He believed in the LORD, who credited it to him for righteousness.Gen 15:6
“Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran became the father of Lot” (Gen 11:27). Haran died in Ur of the Chaldees, the land of his birth (Gen 11:28). Abram married Sarai (Gen 11:29), and “Sarai was barren. She had no child” (Gen 11:30).
Terah took Abram, Sarai, and his grandson Lot; “They went from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan. They came to Haran and lived there” (Gen 11:31). “The days of Terah were two hundred five years. Terah died in Haran” (Gen 11:32).
The LORD said to Abram, “Leave your country, and your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you” (Gen 12:1), and, “All the families of the earth will be blessed through you” (Gen 12:3). “So Abram went, as the LORD had told him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran” (Gen 12:4).
At Shechem in the land of Canaan, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I will give this land to your offspring” (Gen 12:7). He built an altar there, and another between Bethel and Ai, where he “called on the LORD’s name” (Gen 12:8).
“There was a famine in the land. Abram went down into Egypt to live as a foreigner there, for the famine was severe in the land” (Gen 12:10). As they came near Egypt, he said to Sarai, “It will happen that when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ They will kill me, but they will save you alive. Please say that you are my sister” (Gen 12:12–13).
Sarai “was taken into Pharaoh’s house” (Gen 12:15). “The LORD afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife” (Gen 12:17). Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this that you have done to me? Why didn’t you tell me that she was your wife?” (Gen 12:18). Then he had them escorted away (Gen 12:20).
Abram came back from Egypt to the place between Bethel and Ai, “to the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first. There Abram called on the LORD’s name” (Gen 13:4). He and Lot both had great possessions; “The land was not able to bear them” (Gen 13:6), and their herdsmen quarreled (Gen 13:7).
Abram said to Lot, “Please, let there be no strife between you and me … for we are relatives” (Gen 13:8); “If you go to the left hand, then I will go to the right” (Gen 13:9). Lot chose the plain of the Jordan and “moved his tent as far as Sodom” (Gen 13:12). After Lot left, the LORD said to Abram, “I will give all the land which you see to you and to your offspring forever” (Gen 13:15). Abram moved to the oaks of Mamre in Hebron, “and built an altar there to the LORD” (Gen 13:18).
In a war between kings, Lot, who was living in Sodom, was taken captive (Gen 14:12). “When Abram heard that his relative was taken captive, he led out his three hundred eighteen trained men, born in his house, and pursued as far as Dan” (Gen 14:14), and brought back Lot and his goods, the women, and the people (Gen 14:16).
On his return, “Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High” (Gen 14:18). He blessed Abram, and “Abram gave him a tenth of all” (Gen 14:20). When the king of Sodom offered him the goods, he said, “I will not take a thread nor a sandal strap nor anything that is yours” (Gen 14:23).
“After these things the LORD’s word came to Abram in a vision, saying, ‘Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward’” (Gen 15:1). Abram said, “what will you give me, since I go childless” (Gen 15:2). The LORD brought him outside and said, “count the stars, if you are able to count them,” and, “So your offspring will be” (Gen 15:5). “He believed in the LORD, who credited it to him for righteousness” (Gen 15:6). “In that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram” (Gen 15:18).
After Abram had lived ten years in Canaan (Gen 16:3), Sarai gave him her Egyptian servant Hagar. When Hagar conceived, “her mistress was despised in her eyes”; Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled (Gen 16:4, 6). The LORD’s angel found her by a fountain in the wilderness and said, “the LORD has heard your affliction” (Gen 16:11). She called the LORD “You are a God who sees” (Gen 16:13). “Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram” (Gen 16:16).
“When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty’” (Gen 17:1). The LORD said, “Your name will no more be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations” (Gen 17:5); Sarai’s name would be Sarah (Gen 17:15). The males of his household were to be circumcised, “a token of the covenant between me and you” (Gen 17:11). When the LORD said Sarah would bear a son, “Abraham fell on his face, and laughed” (Gen 17:17).
Later the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre (Gen 18:1). He saw three men, ran to meet them, and prepared bread and a calf for them (Gen 18:2–8). The visitor said, “I will certainly return to you at about this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son” (Gen 18:10). “Sarah laughed within herself” (Gen 18:12). The LORD said, “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” (Gen 18:14).
