rsv Genesis:12-14 SEEK
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Now the LORD said to Abram , "
Go from your country and your kindred and your father '
s house to the land that I will show you .
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And I will make of you a great nation ,
and I will bless you ,
and make your name great ,
so that you will be a blessing .
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I will bless those who bless you ,
and him who curses you I will curse ;
and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves ."
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So Abram went ,
as the LORD had told him ;
and Lot went with him .
Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran .
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And Abram took Sar '
ai his wife ,
and Lot his brother '
s son ,
and all their possessions which they had gathered ,
and the persons that they had gotten in Haran ;
and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan .
When they had come to the land of Canaan ,
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Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem ,
to the oak of Moreh .
At that time the Canaanites were in the land .
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Then the LORD appeared to Abram ,
and said , "
To your descendants I will give this land ."
So he built there an altar to the LORD ,
who had appeared to him .
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Thence he removed to the mountain on the east of Bethel ,
and pitched his tent ,
with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east ;
and there he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD .
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And Abram journeyed on ,
still going toward the Negeb .
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Now there was a famine in the land .
So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there ,
for the famine was severe in the land .
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When he was about to enter Egypt ,
he said to Sar '
ai his wife , "
I know that you are a woman beautiful to behold ;
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and when the Egyptians see you ,
they will say , `
This is his wife ';
then they will kill me ,
but they will let you live .
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Say you are my sister ,
that it may go well with me because of you ,
and that my life may be spared on your account ."
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When Abram entered Egypt the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful .
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And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her ,
they praised her to Pharaoh .
And the woman was taken into Pharaoh '
s house .
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And for her sake he dealt well with Abram ;
and he had sheep ,
oxen ,
he-asses ,
menservants ,
maidservants ,
she-asses ,
and camels .
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But the LORD afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sar '
ai ,
Abram '
s wife .
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So Pharaoh called Abram ,
and said , "
What is this you have done to me ?
Why did you not tell me that she was your wife ?
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Why did you say , `
She is my sister ,'
so that I took her for my wife ?
Now then ,
here is your wife ,
take her ,
and be gone ."
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And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him ;
and they set him on the way ,
with his wife and all that he had .
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So Abram went up from Egypt ,
he and his wife ,
and all that he had ,
and Lot with him ,
into the Negeb .
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Now Abram was very rich in cattle ,
in silver ,
and in gold .
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And he journeyed on from the Negeb as far as Bethel ,
to the place where his tent had been at the beginning ,
between Bethel and Ai ,
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to the place where he had made an altar at the first ;
and there Abram called on the name of the LORD .
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And Lot ,
who went with Abram ,
also had flocks and herds and tents ,
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so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together ;
for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together ,
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and there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram '
s cattle and the herdsmen of Lot '
s cattle .
At that time the Canaanites and the Per '
izzites dwelt in the land .
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Then Abram said to Lot , "
Let there be no strife between you and me ,
and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen ;
for we are kinsmen .
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Is not the whole land before you ?
Separate yourself from me .
If you take the left hand ,
then I will go to the right ;
or if you take the right hand ,
then I will go to the left ."
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And Lot lifted up his eyes ,
and saw that the Jordan valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the LORD ,
like the land of Egypt ,
in the direction of Zo '
ar ;
this was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomor '
rah .
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So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan valley ,
and Lot journeyed east ;
thus they separated from each other .
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Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan ,
while Lot dwelt among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom .
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Now the men of Sodom were wicked ,
great sinners against the LORD .
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The LORD said to Abram ,
after Lot had separated from him , "
Lift up your eyes ,
and look from the place where you are ,
northward and southward and eastward and westward ;
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for all the land which you see I will give to you and to your descendants for ever .
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I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth ;
so that if one can count the dust of the earth ,
your descendants also can be counted .
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Arise ,
walk through the length and the breadth of the land ,
for I will give it to you ."
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So Abram moved his tent ,
and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre ,
which are at Hebron ;
and there he built an altar to the LORD .
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In the days of Am '
raphel king of Shinar ,
Ar '
ioch king of Ella '
sar ,
Ched-or-lao '
mer king of Elam ,
and Tidal king of Goi '
im ,
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these kings made war with Bera king of Sodom ,
Birsha king of Gomor '
rah ,
Shinab king of Admah ,
Sheme '
ber king of Zeboi '
im ,
and the king of Bela (
that is ,
Zo '
ar ).
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And all these joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (
that is ,
the Salt Sea ).
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Twelve years they had served Ched-or-lao '
mer ,
but in the thirteenth year they rebelled .
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In the fourteenth year Ched-or-lao '
mer and the kings who were with him came and subdued the Reph '
aim in Ash '
teroth-karna '
im ,
the Zuzim in Ham ,
the Emim in Sha '
veh-kiriatha '
im ,
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and the Horites in their Mount Se '
ir as far as El-paran on the border of the wilderness ;
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then they turned back and came to Enmish '
pat (
that is ,
Kadesh ),
and subdued all the country of the Amal '
ekites ,
and also the Amorites who dwelt in Haz '
azon-ta '
mar .
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Then the king of Sodom ,
the king of Gomor '
rah ,
the king of Admah ,
the king of Zeboi '
im ,
and the king of Bela (
that is ,
Zo '
ar )
went out ,
and they joined battle in the Valley of Siddim
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with Ched-or-lao '
mer king of Elam ,
Tidal king of Goi '
im ,
Am '
raphel king of Shinar ,
and Ar '
ioch king of Ella '
sar ,
four kings against five .
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Now the Valley of Siddim was full of bitumen pits ;
and as the kings of Sodom and Gomor '
rah fled ,
some fell into them ,
and the rest fled to the mountain .
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So the enemy took all the goods of Sodom and Gomor '
rah ,
and all their provisions ,
and went their way ;
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they also took Lot ,
the son of Abram '
s brother ,
who dwelt in Sodom ,
and his goods ,
and departed .
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Then one who had escaped came ,
and told Abram the Hebrew ,
who was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite ,
brother of Eshcol and of Aner ;
these were allies of Abram .
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When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive ,
he led forth his trained men ,
born in his house ,
three hundred and eighteen of them ,
and went in pursuit as far as Daniel .
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And he divided his forces against them by night ,
he and his servants ,
and routed them and pursued them to Hobah ,
north of Damascus .
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Then he brought back all the goods ,
and also brought back his kinsman Lot with his goods ,
and the women and the people .
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After his return from the defeat of Ched-or-lao '
mer and the kings who were with him ,
the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (
that is ,
the King '
s Valley ).
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And Mel-chiz '
edek king of Salem brought out bread and wine ;
he was priest of God Most High .
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And he blessed him and said , "
Blessed be Abram by God Most High ,
maker of heaven and earth ;
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and blessed be God Most High ,
who has delivered your enemies into your hand !"
And Abram gave him a tenth of everything .
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And the king of Sodom said to Abram , "
Give me the persons ,
but take the goods for yourself ."
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But Abram said to the king of Sodom , "
I have sworn to the LORD God Most High ,
maker of heaven and earth ,
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that I would not take a thread or a sandal-thong or anything that is yours ,
lest you should say , `
I have made Abram rich .'
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I will take nothing but what the young men have eaten ,
and the share of the men who went with me ;
let Aner ,
Eshcol ,
and Mamre take their share ."
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After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision , "
Fear not ,
Abram ,
I am your shield ;
your reward shall be very great ."