BERESHIT / GENESIS – LEKH LEKHA
12-1 ~ God said to Avram: “Remove yourself from this land, from your birthplace and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show to you. 12-2 ~ By my hand will your descendants become a great nation. I will you bless with good things and I will make you great in your time, and your name shall become a source of blessing to others. 12-3 ~ I will bless those who bless you and I will curse those who curse you. In time, all peoples will come to follow yours and your descendants’ teachings about Me and by this shall all peoples be blessed.”
12-4 ~ Avram did as God had directed him and Lot went along with him. When Avram left Charan he was 75 years old. 12-5 ~ Avram, Sarai his wife, Lot his nephew and all their encampment left with all their belongings and headed toward Canaan. They entered Canaan 12-6 ~ and Avram went as far as the Plain of Moreh near Shechem, near to where the Canaanites worshiped at a sacred terebinth tree. 12- 7 ~ God appeared to Avram and said, “This land will I give to your offspring.” At this spot where God had appeared to him, Avram built an alter to God.
12-8 ~ Avram then moved on to the mountains east of Bet El. He set up his tent such that Bet El was to the west and Ai was to the east. He built an alter and it was here that he first spoke the name of God aloud. 12-9 ~ Avram then continued on his way, moving steadily southward.
12-10 ~ There was famine in this land. Avram continued southward toward Egypt, where he intended to stay for a while since the famine in the land he was passing through was so severe.
12-11 ~ As they neared Egypt Avram said to his wife Sarai, “You are a most beautiful woman. 12-12 ~ When the Egyptians see you they will realize that you are my wife and, as is their way, they will kill me and take you alive. 12-13 ~ If you would but say you are my sister, by such words from you they would allow me to live and they would treat us favorably, for they are more respectful of brother and sister.”
12-14 ~ When they entered Egypt the Egyptian officials took note that Sarai truly was a beautiful woman. 12-15 ~ They brought word of her to Pharaoh and praised her beauty to him; and so the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s palace. 12-16 ~ Pharaoh treated Avram well because of Sarai. Avram was given sheep, cattle and male donkeys, male and female slaves, female donkeys and camels to win his favor for her.
12-17 ~ Because of Avram’s wife Sarai, God struck Pharaoh and all those living within the palace walls with severe plagues. 12-18 ~ Then Pharaoh summoned Avram and said to him, “Why did you lead me to believe that Sarai was not your wife? 12-19 ~ Why did you say she was your sister? You led me to believe I could marry her. Now, take your wife and leave!” 12-20 ~ Pharaoh then ordered his guards to ensure that Avram would leave Egypt with his wife and all that was his.
13-1 ~ Avram headed north to the Negev, he, his wife and everything he had. Lot, too, went with him. 13-2 ~ Avram was very rich, for he had gained much livestock, silver and gold while in Egypt. 13-3 ~ He continued northward from the Negev toward Bet El until he came upon the place where he had previously pitched his tent on the way down to Egypt, between Bet El and Ai. 13-4 ~ This was where he had built an alter, where he first spoke the name of God aloud.
13-5 ~ Lot, traveling along with Avram, also had with him sheep, cattle and tents. 13-6 ~ The land where they settled could not support them both. Although both had great wealth, their interests were different and they could not remain together. 13-7 ~ The herdsmen of Avram’s flocks and the herdsmen of Lot’s flocks contended against each other where they had settled in the pasture lands of the Canaanites and Perizites.
13-8 ~ Then Avram said to Lot, ”Let us not have friction between you and me and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen. After all, we are like brothers. 13-9 ~ Look at this land before us. We can best maintain peace between us by separating. So, choose where you would prefer to settle. Whichever direction you choose to go, left or right, I will go the opposite way.”
13-10 ~ Lot looked up and gazed out upon the land before him. He saw that the entire Jordan Valley was fertile and well watered. This was in the time before God destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which were in this valley. The land was then fertile with trees and plants just as in God’s own garden. This land was fertile with grain and produce just as it was fertile in the land of Egypt all the way to the city of Tzoar.
13-11 ~ And so, Lot chose for himself the entire Jordan Valley. They separated and Lot journeyed toward the east. 13-12 ~ Avram remained in the land of Canaan while Lot journeyed across the valley, stopping in the cities along the way until he reached Sodom.
13-13 ~ Now the people of Sodom were most wicked an