Genesis 12:17

Memory Verse

And the LORD struck Pharaoh with a great strike and his house upon the matter of Sarai, Abram’s wife (Genesis 12:17).

While Abram passed through the land God declared for his descendants, he traveled to a mountain east of Bethel. There, he placed an altar to the LORD (Genesis 12:8). Bethel was previously called Luz, which Abram renamed the house of God (Genesis 28:19). Scholars and archaeologists identify this site with the modern-day village of Beitin in the West Bank. This is about 14 miles from Bethlehem.

Due to a severe famine in the land, Abram journeyed to Egypt. There, God kept His word to bless those who bless him and curse those who curse him. As they enter Egypt, Abram is concerned about the beauty of his wife. He asks her to say she is his sister to protect his life (Genesis 12:11–12). When the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they took her to Pharaoh (Genesis 12:15). Although Pharaoh treated Abram well, God struck Pharaoh and his household with a great strike because Pharaoh had taken Sarai. This strike, sometimes called a plague, means sores on the body (Leviticus 13:3). It does not refer to the plagues God later brought upon Egypt before releasing Israel (Exodus 9:14).When Pharaoh realizes the cause of his household’s illness, he sends Abram away with all his possessions and wife (Genesis 12:18–20).