greatly like the stars of the heavens, and like the sand which is on the seashore. Your seed will possess the gate of his enemies.

¹⁸In your seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice."

¹⁹So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba. Abraham lived at Beersheba.

²⁰It happened after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, "Behold, Milcah, she also has borne children to your brother Nahor:

²¹Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram,

²²Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel."

²³Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham's brother.

²⁴His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.