Hello, this is Father Paul and I'm glad we're taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year.
Yesterday we read about the promise God made to Noah after the flood and how his descendants
came and some of them began to build the Tower of Babel and how God came and confused the
tongues of the builders and how all this ended.
Today we're going to read about the first of the great patriarchs, about the early life
of Abraham who begins his life with the name Abram the son of Tyrrhan.
Alright, let's begin.
Today's reading is from Genesis chapters 12 to 15.
Chapter 12.
Now the Lord had said to Abram, Get out of your country, from your family and from your
father's house, to a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation, I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall
be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you and I will curse him who curses you, and in you all the
families of the earth shall be blessed.
So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him.
And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother's son and all their possessions that
they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran.
And they departed to go to the land of Canaan.
So they came to the land of Canaan.
Abram passed through the land to the place of Shesham, as far as the turban tree of Mori,
and the Canaanites were then in the land.
Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said to your descendants, I will give this land.
And there he built an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him, and he moved from there
to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on
the east.
There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.
So Abram journeyed going on still toward the south.
Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the
famine was severe in the land.
And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his
wife, Indeed I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance.
Therefore it will happen when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, This is his wife,
and they will kill me, but they will let you live.
Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I
may live because of you.
So it was when Abram came into Egypt that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was
very beautiful.
The princes of Pharaoh also saw her, and commended her to Pharaoh.
And the woman was taken to Pharaoh's house.
He treated Abram well for her sake.
He had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
But the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's
wife.
And Pharaoh called Abram and said, What is this you have done to me?
Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?
Why did you say she is my sister?
I might have taken her as my wife.
Now therefore here is your wife, take her and go your way.
So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all
that he had.
Chapter 13 Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his
wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the south.
Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold.
And he went on his journey from the south as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent
had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place of the altar which he
had made there at first, and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.
Lot also who went with Abram had flocks and herds and tents.
Now the land was not able to support them that they might dwell together, for their
possessions were so great that they could not dwell together.
And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of
Lot's livestock.
The Canaanites and the Perizzites then dwelt in the land.
So Abram said to Lot, Please let there be no strife between you and me and between my
herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brethren.
Is not the whole land before you?
Please separate from me.
If you take the left, then I will go to the right, or if you go to the right, then I will
go to the left.
And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere,
like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zohar.
Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east, and they separated
from each other.
Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and he pitched
his tent even as far as Sodom.
But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord.
And the Lord said to Abram, After Lot had separated from him, lift your eyes now and
look from the place where you are, northward, southward, eastward, and westward, for all
the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever, and I will make your
descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if a man could number the dust of the earth,
then your descendants also could be numbered.
Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.
Then Abram moved his tent and went and dwelt by the turban trees of Mamri, which are in
Hebron, and built an altar there to the Lord.
Chapter 14
And it came to pass in the days of Amrathal king of Shinar, Ariok king of Elysa, Kaedor
Leomar king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations, that they made war with Bera king of Sodom,
Bersha king of Gomorrah, Shinnab king of Adma, Shember king of Zeboeim, and the king of Bela,
that is Zuwar.
All these joined together in the valley of Sidim, that is the salt sea.
12 years they served Kaedor Leomar, and in the 13th year they rebelled.
In the 14th year Kaedor Leomar and the kings that were with him came and attacked the Rifayim
in Ash-Jaroth Kar Naim, the Zuzeem in Hameem, the Imim in Shave Kirya Taim, and the Horites
in their mountain of Seir, as far as El Paran which is by the wilderness.
Then they turned back and came to Ain Mishpat, that is Kaddish, and attacked all the country
of the Amalekites and also the Amorites who dwelt in Hazesan Tamar.
And the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Adma, the king of Zeboeim, and
the king of Bela, that is Zuwar, went out and joined together in battle in the valley
of Sidim against Kaedor Leomar king of Elam, Tidal king of nations, Amraphel king of Shinar,
and Eryak king of Elaser, four kings against five.
Now the valley of Sidim was full of asphalt pits, and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah
fled, some fell there and the remainder fled to the mountains.
Then they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their provisions and went
their way.
They also took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods and departed.
Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, for he dwelt by the turban trees
of Mamre the Amorite, the brother of Ishkol and the brother of Anar, and they were allies
with Abram.
Now when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his 318 trained servants
who were born in his own house, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.
He divided his forces against them by night, and he and his servants attacked them and
pursued them as far as Hoba, which is north of Damascus.
So he brought back all the goods and also brought back his brother Lot and his goods,
as well as the women and the people.
And the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the valley of Shaveh, that is the king's
valley, after his return from the defeat of Kador-Leomar and the kings who were with him.
Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine.
He was the priest of God Most High, and he blessed him and said, Blessed be Abram of
God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered
your enemies into your hand.
And he gave him a tithe of all.
Now the king of Sodom said to Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods for yourself.
But Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High,
the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will take nothing, from a thread to a sandal
strap, and that I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say I have made
Abram rich, except only what the young men have eaten, and a portion of the men who went
with me, Aner, Ishkol, and Mamri.
Let them take their portion.
Chapter 15 After these things, the word of the Lord came
to Abram in a vision, saying, Do not be afraid, Abram.
I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.
But Abram said, Lord God, what will you give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of
my house is Eleazar of Damascus?
Then Abram said, Look, you have given me no offspring.
Indeed, one born in my house is my heir.
And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, This one shall not be your heir, but
one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.
Then he brought him outside and said, Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if
you are able to number them.
And he said to him, So shall your descendants be.
Then he believed in the Lord, and he accounted it to him for righteousness.
Then he said to him, I am the Lord, who brought you out of the ore of the Chaldeans, to give
you this land to inherit it.
And he said, Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?
So he said to him, Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old
ram, a turtle dove, and a young pigeon.
Then he brought all these to him, and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each
side opposite the other.
But he did not cut the birds in two.
And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and behold, horror and great
darkness fell upon him.
Then he said to Abram, Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land
that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years.
And also the nation whom they serve I will judge.
Afterward, they shall come out with great possessions.
Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace.
You shall be buried at a good old age.
But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is
not yet complete.
And it came to pass when the sun went down, and it was dark, that behold, there appeared
a smoking oven, and a burning torch that passed between those pieces.
On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram saying, To your descendants I have given
this land, from the river of Egypt, to the great river, the river Euphrates.
The Canites, the Canizites, the Cadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,
the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebisites.
I hope you enjoyed today's reading as much as I did, and I look forward to seeing you
again tomorrow to continue on our journey.
God bless you and have a great day.