Genesis 12
Wycliffe's Bible
1Forsooth the Lord said to Abram, Go thou out of thy land, and (out) of thy kindred, and (out) of the house of thy father, and come thou into the land which I shall show to thee;

2and I shall make thee into a great folk (and I shall make thee into a great nation), and I shall bless thee, and I shall magnify thy name, and thou shalt be blessed;

3I shall bless them that bless thee, and I shall curse them that curse thee; and all kindreds of [the] earth shall be blessed in thee (and all the families on the earth shall pray to be blessed as thou art blessed/and through thee I shall bless all the nations of the earth).

4And so Abram went out, as the Lord commanded him, and Lot went with him. Abram was five and seventy years (old) when he went out of Haran. 5And he took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, the son of his brother, and all the substance which they had in possession, and the men which they had begotten in Haran (and all the men, or all the slaves, which they had gotten, or had acquired, in Haran); and they went out (so) that they should go into the land of Canaan. And when they came into it, 6Abram passed through the land till to the place of Sichem, and till to the noble valley. Forsooth Canaanite was then in the land. (And Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, and to the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land.) 7Soothly the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, I shall give this land to thy seed. And Abram built there an altar to the Lord, that appeared to him (And Abram build an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him). 8And from thence he passed forth to the hill [of] Bethel, that was against the east, and setted there his tabernacle, having Bethel from the west, and Hai from the east. And he builded also there an altar to the Lord, and inwardly called his name. (And from there he went on to the hill country that was east of Bethel, and pitched his tent there, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east. And there he also built an altar to the Lord, and inwardly called on his name.) 9And Abram went going, and going forth over to the south. (And Abram continued on, and went down to the south.)

10Soothly hunger was made in the land; and Abram went down into Egypt, to be a pilgrim there (to live there for a while), for hunger had the mastery in the land. 11And when he was nigh to enter into Egypt, he said to Sarai, his wife, I know that thou art a fair woman, 12and that when (the) Egyptians shall see thee, they shall say, It is his wife, and they shall slay me, and keep thee (and then they shall kill me, but keep thee alive). 13Therefore, I beseech thee, say that thou art my sister, that it be well to me for thee, and that my life live for the love of thee. (And so I beseech thee, say that thou art my sister, and then all shall be well with me, because of thee, and I shall remain alive, because thou hast shown thy love for me.) 14And so when Abram had entered into Egypt, (the) Egyptians saw the woman, (and) that she was full fair; 15and the princes told (about her) to Pharaoh, and praised her with him; and (so) the woman was taken up into the house of Pharaoh. 16Forsooth they used well Abram for her; and sheep, and oxen, and asses, and servants, and servantesses, and she-asses, and camels were (given) to him. (And Pharaoh treated Abram well because of her; and sheep, and oxen, and donkeys, and male and female slaves, and female donkeys, and camels were given to him.)

17Forsooth the Lord beat Pharaoh and his house with most vengeances for Sarai, the wife of Abram. (But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with great plagues, because of Sarai, the wife of Abram.) 18And Pharaoh called (for) Abram, and said to him, What is it that thou hast done to me? why showedest thou not to me that she was thy wife? 19for what cause saidest thou, that she was thy sister, (so) that I should take her into wife to me? Now therefore lo! thy wife; take thou her, and go(!). 20And Pharaoh commanded to men on Abram, and they led forth him, and his wife, and all things that he had. (And Pharaoh commanded to his men about Abram, and they sent him away with his wife, and all the things that he had been given.)

WYCLIFFE’S BIBLE

Comprising of
Wycliffe’s Old Testament

and

Wycliffe’s New Testament
(Revised Edition)


Translated by

JOHN WYCLIFFE
and JOHN PURVEY


A modern-spelling edition of their
14TH century Middle English translation,
the first complete English vernacular version,
with an Introduction by

TERENCE P. NOBLE

Used by Permission

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