In the Bible
Why did God change Abram’s name?
Genesis 17 explains it: God would make him the father of many nations. The new name carries the promise.
See Genesis 17:5
The beginnings
Who was Abraham in the Bible?
Abraham was the man God called to leave his home and go to a land he would be shown. God promised him a great family and that all peoples would be blessed through him. Jews, Christians and Muslims all look back to him. The New Testament calls him the father of all who believe.
- When
- Long before Israel was a nation. Many scholars place him somewhere around 2000 to 1700 BC, but the Bible gives no date we can fix.
- Read
- Genesis 11:27–25:11
8 moments
Abraham’s life, in order
See where Abraham fits on the Bible timeline
Tap a passage to read it here. Each one opens in full in the Lumin Translation.
The call
At 75, Abram leaves Harran with his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot, because God told him to go.
Down to Egypt
Famine drives him to Egypt, where he passes Sarai off as his sister to save himself.
Count the stars
Still childless, Abram believes God’s promise of a son, and God counts it as righteousness.
A new name
God makes a covenant with him and renames him Abraham, “father of many”. Sarai becomes Sarah.
Three visitors at Mamre
Abraham feeds three guests near Hebron. They say Sarah will have a son, and she laughs.
Isaac is born
At 100, Abraham holds the son God promised.
The test on Mount Moriah
God tells Abraham to offer Isaac. At the last moment God stops him and provides a ram.
Buried at Machpelah
Abraham buys a cave near Hebron to bury Sarah. He is buried there himself at 175.
Read these first
Key verses about Abraham
I will make a great nation of you. I will bless you and give you a great name, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who scorns you I will curse. Through you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
Genesis 12:2-3The promise
Abram believed Yahweh, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Genesis 15:6Faith counted as righteousness
Understand, then, that those who have faith are the sons of Abraham.
Galatians 3:7Paul on Abraham’s children
Questions people ask
What the Bible says, and what tradition adds
Each answer is marked: in the Bible, tradition, readers disagree, or not known.
Readers disagree
Where was Ur of the Chaldeans?
Most scholars place it at Ur in southern Iraq. A few argue for a northern site nearer Harran. The Bible gives the name, not a map.
See Genesis 11:31
Tradition, not the Bible
Is the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron really the cave?
Genesis puts the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, at Hebron. The building there today was raised by Herod over the site honored as that cave. It has been honored for some 2,000 years.
See Genesis 23:19
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