Genesis 12 · a question people ask
Was Abram called in Ur or in Haran?
Genesis tells God's words in 12:1 after the family has settled in Haran (11:31-32). Stephen says "The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran" (Acts 7:2), and God later says, "I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees" (Genesis 15:7). Protestants put these together in two ways.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Called in Ur, called again in Haran
God first called Abram in Ur (Genesis 15:7; Acts 7:2-3), and spoke to him again in Haran, where Genesis records the call (12:1), just before he "departed from Haran" (12:4).
Genesis 15:7 · Acts 7:2-3 · Genesis 12:1-4
One call, in Ur
Stephen gives the command of 12:1 ("Get out of your land and away from your relatives") as spoken "before he lived in Haran" (Acts 7:2-3), and the family left Ur "to go into the land of Canaan" (Genesis 11:31). On this reading, 12:1 records that same call, told at the point where Abram goes on to Canaan after his father dies (Acts 7:4).
Genesis 11:31 · Acts 7:2-4
The verses
“Terah took Abram his son, Lot the son of Haran, his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife. They went from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan. They came to Haran and lived there. The days of Terah were two hundred five years. Terah died in Haran.”
“Now the LORD said to Abram, “Leave your country, and your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you.”
“He said to Abram, “I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.””
“He said, “Brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, ‘Get out of your land and away from your relatives, and come into a land which I will show you.’ Then he came out of the land of the Chaldaeans and lived in Haran. From there, when his father was dead, God moved him into this land where you are now living.”