X. THE CALL OF ABRÂHÂM. XII. 1 Now Yahveh said to Abrâm, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land that I will show thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 4 So Abrâm went, as Yahveh had spoken unto him; and Lôt went with him and Abrâm was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Hârân. : 5 And they came into the land of Kenâ'an. And 6 And Abrâm passed through the land unto the place of Shechem unto the terebinth of Môreh. the Kena'any was then in the land. 7 And Yahveh appeared unto Abrâm, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto Yahveh, who appeared unto him. 8 And he removed from thence unto the mountain on the east of Bêth-Êl, and pitched his Bêth-Êl on the west, and 'Ay on the east tent, having and there he builded an altar unto Yahveh, and called upon the name of Yahveh. 9 And Abrâm journeyed, going on still toward the south. XI. ABRAHAM IN EGYPT. XII. 10 And there was a famine in the land: and Abrâm went down into Miçrâîm to sojourn there; for the famine was sore in the land. 11 And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Miçrâîm, that he said unto Sâray his wife, Behold, now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon: 12 And it shall come to pass, when the inhabitants of Micrâîm shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive. 13 Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake, and that my soul may live because of thee. 14 And it came to pass, that, when Abrâm was come into Miçrâîm, the inhabitants of Micrâîm beheld the woman that she was very fair. 15 And the princes of Para'ôh saw her, and praised her to Para'ôh: and the woman was taken to Para'ôh's house. 16 And he entreated Abrâm well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he-asses, and male and female slaves, and she-asses, and camels. 17 And Yahveh plagued Para'ôh and his house with great plagues, because of Sâray Abrâm's wife. 18 And Para'ôh called Abrâm, and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife? 19 Why saidst thou, She is my sister? so that I took her to be my wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way. 20 And Para'ôh gave men charge concerning him: and they brought him on the way, and his wife, and all that he had. XII. ABRAHAM AND LOT SEPARATE. XIII. 1 And Abrâhâm went up out of Miçrâîm, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lôt with him, into the Negeb. 3 And he went on his journeys from the Negeb even to Bêth-Êl, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bêth-Êl and 'Ay; 4 Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abrâm called on the name of Yahveh. 7 And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abrâm's cattle and the herdmen of Lôt's cattle: and the Kena'any and the Perizzy dwelt then in the land. 8 And Abrâm said unto Lôt, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen, for we are brethren. 9 Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou take the right hand, then I will go to the left. 10 And Lôt lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the circuit of the Yardên, that it was well watered every where, before Yahveh destroyed Sedôm and 'Amôrâh, like the garden of Yahveh, like the land of Miçrâîm, as thou goest unto Çô'ar. 11 So Lôt chose him all the circuit of the Yardên; and Lôt journeyed east and they separated themselves the one from the other. 14 And Yahveh said unto Abrâm, after that Lôt was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward and southward and eastward and westward: 15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. 16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. 17 Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for unto thee will I give it. 18 And Abrâm moved his tent, and came and dwelt by the terebinths of Mamrê, which are in Hebrôn, and built there an altar unto Yahveh. XIII. RESCUE OF LÔT BY ABRÂHÂM, AND BLESSING OF XIV. 1 And it came to pass in the days of Amrâphel king of Shine'âr, Ariôch king of Ellâsâr, Kedorlâ'ômer king of 'Elâm, and Tide'âl king of the Gôyîm, 2 That they made war with Bera'h king of Sedôm, and with Birsha' king of 'Amôrâh, Shinâb king of Admâh, and Shemêber king of Çeboyîm, and the king of Bela'. 3 All these joined together in the vale of Siddim. 4 Twelve years they served Kedorlâ'ômer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled. 5 And in the fourteenth year came Kedorlâ'ômer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaîm in 'Ashterôth-Qarnâyim, and the Zûzîm in Hâm, and the Emim in Shavêh-Qiryathâyim, 6 And the 'Hôrîm in their mountain of Sê'îr unto the oak of Pârân, which is by the wilderness. 7 And they returned, and came to Ên-Mishpât, and smote all the plain of the 'Amâlêqy, and also of the Amôry, that dwelt in 'Haçaçôn-Tâmâr. 8 And there went out the king of Sedôm, and the king of 'Amôrâh, and the king of Admâh, and the king 1 The whole of this chapter is a remarkable compilation, both as to its language and its form. It differs so much from the usual compilation of the Jehovist that it seems certain he has taken a complete narrative of older date, and has inserted it textually into his work. Some critics see in it one of the fragments of the special composition which they call 'the second Elohist,' or 'the Theocratic Narrator.' |