Genesis 13
13
Abram and Lot
Abram and Lot separate
1Abram and Sarai took everything they owned and went to the Southern Desert. Lot went with them.
2Abram was very rich. He owned many cattle, sheep, and goats, and had a lot of silver and gold. 3Abram moved from place to place in the Southern Desert. And finally, he went north and set up his tents between Bethel and Ai, 4where he had earlier camped and built an altar. There he worshipped the LORD.
5Lot, who was travelling with him, also had sheep, goats, and cattle, as well as his own family and slaves. 6-7At this time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the same area, and so there wasn't enough pasture land left for Abram and Lot with all their animals. Besides this, the men who took care of Abram's animals and the ones who took care of Lot's animals started quarrelling.
8Abram said to Lot, “We are close relatives. We shouldn't argue, and our men shouldn't be fighting one another. 9There is plenty of land for you to choose from. Let's separate. If you go north, I'll go south; if you go south, I'll go north.”
10This happened before the LORD had destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. And when Lot looked around, he saw there was plenty of water in the Jordan Valley. All the way to Zoar the valley was as green as the garden of the LORD or the land of Egypt.#Gn 2.10. 11So Lot chose the whole Jordan Valley for himself, and as he started towards the east, he and Abram separated. 12Abram stayed in the land of Canaan. But Lot settled near the cities of the valley and put up his tents not far from Sodom, 13where the people were evil and sinned terribly against the LORD.
Abram moves to Hebron
14After Abram and Lot had gone their separate ways, the LORD said to Abram:
Look around to the north, south, east, and west. 15I will give you and your family all the land you can see. It will be theirs for ever!#Ac 7.5. 16I will give you more descendants than there are specks of dust on the earth, and some day it will be easier to count the specks of dust than to count your descendants. 17Now walk back and forth across the land, because I am giving it to you.
18Abram took down his tents and went to live near the sacred trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar in honour of the LORD.
© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
Genesis 13
13
1 Therefore, Abram ascended from Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, toward the southern region.
2 But he was very wealthy by the possession of gold and silver.
3 And he returned by the way that he came, from the meridian into Bethel, all the way to the place where before he had pitched his tent, between Bethel and Hai.
4 There, at the place of the altar he had made before, he again called upon the name of the Lord.
5 But Lot also, who was with Abram, had flocks of sheep, and cattle, and tents.
6 Neither was the land able to contain them, so that they might dwell together. Indeed, their substance was so great that they could not live in common.
7 And then there also arose a conflict between the shepherds of Abram and of Lot. Now at that time the Canaanite and the Perizzite lived in that land.
8 Therefore, Abram said to Lot: "I ask you, let there be no quarrel between me and you, and between my shepherds and your shepherds. For we are brothers.
9 Behold, the entire land is before your eyes. Withdraw from me, I beg you. If you will go to the left, I will take the right. If you choose the right, I will pass to the left."
10 And so Lot, lifting up his eyes, saw all the region around the Jordan, which was thoroughly irrigated, before the Lord overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It was like the Paradise of the Lord, and it was like Egypt, approaching toward Zoar.
11 And Lot chose for himself the region around the Jordan, and he withdrew by way of the east. And they were divided, one brother from the other.
12 Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan. In truth, Lot stayed in the towns that were around the Jordan, and he lived in Sodom.
13 But the men of Sodom were very wicked, and they were sinners before the Lord beyond measure.
14 And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot was divided from him: "Lift up your eyes, and gaze out from the place where you are now, to the north and to the meridian, to the east and to the west.
15 All the land that you see, I will give to you, and to your offspring even forever.
16 And I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth. If any man is able to number the dust of the earth, he will be able to number your offspring as well.
17 Arise and walk through the land in its length, and breadth. For I will give it to you."
18 Therefore, moving his tent, Abram went and dwelt by the steep valley of Mamre, which is in Hebron. And he built an altar there to the Lord.