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JANUARY 6
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Lot. And Haran died before his father Terah 7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said,
in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans. “To your descendants I will give this land.”
29 Then Abram and Nahor took wives: the And there he built an altar to the LORD, who
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name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name had appeared to him. And he moved from
of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he
the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah. pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai
30 But Sarai was barren; she had no child. on the east; there he built an altar to the LORD
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31 And Terah took his son Abram and his and called on the name of the LORD. So Abram
grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his journeyed, going on still toward the South.
daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, 10 Now there was a famine in the land, and
and they went out with them from Ur of the Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for
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Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and the famine was severe in the land. And it
they came to Haran and dwelt there. So the came to pass, when he was close to entering
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days of Terah were two hundred and five Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Indeed I
years, and Terah died in Haran. know that you are a woman of beautiful coun-
12 Now the LORD had said to Abram: tenance. Therefore it will happen, when the
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Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is
“Get out of your country, his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let
From your family you live. Please say you are my sister, that it
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And from your father’s house, may be well with me for your sake, and that I
To a land that I will show you. may live because of you.”
2 I will make you a great nation; 14 So it was, when Abram came into Egypt,
I will bless you that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she
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And make your name great; was very beautiful. The princes of Pharaoh
And you shall be a blessing. also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh.
3 I will bless those who bless you, And the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house.
And I will curse him who curses you; 16 He treated Abram well for her sake. He had
And in you all the families of the earth sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female
shall be blessed.” servants, female donkeys, and camels.
17 But the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his
4 So Abram departed as the LORD had spo-
ken to him, and Lot went with him. And house with great plagues because of Sarai,
Abram’s wife. And Pharaoh called Abram
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Abram was seventy-five years old when he
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departed from Haran. Then Abram took Sarai and said, “What is this you have done to me?
Why did you not tell me that she was your
his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their wife? Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’? I
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possessions that they had gathered, and the might have taken her as my wife. Now there-
people whom they had acquired in Haran, and fore, here is your wife; take her and go your
they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So way.” So Pharaoh commanded his men con-
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they came to the land of Canaan. Abram passed cerning him; and they sent him away, with his
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through the land to the place of Shechem, as far wife and all that he had.
as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the
Canaanites were then in the land. Psalm 4:1–3
To the Chief Musician. With stringed instruments.
A Psalm of David.
12:1–3 the LORD…to Abram. This passage H ear me when I call, O God of my
contains the promise whose fulfillment righteousness!
extends all through Scripture. It is an everlast-
ing covenant which includes four compo-
nents: 1) seed (see Gal. 3:8,16, referring to
Christ); 2) land (15:18–21; 17:8); 3) a nation
(12:2; 17:4); and 4) divine blessing and protec- 4:1 O God of my righteousness.The ultimate
tion (12:3). The covenant is unconditional in basis for divine intervention is God’s righ-
the sense of its ultimate fulfillment of a king- teousness,not the psalmist’s (see Jer.23:6).dis-
dom and salvation.It has great national impor- tress. This word describes the psalmist in
tance to Israel, as magnified by repeated refer- painful situations. When he says “You have
ences in the Old Testament, and great spiritual relieved me,” he conveys the picture that God
importance to all believers. has provided space for him.

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