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
Abram and Lot
1So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him. 2#Ge 24:35; Ps 112:1–3Abram was very wealthy in livestock, in silver and in gold.
3He continued on his journey from the Negev and came to Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, 4#Ge 12:7–8to the place where he first made an altar. There Abram called on the name of the Lord.
5Now Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. 6#Ge 36:6–7But the land was not able to support them both dwelling together because their possessions were so great. 7#Ge 12:6; 26:20And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites dwelled in the land at that time.
8#Ps 133:1; Ac 7:26So Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife, I ask you, between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are close relatives. 9#Ge 20:15; 34:10Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you will go to the left, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right, then I will go to the left.”
10#Dt 34:3; Ge 14:8; 14:2Lot lifted up his eyes, and looked at all the valley of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go to Zoar. This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. 11Then Lot chose for himself the entire valley of the Jordan and journeyed east, and the two of them separated from each other. 12#Ge 19:29; 14:12Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the valley and pitched his tent as far as Sodom. 13#Ge 18:20Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against the Lord.
14#Ge 28:14; Dt 3:27After Lot had departed from him, the Lord said to Abram, “Lift up now your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward. 15#Ge 12:7; 2Ch 20:7All the land that you see I will give to you and to your descendants forever. 16#Ge 28:14; Nu 23:10I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants could also be numbered. 17Arise, and walk throughout the land across its length and its width, for I will give it to you.”
18#Ge 14:13; 8:20So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar to the Lord there.
Military Bible Association