Genesis 12:1-3
What is written? (ESV)
Now the Lord said to Abram, Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
What does it say?
God told Abram to go from his home country and relatives to a land that He would show him. He promised to make from him a great nation and make his name great, blessing him so that he would be a blessing. God would show favor to those that showed favor to him and curse those that dishonored him, and all the people of the earth would be blessed through him.
What is its immediate context?
Abram has just been introduced in the Bible narrative. Born of Terah in Ur of the Chaldeans and married to Sarai (11:31). Genesis 12 begins accounting for a period known as the “Patriarchs”, or the “Patriarchal Dispensation”, beginning with Abraham. Approximately 2,000 years have passed since Creation (Genesis 1).
How Genesis 12:1-3 is applied across Bible answers
What was God’s plan for a savior?
God promises Abraham an offspring who would form a great nation through which all people would be blessed.
