Abram goes through Egypt, tells everyone his wife is his sister so that they won't kill him, and Egypt is plagued because Pharaoh apparently took Sarai (Abram's wife) as his own wife in exchange for decent treatment. Anyway, after they Abram receives a land of inheritance from the Lord and splits up with Lot (his nephew) due to some issues among their cattle herdsmen. Lot gets captured in battle and Abram and his men rescue him and take spoils. Melchizedek blesses Abram and Abram pays tithes to Melchizedek, who is "the priest of the most high God". The king of Sodom suggests Abram take all the spoils of the rescue but Abram refuses on what seems to be an attempt to not be later called into debt by the king of Sodom (since they were originally his riches, apparently). Abram laments that he has no offspring, and the Lord comforts him. Sarai lets Abram one of her handmaidens since Sarai does not suppose she is fertile. Hagar, the handmaiden, conceives and is told that her son Ishmael will be "a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren." Abram is given a new name, Abraham, by the Lord, as a symbol of his covenant with the Lord. Abraham is promised that his seed will prosper and cover the face of the land. They must be circumcised as a part of the covenant. Sarai receives a new name as well, Sarah, and is promised a son who will be named Isaac, with whom God promises to establish His "everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him."
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