The Birth of a Nation Abraham to Joseph

Now about 400 years after the Great Flood, God appeared to a man named Abram, who lived in the Middle East, in a city called Ur.

Abram’s home was in a city called Ur. There God appeared to him.

God said to him, “Leave your country and your relatives, and travel to a land that I will show you. There I will make a great nation from you, and I will bless you, and make your name great; I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you: and through you shall all families of the Earth be blessed.”

So Abram departed, as the Lord had instructed, and entered into the land of Canaan.

God said to Abram; “Look at the heavens, and count the stars if you are able. In the same way, your descendants shall be countless.”

And again the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, “I give this land to your descendants; Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able. In the same way, your descendants shall be countless.”

Even though Abram and his wife, Sarai, had no children, Abram believed God; and God counted Abram’s faith as righteousness.

Then Abram said, “Lord God, how can I know that I will inherit this land?”

And God answered Abram, “It will happen like this. Your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and they will be mistreated for 400 years. A nation will use them as slaves, but I will judge that nation, and afterward your descendants will come out with great wealth, and by the fourth generation they shall return to this land.”