Having looked at the Genesis accounts of the beginning of the world, we now move on to the second section of the E100 Challenge. We’re still in Genesis, but our next few passages look at some well-known biblical characters: Abram, Issac, Jacob and Esau.

Our first passage in this section is Genesis 12:1-12:20Genesis 12:1-12:20
English: Contemporary English Version (UK) - CEV-UK
The Lord chooses Abram ^{12 1} The Lord said to Abram: : ; . Leave your country, your family, and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you. ² I will bless you and make your descendants into a great nation. You will become famous and be a blessing to others. ³ I will bless anyone who blesses you, but I will put a curse on anyone who puts a curse on you. Everyone on earth will be blessed because of you. Everyone...you: Or “Everyone on earth will ask me to bless them as I have blessed you.” : . ⁴-⁵ Abram was seventy-five years old when the Lord told him to leave the city of Haran. He obeyed and left with his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions and slaves they had got while in Haran. When they came to the land of Canaan, ⁶ Abram went as far as the sacred tree of Moreh in a place called Shechem. The Canaanites were still living in the land at that time, ⁷ but the Lord appeared to Abram and promised, “I will give this land to your family for ever.” Abram then built an altar there for the Lord. : ; . ⁸ Abram travelled to the hill country east of Bethel and camped between Bethel and Ai, where he built another altar and worshipped the Lord. ⁹ Later, Abram started out towards the Southern Desert. Abram in Egypt ¹⁰-¹¹ The crops failed, and there was no food anywhere in the land. So Abram and his wife Sarai went to live in Egypt for a while. But just before they got there, he said, “Sarai, you are really beautiful! ¹² When the Egyptians see how lovely you are, they will murder me because I am your husband. But they won't kill you. ¹³ Please save my life by saying that you are my sister.” : . ¹⁴ As soon as Abram and Sarai arrived in Egypt, the Egyptians noticed how beautiful she was. ¹⁵ The king's the king's: The Hebrew text has “Pharaoh's”, a Hebrew word sometimes used for the king of Egypt. officials told him about her, and she was taken to his house. ¹⁶ The king was good to Abram because of Sarai, and Abram was given sheep, cattle, donkeys, slaves, and camels. ¹⁷ Because of Sarai, the Lord struck the king and everyone in his palace with terrible diseases. ¹⁸ Finally, the king sent for Abram and said to him, “What have you done to me? Why didn't you tell me Sarai was your wife? ¹⁹ Why did you make me believe she was your sister? Now I've married her. Take her and go! She's your wife.” ²⁰ So the king told his men to let Abram and Sarai take their possessions and leave.

WP-Bible plugin, which looks at the call of Abram. Even if you know the story well, why not look at it afresh today? Maybe something will leap out from the page as your explore God’s word and discover how this fits in with the wider story we find as we reasd through the Bible.

You can find our more information about the E100 Challenge on the E100 Challenge overview page, which automatically updates with all the other passages as they go up on the site. It also gives a few helpful tips on getting the most out of studying the Bible too.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 24th, 2011 at 14:09 and is filed under E100 Challenge, Resources. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.