Lech-LechaGo for yourself

1Reading 1 Genesis 12:1–13Chapter page with footnotes →

The Call of Abram

^12:1And the LORD said to Abram: "Go for yourself from your land, and from your kindred, and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you.

²And I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great; and be a blessing.

³And I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and in you shall be blessed all the families of the ground."

⁴And Abram went, as the LORD had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. And Abram was a son of five and seventy years when he went out from Haran. ⁵And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions which they had gathered, and the soul which they had made in Haran; and they went out to go to the land of Canaan, and they came to the land of Canaan. ⁶And Abram passed through the land, as far as the place of Shechem, as far as the oak of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.

⁷And the LORD appeared to Abram, and said: "To your seed I will give this land." And he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

⁸And he moved from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and he built there an altar to the LORD, and he called on the name of the LORD.

⁹And Abram journeyed, going on and journeying, toward the Negev.

Abram and Sarai in Egypt

¹⁰And there was a famine in the land; and Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was heavy in the land. ¹¹And it came to pass, when he had come near to enter Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife: "Behold now, I know that you are a woman beautiful of appearance. ¹²And it shall be, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, 'This is his wife,' and they will kill me, but you they will keep alive. ¹³Say, I pray, that you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and my soul may live because of you."

2Reading 2 Genesis 12:14–13:4Chapter page with footnotes →

^12:14And it came to pass, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful. ¹⁵And the princes of Pharaoh saw her, and they praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken to the house of Pharaoh. ¹⁶And he dealt well with Abram for her sake; and he had sheep, and oxen, and male donkeys, and male servants, and female servants, and female donkeys, and camels.

¹⁷And the LORD plagued Pharaoh with great plagues, and his house, because of the matter of Sarai, Abram's wife. ¹⁸And Pharaoh called Abram, and said: "What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? ¹⁹Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her to myself for a wife? And now, behold your wife; take her and go."

²⁰And Pharaoh commanded men concerning him; and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.

Abram and Lot Part Ways

^13:1And Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, toward the Negev. ²And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.

³And he went on his journeys from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, ⁴to the place of the altar which he had made there at the first; and Abram called there on the name of the LORD.

3Reading 3 Genesis 13:5–18Chapter page with footnotes →

^13:5And also to Lot, who went with Abram, there were flocks and herds and tents. ⁶And the land did not bear them to dwell together, for their possessions were great, and they were not able to dwell together. ⁷And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's cattle and the herdsmen of Lot's cattle. And the Canaanite and the Perizzite were then dwelling in the land.

⁸And Abram said to Lot, "Let there be no strife, I pray, between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are men, brothers. ⁹Is not all the land before you? Separate yourself, I pray, from me. If to the left, then I will go to the right; and if to the right, then I will go to the left."

Lot Proceeds toward Sodom

¹⁰And Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw all the plain of the Jordan, that all of it was well-watered — before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah — like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as you come to Zoar. ¹¹And Lot chose for himself all the plain of the Jordan; and Lot journeyed from the east; and they separated themselves, a man from his brother.

¹²Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and he moved his tent as far as Sodom. ¹³And the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners against the LORD exceedingly.

God Renews the Promise to Abram

¹⁴And the LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: "Lift up now your eyes, and see from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, ¹⁵for all the land which you see, to you I will give it, and to your seed for ever.

¹⁶And I will make your seed as the dust of the earth, so that, if a man is able to number the dust of the earth, then your seed also shall be numbered. ¹⁷Arise, walk through the land, to its length and to its breadth, for to you I will give it.

¹⁸And Abram moved his tent, and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron; and he built there an altar to the LORD.

4Reading 4 Genesis 14:1–20Chapter page with footnotes →

The War of the Kings

^14:1And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, ²they made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).

³All these joined together at the Vale of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea). ⁴Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

⁵And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, and they smote the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim, ⁶and the Horites in their mountain Seir, as far as El-paran, which is by the wilderness. ⁷And they turned back and came to En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they smote all the field of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who dwelt in Hazazon-tamar.

⁸And the king of Sodom went out, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar), and they set a battle in array with them in the Vale of Siddim: ⁹with Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar — four kings against the five.

Abram Rescues Lot

¹⁰And the Vale of Siddim was full of pits of bitumen; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell there, and those who remained fled to the mountain.

¹¹And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their food, and went their way. ¹²And they took Lot, the son of Abram's brother, and his goods, and departed; for he was dwelling in Sodom.

