God calls Abraham
Genesis 12:1-9
God asked Abram to leave his land and his family, and he promised to bless him and make him a great nation. Abram obeyed and set out for Canaan with Sarai and with Lot. Genesis 12:1-9
The story, in plain words
In this story, Abraham is still called Abram, and Sarah is called Sarai. God changed their names later. Genesis 17:5
One day, the Lord spoke to Abram. He asked him to leave his land, his relatives, and his father’s house. Genesis 12:1
He was to go to a land that the Lord would show him. Genesis 12:1
God promised that he would make him a great nation, that he would bless him, and that he would make his name great. Genesis 12:2 And he told him that…
The rest of the story is part of the subscription.
See the mapWhat the Bible says
Genesis 12:1-9
1And the Lord said to Abram: Go forth out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and out of thy father’s house, and come into the land which I shall shew thee. 2And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and magnify thy name, and thou shalt be blessed. 3I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee, and IN THEE shall all the kindred of the earth be blessed: 4So Abram went out as the Lord had commanded him, and Lot went with him: Abram was seventy-five years old when he went forth from Haran. 5And he took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all the substance which they had gathered, and the souls which they had gotten in Haran: and they went out to go into the land of Chanaan. And when they were come into it, 6Abram passed through the country into the place of Sichem, as far as the noble vale: now the Chanaanite was at that time in the land. 7And the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him: To thy seed will I give this land. And he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8And passing on from thence to a mountain, that was on the east side of Bethel, he there pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east; he built there also an altar to the Lord, and called upon his name. 9And Abram went forward, going, and proceeding on to the south.
Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner revision), public domain.
To talk about together
- Abram left everything he knew without really knowing where he was going. What do you think helped him set out?
- Have you ever had to start something new without knowing how it would turn out?
- For the child: if you had to move very far away, what would you take with you?