4
So Abramוַ אַבְרָםwent,יֵּלֶךְjust asכַּאֲשֶׁרYHWHיְהוָהhad told him,דִּבֶּר אֵלָיוand Lotוַ לוֹטwentיֵּלֶךְwith him.אִתּוֹAbramוְאַבְרָםwasבֶּןseventy-fiveחָמֵשׁ וְשִׁבְעִיםyears oldשָׁנִים שָׁנָהwhen he went outבְּצֵאתוֹfrom Haran.מֵחָרָן
Genesis 12:4
Study it in the app“So Abram went, just as YHWH had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he went out from Haran.”
With the Hebrew beneath
Genesis 12:4, word by word
- So Abramאַבְרָםavram
Abram
Abram, the name of Abraham before God changed it (Genesis 17:5). It means "exalted father".
Where else “avram” appears- wentיֵּלֶךְyelech
go
To head for a place, to leave where one is in order to reach another.
Where else “yelech” appears- YHWHיְהוָהyehva
YHWH
The personal name of the God of Israel, written in Hebrew with four letters, Y-H-W-H, without vowels. Out of reverence Jews stopped pronouncing it and read "Adonai" (Lord), so many Bibles put "the LORD" or "Jehovah". This translation keeps the four letters. The name is related to the verb "to be" (Exodus 3:14-15). He is not a god other than Elohim: "YHWH Elohim" is the same Creator God, called by his name.
Where else “yehva” appears- had told himדִּבֶּרdiber
speak
To speak, say something; above all God to his people.
Where else “diber” appears- and Lotלוֹטlot
Lot
Lot, nephew of Abram, son of Haran; he settled in Sodom and was saved from its destruction. Father of Moab and Ammon.
Where else “lot” appears- wasבֶּןben
years old
To give someone's age, how long they have lived.
Where else “ben” appears- seventy-fiveחָמֵשׁchamesh
five
Five.
Where else “chamesh” appears- seventy-fiveשִׁבְעִיםshivim
seventy
Seventy.
Where else “shivim” appears- years oldשָׁנִיםshanim
age
The years of a person's life.
Where else “shanim” appears- when he went outצֵאתtset
go out
To go out of a place.
Where else “tset” appears- from Haranחָרָןcharan
Haran
See it on the mapWhere else “charan” appears
Places in this verse
Haran
Today: Harran, southern Turkey, near Syria
A city in northern Mesopotamia, in what is now southern Turkey near the Syrian border.
Abram stopped there with his family and left at seventy-five at God's command (Gen 12:4). Jacob fled there and worked for Laban (Gen 28:10; 29:4).
The context
3I will bless those who bless you, and the one who treats you with contempt I will curse; and in you all the families of the ground will be blessed.”
4 · This verse (above)
5Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot the son of his brother, all their possessions that they had gathered, and the persons that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. And they came to the land of Canaan.
To study Genesis 12 in a group
1. What it says
What did YHWH command and promise Abram, and what did he do (vv. 1-4)?
2. What it means
What does it mean that in Abram all the families of the earth will be blessed (v. 3)?
3. How I live it
What step of trust can you take today, even without seeing the whole road, as Abram did?