¹³And there came one who had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; and he was dwelling by the terebinths of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner; and these were masters of a covenant with Abram. ¹⁴And Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, and he led out his trained men, born of his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued as far as Dan.

¹⁵And he divided himself against them by night, he and his servants, and he smote them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is on the left of Damascus. ¹⁶And he brought back all the goods, and also Lot his brother and his goods he brought back, and also the women and the people.

Melchizedek Blesses Abram

¹⁷And the king of Sodom went out to meet him, after his return from smiting Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, at the Vale of Shaveh (that is, the King's Vale).

¹⁸And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; and he was priest of God Most High. ¹⁹And he blessed him, and said, "Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth;

²⁰and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your adversaries into your hand." And he gave him a tenth of all.

5Reading 5 Genesis 14:21–15:6Chapter page with footnotes →

^14:21And the king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the soul, and take the goods for yourself."

²²And Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have lifted up my hand to the LORD, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, ²³if from a thread even to a sandal-strap, and if I take from anything that is yours — lest you should say, I have made Abram rich; ²⁴apart from me — only what the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion."

God’s Covenant with Abram

^15:1After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Fear not, Abram; I am a shield to you, your reward is exceedingly great."

²And Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what will you give me, seeing I go childless, and the son of the possession of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" ³And Abram said, "Behold, to me you have given no seed, and behold, a son of my house is inheriting me."

⁴And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "This one shall not inherit you; but one who comes out from your own bowels, he shall inherit you." ⁵And he brought him outside, and said, "Look now toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them." And he said to him, "So shall your seed be."

⁶And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

6Reading 6 Genesis 15:7–17:6Chapter page with footnotes →

^15:7And he said to him, "I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it."

God Confirms His Promise

⁸And he said, "O Lord GOD, by what shall I know that I shall inherit it?"

⁹And he said to him, "Take for me a heifer three years old, and a she-goat three years old, and a ram three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon."

¹⁰And he took for him all these, and divided them in the middle, and laid each piece opposite its fellow; but the bird he did not divide. ¹¹And the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. ¹²And it came to pass, as the sun was going down, that a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, a dread, a great darkness, was falling upon him.

¹³And he said to Abram, "Knowing you shall know that your seed shall be a sojourner in a land not theirs, and they shall serve them, and they shall afflict them four hundred years; ¹⁴and also the nation whom they shall serve, I am judging; and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. ¹⁵And you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. ¹⁶And in the fourth generation they shall return here; for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete."

¹⁷And it came to pass, when the sun had gone down and there was thick darkness, that behold, a smoking furnace and a torch of fire that passed between these pieces. ¹⁸In that day the LORD cut a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your seed I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates: ¹⁹the Kenite, and the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite, ²⁰and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Rephaim, ²¹and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite."

Hagar and Ishmael

^16:1Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children; and she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, and her name was Hagar. ²And Sarai said to Abram, "Behold now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing; go in, I pray you, to my handmaid; perhaps I shall be built up from her." And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. ³And Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, at the end of ten years of Abram's dwelling in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband, to him for a wife. ⁴And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and she saw that she had conceived, and her mistress was diminished in her eyes.

⁵And Sarai said to Abram, "My wrong is upon you! I gave my handmaid into your bosom, and she saw that she had conceived, and I was diminished in her eyes. The LORD judge between me and you."

⁶And Abram said to Sarai, "Behold, your handmaid is in your hand; do to her what is good in your eyes." And Sarai afflicted her, and she fled from her face.

⁷And the messenger of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. ⁸And he said, "Hagar, handmaid of Sarai, from where have you come, and where are you going?" And she said, "I am fleeing from the face of Sarai my mistress."

⁹And the messenger of the LORD said to her, "Return to your mistress, and humble yourself under her hands." ¹⁰And the messenger of the LORD said to her, "Multiplying I will multiply your seed, and it shall not be counted for multitude."

¹¹And the messenger of the LORD said to her, "Behold, you are with child, and shall bear a son, and you shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has heard your affliction.

¹²And he shall be a wild ass of a man; his hand against all, and the hand of all against him; and in the face of all his brothers he shall dwell."

¹³And she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, "You are God who sees me"; for she said, "Have I even here seen after him who sees me?" ¹⁴Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵And Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. ¹⁶And Abram was eighty years and six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

Abraham to Father Many Nations

^17:1And Abram was a son of ninety years and nine years, and the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. ²And I will give my covenant between me and between you, and will multiply you exceedingly, exceedingly."

