There are ten generations from Noah to Abraham. He was named Abram when he was born to his father, Terah. Terah had two other sons, Haran and Nahor. Haran is the father of Lot and he died shortly afterward. Abram and Nahor took wives. Abram's wife is Sarai. Terah took Abram, Lot, and Sarai and came to Haran, where he died.
It was there, in Haran that Abram first heard the call fom God to "go to the land that I will show you". Abram took his wife, his nephew, Lot, and all of their possessions and came to Canaan. He built an alter to God and continued traveling south, where he came to Egypt. When they came to Egypt Abram told the people there that Sarai was his sister so that they would not kill him. Pharaoh's men saw how beautiful she was and paid Abram for her. God afflicted Pharaoh with plague because of Sarai and she was given back to Abram. Abram, Sarai, and Lot left Egypt with their possessions and went back to Canaan. Abram quarreled with Lot because the land Abram had chosen could not hold them both along with their herds of livestock. So Lot moved and settled near Sodom, which was full of wickedness. Lot and all his possessions were captured and taken from Sodom. When Abram heard this he and his men pursued the captors and rescued Lot and his possessions and brought him back to Sodom.
After Abram had been in Canaan ten years, and Sarai had remained barren, Sarai gave Hagar, her maidservant, to Abram to bear her a child. When Hagar conceived she held Sarai in lower esteem and Sarai became harsh with her so that Hagar ran away. She met and angel and was told she would have a son and name him Ishmael. She went back to Sarai and had a son and named him Ishmael. Years later God called to Abram and told him he would have many descendants and that his name would be Abraham and his wife would be Sarah from then on. He told them that to honor the covenant the every male would have to be circumcised.
