1 And the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Caller} said to Abram, “Go out for your benefit from your land, away from your people and from your father’s household, to the land that I {YHWH, Personal Divine Guidance} will show you.”
2 And I {YHWH, Faithful Promise Giver} will make you become a great nation {goy: gathered covenant people}, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great; and you will be a blessing.
3 And I {YHWH, Covenant Guarantor} will bless those who bless you, and the one who calls down harm on you I will curse; and in you all the families {mishpechot: extended clans} of the earth will be blessed.
4 So Abram went out, just as the LORD {YHWH, Promise-Giver} had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years {ben-chamesh shanim ve-shiv'im shanah: Hebrew age formula} old when he departed from Haran.
5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions {rekhusham: accumulated goods} that they had acquired, and the persons {nefesh: living beings} they had assembled in Haran; and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they entered the land of Canaan.
6 And Abram passed through the land as far as the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth {elon: prominent tree} of Moreh. At that time, the Canaanite {haKenaani: indigenous inhabitant} was in the land.
7 And the LORD {YHWH, Giver of Inheritance} appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring {zar'a: covenant descendants} I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
8 And he moved from there toward the hill country, 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 {YHWH, Worship Receiver}, and he called upon the name {shem: identity and reputation} of the LORD.
9 So Abram {Avram: promise bearer} continued on, journeying {halokh: steady advance} and traveling toward the Negev.
10 And it happened that there was a famine {raav: severe scarcity} in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn {lagur: stay as foreigner} there, because the famine was severe in the land.
11 And it happened, as he drew near to enter Egypt {Mitsrayim: powerful foreign realm}, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Behold, please, I have come to know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance {yefat: possessing striking beauty}.”
12 And it will happen that when the Egyptians {Mitsrim: dominant river empire} see you, they will say, “This is his wife.” Then they will kill me, but they will let you live {yechayu: deliberately spare}.
13 Please say that you are my sister {achoti: close kinship}, so that it will go well with me on account of you, and my soul {nefesh: life essence} will live because of you.
14 And it came to pass, when Abram {Avram: traveling patriarch} came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful {yafah: striking physical beauty}.
15 And Pharaoh's officials {sarei: court nobles} saw her and praised her to Pharaoh, and the woman was taken {vatukkach: seized without choice} into the house of Pharaoh.
16 And to Abram he did good {heytiv: bestowed generous favor} because of her, and there came to be for him flocks {tson: substantial small livestock}, cattle, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
17 But the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge} afflicted Pharaoh and his household with great plagues {negaim: severe strikes} because of Sarai, the wife of Abram.
18 Then Pharaoh {Paroh: Egyptian king} called for Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she is your wife {ishtekha: covenant partner}?”
19 Why did you say, “She is my sister {akhoti: claimed family identity},” so that I took her for myself as a wife {ishah: legal marital bond}? And now, behold—your wife. Take her and go.
20 Then Pharaoh {paroh: Egyptian ruler} gave orders concerning him to men {anashim: court attendants}, and they escorted him away with his wife and all that belonged to him.