³And Abram fell upon his face, and God spoke with him, saying, ⁴"As for me, behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall become a father of a multitude of nations. ⁵And your name shall no more be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for a father of a multitude of nations I have made you.

⁶And I will make you exceedingly, exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come out of you.

7Reading 7 Genesis 17:7–27Chapter page with footnotes →

^17:7And I will establish my covenant between me and between you and between your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your seed after you.

⁸And I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God."

The Covenant of Circumcision

⁹And God said to Abraham, "And you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your seed after you throughout their generations. ¹⁰This is my covenant which you shall keep, between me and you and between your seed after you: every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between me and you.

¹²And a son of eight days shall be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money from any son of a foreigner, who is not of your seed. ¹³He that is born in your house, and he that is bought with your money, must surely be circumcised; and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.

¹⁴And an uncircumcised male, who does not circumcise the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his peoples; he has broken my covenant."

¹⁵And God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, for Sarah is her name. ¹⁶And I will bless her, and moreover I will give to you a son from her; and I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall be from her."

¹⁷And Abraham fell upon his face and laughed, and said in his heart, "Shall a child be born to one who is a son of a hundred years? And shall Sarah, who is a daughter of ninety years, bear?" ¹⁸And Abraham said to God, "Oh that Ishmael might live before you!"

¹⁹And God said, "Truly, Sarah your wife is bearing you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him. ²⁰And as for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly, exceedingly; twelve princes he shall beget, and I will make him into a great nation. ²¹But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this appointed time (mo-ed) in the next year."

²²And he finished speaking with him, and God went up from upon Abraham.

²³And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the very same day, as God had spoken with him.

²⁴And Abraham was a son of ninety years and nine years when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁵And Ishmael his son was a son of thirteen years when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁶In the very same day Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son. ²⁷And all the men of his house, born in the house and bought with money from a son of a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

PIsaiah 40:27–41:16Chapter page with footnotes →

^40:27Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel: My way is hidden from the LORD, and my judgment passes away from my God?

²⁸Do you not know? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not faint nor is weary; there is no searching of his understanding.

²⁹He gives power to the faint, and to him that has no might he increases strength.

³⁰Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall utterly fall;

³¹but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

God’s Help to Israel

^41:1Keep silence before me, O coastlands, and let the peoples renew their strength; let them draw near, then let them speak; let us come near together for judgment.

²Who raised up one from the east, whom righteousness calls to his foot? He gives nations before him, and makes him rule over kings; he makes his sword like dust, his bow like driven stubble.

³He pursues them, he passes on in peace; a path his feet have not gone.

⁴Who has worked and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD, the first, and with the last, I am he.

⁵The coastlands saw and feared, the ends of the earth trembled; they drew near and came.

⁶Each man helps his neighbor, and to his brother he says: Be strong.

⁷So the craftsman encourages the goldsmith, and he that smooths with the hammer him that strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering: It is good; and he fastens it with nails that it should not be moved.

⁸But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend;

⁹you whom I took hold of from the ends of the earth, and from its corners I called you, and I said to you: You are my servant, I have chosen you and not rejected you.

¹⁰Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God; I strengthen you, yea I help you, yea I uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.

¹¹Behold, all those incensed against you shall be ashamed and confounded; the men of your contention shall be as nothing and shall perish.

¹²You shall seek them and not find them, the men of your strife; the men of your war shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.

¹³For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand, who say to you: Do not fear, I help you.

¹⁴Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel; I help you, says the LORD, and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁵Behold, I have made you a new threshing sledge with sharp teeth; you shall thresh the mountains and crush them, and make the hills like chaff.

¹⁶You shall winnow them, and the spirit shall carry them away, and a whirlwind shall scatter them; and you shall rejoice in the LORD, in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.

AHebrews 11:8–16Chapter page with footnotes →

The Faith of Abraham and Sarah

^11:8By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance, and he went out, not knowing where he was going. ⁹By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.

¹¹By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, and she gave birth even when she was past the age for it, since she considered Him faithful who had promised. ¹²Therefore from one man — and him as good as dead — were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as innumerable as the grains of sand by the seashore.

¹³These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

¹⁴For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. ¹⁵If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had appointed time to return. ¹⁶But as it is, they desire a better homeland — that is, a heavenly one; therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.