Bible: 1 Cor 5:12; 8:13; 10:28-11:1; 12:31-13:3; 13:11-12; 14:11, 14, 18

5:12 For what do I have to do with judging those outside? Are you not to judge those inside?

8:13 In Noah’s six hundred and first year, 1  in the first day of the first month, the waters had dried up from the earth, and Noah removed the covering from the ark and saw that 2  the surface of the ground was dry.

10:28 Obal, 1  Abimael, 2  Sheba, 3  10:29 Ophir, 4  Havilah, 5  and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan. 10:30 Their dwelling place was from Mesha all the way to 6  Sephar in the eastern hills. 10:31 These are the sons of Shem according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, and according to their nations.

10:32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, by their nations, and from these the nations spread 7  over the earth after the flood.

The Dispersion of the Nations at Babel

11:1 The whole earth 8  had a common language and a common vocabulary. 9 

The Obedience of Abram

12:1 Now the Lord said 1  to Abram, 2 

“Go out 3  from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household

to the land that I will show you. 4 

12:2 Then I will make you 5  into a great nation, and I will bless you, 6 

and I will make your name great, 7 

so that you will exemplify divine blessing. 8 

12:3 I will bless those who bless you, 9 

but the one who treats you lightly 10  I must curse,

and all the families of the earth will bless one another 11  by your name.”

12:4 So Abram left, 12  just as the Lord had told him to do, 13  and Lot went with him. (Now 14  Abram was 75 years old 15  when he departed from Haran.) 12:5 And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew 16  Lot, and all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired 17  in Haran, and they left for 18  the land of Canaan. They entered the land of Canaan.

12:6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the oak tree 19  of Moreh 20  at Shechem. 21  (At that time the Canaanites were in the land.) 22  12:7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants 23  I will give this land.” So Abram 24  built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

12:8 Then he moved from there to the hill country east of Bethel 25  and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and worshiped the Lord. 26  12:9 Abram continually journeyed by stages 27  down to the Negev. 28 

The Promised Blessing Jeopardized

12:10 There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt 29  to stay for a while 30  because the famine was severe. 31  12:11 As he approached 32  Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, 33  I know that you are a beautiful woman. 34  12:12 When the Egyptians see you they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will keep you alive. 35  12:13 So tell them 36  you are my sister 37  so that it may go well 38  for me because of you and my life will be spared 39  on account of you.”

12:14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 12:15 When Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. So Abram’s wife 40  was taken 41  into the household of Pharaoh, 42  12:16 and he did treat Abram well 43  on account of her. Abram received 44  sheep and cattle, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

12:17 But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with severe diseases 45  because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 12:18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram and said, “What is this 46  you have done to me? Why didn’t you tell me that she was your wife? 12:19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her 47  to be my wife? 48  Here is your wife! 49  Take her and go! 50  12:20 Pharaoh gave his men orders about Abram, 51  and so they expelled him, along with his wife and all his possessions.

Abram’s Solution to the Strife

13:1 So Abram went up from Egypt into the Negev. 52  He took his wife and all his possessions with him, as well as Lot. 53  13:2 (Now Abram was very wealthy 54  in livestock, silver, and gold.) 55 

13:3 And he journeyed from place to place 56  from the Negev as far as Bethel. 57  He returned 58  to the place where he had pitched his tent 59  at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai.

13:11 Lot chose for himself the whole region of the Jordan and traveled 1  toward the east.

So the relatives separated from each other. 2  13:12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled among the cities of the Jordan plain 3  and pitched his tents next to Sodom.

14:11 The four victorious kings 1  took all the possessions and food of Sodom and Gomorrah and left. 14:14 When Abram heard that his nephew 2  had been taken captive, he mobilized 3  his 318 trained men who had been born in his household, and he pursued the invaders 4  as far as Dan. 5  14:18 Melchizedek king of Salem 6  brought out bread and wine. (Now he was the priest of the Most High God.) 7 
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