The LORD said, “Will I hide from Abraham what I do” (Gen 18:17). Abraham pleaded for Sodom, from fifty down to ten: “Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen 18:25). The LORD said, “I will not destroy it for the ten’s sake” (Gen 18:32).
Sodom was destroyed. “When God destroyed the cities of the plain, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the middle of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived” (Gen 19:29). “Abraham went up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD” (Gen 19:27); he looked toward Sodom, “and saw that the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace” (Gen 19:28).
Abraham stayed in Gerar, and again “Abraham said about Sarah his wife, ‘She is my sister.’ Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah” (Gen 20:2). God warned Abimelech in a dream (Gen 20:3). Abimelech said to Abraham, “You have done deeds to me that ought not to be done!” (Gen 20:9). Abraham said, “Because I thought, ‘Surely the fear of God is not in this place. They will kill me for my wife’s sake’” (Gen 20:11), and, “Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother” (Gen 20:12). Abimelech restored Sarah to him; “Abraham prayed to God. So God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants” (Gen 20:14, 17).
“The LORD visited Sarah as he had said” (Gen 21:1). “Abraham was one hundred years old when his son, Isaac, was born to him” (Gen 21:5). Sarah said, “God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me” (Gen 21:6).
On the day Isaac was weaned, Sarah wanted Hagar and her son cast out (Gen 21:8–10). “The thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight on account of his son” (Gen 21:11). God said to him, “I will also make a nation of the son of the servant, because he is your child” (Gen 21:13). Abraham rose early, gave Hagar bread and a container of water, and sent her and the boy away (Gen 21:14). In the wilderness, “God heard the voice of the boy” (Gen 21:17) and opened Hagar’s eyes to see a well (Gen 21:19). “God was with the boy, and he grew. He lived in the wilderness, and as he grew up, he became an archer” (Gen 21:20).
Later Abraham and Abimelech swore an oath at Beersheba (Gen 21:31). “Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God” (Gen 21:33).
“After these things, God tested Abraham” (Gen 22:1), telling him to take Isaac to the land of Moriah and offer him as a burnt offering (Gen 22:2). Isaac asked, “where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” (Gen 22:7). Abraham said, “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son” (Gen 22:8). At the place, the LORD’s angel called to him out of the sky: “Don’t lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him” (Gen 22:12). Abraham saw a ram and “offered him up for a burnt offering instead of his son” (Gen 22:13), and named the place “The LORD Will Provide” (Gen 22:14).
“Sarah lived one hundred twenty-seven years” (Gen 23:1). She died at Hebron, and “Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her” (Gen 23:2). He said to the Hittites, “I am a stranger and a foreigner living with you” (Gen 23:4), bought the field and cave of Machpelah, and buried Sarah there (Gen 23:19).
“Abraham was old, and well advanced in age. The LORD had blessed Abraham in all things” (Gen 24:1). He sent his oldest servant back to his own country and relatives, to “take a wife for my son Isaac” (Gen 24:4). The servant brought back Rebekah; “So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death” (Gen 24:67).
Abraham took another wife, Keturah, who bore him six sons (Gen 25:1–2). “Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac” (Gen 25:5). “These are the days of the years of Abraham’s life which he lived: one hundred seventy-five years” (Gen 25:7). He “died at a good old age, an old man, and full of years, and was gathered to his people” (Gen 25:8). “Isaac and Ishmael, his sons, buried him in the cave of Machpelah” (Gen 25:9); “Abraham was buried there with Sarah, his wife” (Gen 25:10).
The first verse of the New Testament reads: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matt 1:1).
Jesus said to the Jews, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and was glad” (John 8:56).
Paul quotes Genesis: “For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness’” (Rom 4:3).
Hebrews says: “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out to the place which he was to receive for an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he went” (Heb 11:8); “For he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb 11:10).
James says: “So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness,’ and he was called the friend of God” (Jas 2:23).
Genesis It begins at the beginning; Abraham’s life is told in 11:27 – 25:11.
7 lessons, for personal study or small groups. Leader guide →
Scripture: World English Bible.