Study Desk

"May God enlarge [the land of] Japheth, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant."

From these, [the people of] the coastlands of the nations were separated and spread into their lands, every one according to his own language, according to their constituent groups (families), and into their nations:

The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar [in Babylonia].

Canaan became the father of Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth

Two sons were born to Eber; the name of one was Peleg (division), for [the inhabitants of] the earth were divided in his days; and his brother's name was Joktan.

After Terah had lived seventy years, he became the father of Abram and Nahor and Haran [his firstborn].

Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.

Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife; and they went out together to go from Ur of the Chaldeans into the land of Canaan; but when they came to Haran [about five hundred and fifty miles northwest of Ur], they settled there.

So Abram departed [in faithful obedience] as the LORD had directed him; and Lot [his nephew] left with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.

Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had acquired, and the people (servants) which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,

Then he moved on from there 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 [in worship through prayer, praise, and thanksgiving].

And when he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, "Listen: I know that you are a beautiful woman;

so when the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife'; and they will kill me [to acquire you], but they will let you live.

But the LORD punished Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.

So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they escorted him on his way, with his wife and all that he had.

So Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot [his nephew] with him, into the Negev (the South country of Judah).

He journeyed on from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,

Then Abram broke camp and moved his tent, and came and settled by the [grove of the great] terebinths (oak trees) of Mamre [the Amorite], which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to [honor] the LORD.

And they also took [captive] Lot, Abram's nephew, and his possessions and left, for he was living in Sodom.

When Abram heard that his nephew [Lot] had been captured, he armed and led out his trained men, born in his own house, [numbering] three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far [north] as Dan.