Genesis 12:8-9 ESV

Geneva Study Bible - Genesis 12:8

12:8 And he removed from {h} thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, [having] Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an {i} altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.(h) Because of the troubles that he had among that wicked people.(i) And so served the true God, and renounced all idolatry. read more

John Calvin

Geneva Study Bible - Genesis 12:9

12:9 {k} And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.(k) Thus the children of God may look for no rest in this world, but must wait for the heavenly rest and quietness. read more

L.M. Grant

L. M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 12:1-20

THE CALL OF ABRAM The Lord had before told Abram to leave his country, his kindred and his father's house, and go to a land He would show him. This call took place while he was still in Ur of the Chaldees (Acts 7:2-4). God declared that He would make of Abram a great nation, that he would be a blessing (v.2). More than this, God would bless those who blessed Abram and curse those who cursed him. Further still, in Abram all the families of the earth would be blessed (v.3). This is above all a... read more

James Gray

James Gray's Concise Bible Commentary - Genesis 12:1-9

ABRAM ’S CALL AND HIS RESPONSE How does the King James Version indicate an earlier date for the call of Abram than that which chapter 12 narrates? How is this corroborated by Acts 7:2 ? Stephen, speaking of this call, indicates that God “was seen to Abraham,” as if some visible manifestation was vouchsafed to him at the beginning. In what form this may have been we do not know, but sufficiently clear to have shown the patriarch the distinction between gods of wood and stone and the only... read more

Joseph Parker

The People's Bible by Joseph Parker - Genesis 12:1-20

The Same-varied Gen 12:1 God's claim upon the individual life is here asserted. God detaches men from early associations, from objects of special care and love, and makes them strangers in the earth. The family idea is sacred, but the Divine will is, so to speak, more sacred still; when the God of the families of the earth calls men from their kindred and their father's house, all tributary laws must be swallowed up by the great stream of the Divine Fatherhood. These calls, so shattering in... read more

Robert Hawker

Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary - Genesis 12:8

And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD. Abram not only served God for himself, but erected an altar for his public worship. read more

George Haydock

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary - Genesis 12:8

Bethel, as it was called in the days of Moses, being the ancient Luza, chap. 28. On the west , Hebrew, towards the sea or Mediterranean, which lay west of Palestine. Bethel signifies the house of God, being honoured with two altars. (Haydock) read more

George Haydock

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary - Genesis 12:9

Proceeding to the south, Hebrew: means also the desert, as the Septuagint generally translate negeb : other interpreters agree with the Vulgate. (Calmet) read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 12:6-9

6-9 Abram found the country peopled by Canaanites, who were bad neighbours. He journeyed, going on still. Sometimes it is the lot of good men to be unsettled, and often to remove into various states. Believers must look on themselves as strangers and sojourners in this world, Hebrews 11:8; Hebrews 11:13; Hebrews 11:14. But observe how much comfort Abram had in God. When he could have little satisfaction in converse with the Canaanites whom he found there, he had abundance of pleasure in... read more

Paul E. Kretzmann

The Popular Commentary by Paul E. Kretzmann - Genesis 12:4-9

Abraham's Journey to Canaan v. 4. So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. Abram put his faith in the promise of the Lord and was obedient to His command, forsaking his fatherland, his acquaintances, and even his nearest relatives, to journey with his wife and his nephew to the new country of which the Lord had spoken. v. 5. And Abram took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son, and... read more