Abram leaves Haran
1 The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country and the people of your father's family. Go to the land that I will show you.
12:1The Lord had said this to Abram when he lived in Ur, among the Chaldeans. See Joshua 24:2. 2 I will cause your descendants to become a great nation. I will bless you. Everyone will know your name. You will bring my blessing to other people. 3 I will bless those people who bless you. But I will curse anyone who insults you. Through you, I will bless all the families of people on the earth.’
12:3Jesus Christ is a descendant of Abram. Through Jesus, God blesses all the nations and families of people on the earth.
4 Abram did what the Lord had told him. He left Haran. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran. Lot went with him. 5 Abram took his wife Sarai, and his nephew Lot. He took everything that belonged to them. He also took the people that worked for them in Haran. They all left to go to the land of Canaan.
When they arrived in Canaan, 6 Abram walked through the land. He went as far as Shechem, to the special oak tree of Moreh. At that time, Canaanites lived in this land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram there. He said, ‘I will give this land to your descendants.’ So Abram built an altar in that place to worship the Lord. He did that because the Lord had appeared to him.
12:7The Canaanites did not worship God. The oak tree of Moreh was a place where the Canaanites worshipped false gods. Abram built an altar to worship God. The Canaanites would see that Abram worshipped the Lord. But Abram was not afraid. He knew that this place belonged to God.
8 Then Abram left Shechem. He went to the hills that are on the east of Bethel. He put up his tent in that place. Bethel was towards the west, and Ai was towards the east. Abram also built an altar there to worship the Lord.
9 Then Abram took his tent and he left that place. He continued to travel towards the Negev.
12:9The Negev is a dry land. It is between Egypt and Canaan.
