Genesis 13
13
Chapter 13
Abram and Lot go different ways
1Abram left Egypt and he travelled north to the Negev. He took his wife and everything that belonged to him. Lot also went with him. 2Abram had many valuable things. He had many cows, and much silver and gold.
3Then Abram left the Negev and he went to different places. He arrived at Bethel. He returned to the place where he had put up his tent before. That place was between Bethel and Ai. 4It was where Abram had first built an altar to worship the Lord.
5Lot was travelling with Abram. Lot also had many cows, sheep and tents. 6But the land could not grow enough food for all of them to eat. They could not all live together in the same place, because they had so many animals and people with them. 7Abram's shepherds and Lot's shepherds began to quarrel with each other. (At that time, Canaanites and Perizzites also lived in the land.) #13:7 The Canaanites and Perizzites did not worship God. It was not good for them to see people who worship God quarrelling with each other.
8Abram said to Lot, ‘We must not quarrel with each other. Your shepherds and my shepherds must not quarrel with each other. Remember that we belong to the same family. 9Look everywhere! There is enough land for all of us. We must go different ways. If you go to the left, I will go to the right. If you go to the right, I will go to the left.’
10Lot looked up and he saw the flat land of Jordan, as far as Zoar. He saw that it had lots of water, like the garden of the Lord. It was good land, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed the cities there called Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11So Lot chose for himself the valley of the Jordan River. He travelled towards the east. #13:11 Lot chose the land that he thought was the best.
12Abram stayed in the land of Canaan and he lived there. But Lot lived near the cities that were in the Jordan Valley. He put up his tents near the city of Sodom. 13The people of Sodom were very wicked. They did not obey the Lord at all.
14After Lot had gone away, the Lord said to Abram, ‘Stand where you are and look all around! Look to the north, the south, the east and the west. 15I will give you all the land that you can see. I will give it to you and your descendants. It will belong to them for ever. 16I will make your descendants become very many. Like the dust of the ground, people will not be able to count them all. 17Go and travel round all this land. Look at it, because I am giving it to you!’
18So Abram moved his tents. He went to live near the special oak trees of Mamre. That place is at Hebron. Abram built an altar to worship the Lord there.
MissionAssist 2018
Genesis 13
13
Abram and Lot Separate
1So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, #ch. 12:9into the Negeb.
2 # ch. 24:35; [Ps. 112:1-3; Prov. 10:22] Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. 3And he journeyed on from the Negeb as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, 4to #ch. 12:7, 8the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of the Lord. 5And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, 6so that #ch. 36:6, 7the land could not support both of them dwelling together; for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together, 7#ch. 26:20 and there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. At that time #ch. 12:6the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land.
8Then Abram said to Lot, #[1 Cor. 6:1-8] “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, #[Acts 7:26]for we are kinsmen.#13:8 Hebrew we are men, brothers 9#ch. 20:15; 34:10Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.” 10And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the #ch. 19:17, 25, 28; Deut. 34:3; 1 Kgs. 7:46; [Matt. 3:5] Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like #ch. 2:8; Isa. 51:3; Ezek. 28:13; Joel 2:3 the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of #ch. 14:2, 8; 19:22 Zoar. (This was before the Lord #ch. 19:24, 25destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other. 12Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. 13Now the men of Sodom #ch. 18:20; Ezek. 16:49; 2 Pet. 2:7, 8were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.
14The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, #ch. 28:14northward and southward and eastward and westward, 15for all the land that you see I will give #ch. 17:8; 28:13; 35:12; Acts 7:5 to you and #ch. 12:7; 15:18; 24:7; 26:4; Deut. 34:4; 2 Chr. 20:7to your offspring forever. 16#ch. 22:17; 28:14; 32:12; Num. 23:10; [1 Kgs. 3:8]; See ch. 15:5I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. 17Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” 18So Abram moved his tent and came and #ch. 14:13 settled by the #ch. 12:6 oaks#13:18 Or terebinths of Mamre, which #ch. 35:27are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord.
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