Genesis12
New King James Version
1Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you.
2I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.
3I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
4So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
5Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.
6Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land.
7Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
8And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he 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.
9So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.
10Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land.
11And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Indeed I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance.
12Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live.
13Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you.”
14So it was, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful.
15The princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house.
16He treated Abram well for her sake. He had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
17But the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.
18And Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?
19Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife; take her and go your way.”
20So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Genesis 12.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: God calls Abram, and blesses him with a promise of Christ. (1–3). Abram departs from Haran. (4, 5). He journeys through Canaan, and worships God in that land. (6–9). Abram is driven by a famine into Egypt, He feigns his wife to be his sister. (10–20).
vv1-3
God made choice of Abram, and singled him out from among his fellow-idolaters, that he might reserve a people for himself, among whom his true worship might be maintained till the coming of Christ. From henceforward Abram and his seed are almost the only subject of the history in the Bible. Abram was tried whether he loved God better than all, and whether he could willingly leave all to go with God. His kindred and his father's house were a constant temptation to him, he could not continue among them without danger of being infected by them. Those who leave their sins, and turn to God, will be unspeakable gainers by the change. The command God gave to Abram, is much the same with the gospel call, for natural affection must give way to Divine grace. Sin, and all the occasions of it, must be forsaken; particularly bad company. Here are many great and precious promises. All God's precepts are attended with promises to the obedient. 1. I will make of thee a great nation. When God took Abram from his own people, he promised to make him the head of another people. 2. I will bless thee. Obedient believers shall be sure to inherit the blessing. 3. I will make thy name great. The name of obedient believers shall certainly be made great. 4. Thou shalt be a blessing. Good men are the blessings of their country. 5. I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee. God will take care that none are losers, by any service done for his people. 6. In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Jesus Christ is the great blessing of the world, the greatest that ever the world possessed. All the true blessedness the world is now, or ever shall be possessed of, is owing to Abram and his posterity. Through them we have a Bible, a Saviour, and a gospel. They are the stock on which the Christian church is grafted.
vv4-5
Abram believed that the blessing of the Almighty would make up for all he could lose or leave behind, supply all his wants, and answer and exceed all his desires; and he knew that nothing but misery would follow disobedience. Such believers, being justified by faith in Christ, have peace with God. They hold on their way to Canaan. They are not discouraged by the difficulties in their way, nor drawn aside by the delights they meet with. Those who set out for heaven must persevere to the end. What we undertake, in obedience to God's command, and in humble attendance on his providence, will certainly succeed, and end with comfort at last. Canaan was not, as other lands, a mere outward possession, but a type of heaven, and in this respect the patriarchs so earnestly prized it.
vv6-9
Abram found the country peopled by Canaanites, who were bad neighbours. He journeyed, going on still. Sometimes it is the lot of good men to be unsettled, and often to remove into various states. Believers must look on themselves as strangers and sojourners in this world, Heb 11:8, 13, 14. But observe how much comfort Abram had in God. When he could have little satisfaction in converse with the Canaanites whom he found there, he had abundance of pleasure in communion with that God, who brought him thither, and did not leave him. Communion with God is kept up by the word and by prayer. God reveals himself and his favours to his people by degrees; before, he had promised to show Abram this land, now, to give it to him: as grace is growing, so is comfort. It should seem, Abram understood it also as a grant of a better land, of which this was a type; for he looked for a heavenly country, Heb 11:16. As soon as Abram was got to Canaan, though he was but a stranger and sojourner there, yet he set up, and kept up, the worship of God in his family. He not only minded the ceremonial part of religion, the offering of sacrifice; but he made conscience of seeking his God, and calling on his name; that spiritual sacrifice with which God is well pleased. He preached concerning the name of the Lord; he taught his family and neighbours the knowledge of the true God, and his holy religion. The way of family worship is a good old way, no new thing, but the ancient usage of the saints. Abram was rich, and had a numerous family, was now unsettled, and in the midst of enemies; yet, wherever he pitched his tent, he built an altar: wherever we go, let us not fail to take our religion along with us.
Key Words
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
אַבְרָם: Abram, the original name of Abraham
יָלַךְ: to walk (literally or figuratively); causatively, to carry (in various senses)
אֶרֶץ: the earth (at large, or partitively a land)
מוֹלֶדֶת: nativity (plural birth-place); by implication, lineage, native country; also offspring, family
אָב: father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote application
בַּיִת: a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etc.)
רָאָה: to see, literally or figuratively (in numerous applications, direct and implied, transitive, intransitive and causative)
עָשָׂה: to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest application
גָּדוֹל: great (in any sense); hence, older; also insolent
Cross References
Genesis 12New Testament commentary on Abram's faith in leaving his homeland without knowing his destination.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, JFB
Stephen's speech outlining the historical context of God's call of Abram in Mesopotamia.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Explicitly identifies the promise of all families being blessed as the gospel preached beforehand.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Direct historical reference to God reproving kings (Pharaoh) and suffering no man to do them wrong.
Supported by JFB
Clarifies that the global blessing is specifically through Abram's seed (Christ).
Supported by Matthew Poole
Explains the significance of Abram dwelling in tabernacles (tents) as a stranger.
Supported by Matthew Henry
A striking direct parallel where Abraham repeats this exact sister deception with Abimelech.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
The immediate historical background of the family's initial journey from Ur to Haran.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Isaac mimics his father's exact sibling lie out of the same fear of being killed.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Poetic commentary warning kings not to touch God's anointed, reflecting Pharaoh's plague.
Supported by JFB
Abram returns to this exact place of the altar between Bethel and Ai after Egypt.
Supported by Matthew Henry
A parallel famine in Canaan that similarly tests the faith of Isaac.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Parallel rebuke of Abraham's deception by a pagan king, matching Pharaoh's words.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Connects Abram's promised blessing with spiritual blessings in heavenly places.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Abraham's defense explaining the technical half-truth of Sarai being his sister.
Supported by Matthew Henry