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The patriarchs

Abram arrives in Canaan

1921 BCUssher date

Genesis 12:4–9

Abram, Sarai, and Lot reached Canaan; at Shechem God promised the land to Abram's offspring, and Abram built an altar.

Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” He built an altar there to Yahweh, who had appeared to him.

Genesis 12:7 (World English Bible)
Great Sea(Mediterranean)DanShechemBethelSalem (Jerusalem), MoriahHebron (Mamre)BeershebaGerarPenielSodom and Gomorrah(probable area)Dead Sea(Salt Sea)Sea of GalileeJordan RiverJabbok RiverNegevCoastlines simplified
Canaan in the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Site locations are approximate.

Abram traveled south through the land he had been promised, stopping at the oak of Moreh near Shechem and then between Bethel and Ai. At each stop he built an altar and called on Yahweh's name. The land was full of Canaanites, and Abram owned none of it, but God said it would belong to his descendants.

Places

CanaanBethelShechemNegebAiHaranMoreh

Dating notes

Ussher places the arrival in the same year as the call (1921 BC).

Open on the timelineRead Genesis 12:4–9