3. 'Leave your country and your people,' God said. 'Go to the land I will show you.' (Genesis 12:1)
4. "So Abraham left the land of Babylonia. He settled in Haran. After his father died, God sent Abraham to this land where you are now living.
5. God didn't give him any property here. He didn't give him even a foot of land. But God made a promise to him and to all his family after him. He said they would possess the land. The promise was made even though at that time Abraham had no child.
6. "Here is what God said to him. 'Your family after you will be strangers in a country that is not their own. They will be slaves and will be treated badly for 400 years.
7. But I will punish the nation that makes them slaves,' God said. 'After that, they will leave that country and worship me here.' (Genesis 15:13,14)
8. "Then God made a covenant with Abraham. God told him that circumcision would show who the members of the covenant were. Abraham became Isaac's father. He circumcised Isaac eight days after he was born. Later, Isaac became Jacob's father. Jacob had 12 sons. They became the founders of the 12 tribes of Israel.
9. "Jacob's sons were jealous of their brother Joseph. So they sold him as a slave. He was taken to Egypt. But God was with him.
10. He saved Joseph from all his troubles. God made Joseph wise. He helped him to become the friend of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made Joseph ruler over Egypt and his whole palace.
11. "There was not enough food for all Egypt and Canaan. This brought great suffering. Jacob and his sons couldn't find food.
12. But Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt. So he sent his sons on their first visit.
13. On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was. Pharaoh learned about Joseph's family.
14. "After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family. The total number of people was 75.