1Abram left Egypt with his wife and everything he had and went to the Negev. Lot was with him. 2Abram was very rich because he had livestock, silver, and gold. 3He traveled from place to place. He went from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the area between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been originally, 4where he had first made an altar. There Abram worshiped the Lord.

5Lot, who had been traveling with Abram, also had his own sheep, cattle, and tents. 6There wasn’t enough pastureland for both of them. They had so many possessions that they were unable to remain together. 7Quarrels broke out between Abram’s herders and Lot’s herders. (Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in that area.)

8Abram said to Lot, “Please, let’s not have any more quarrels between us or between our herders. After all, we’re relatives. 9Isn’t all this land yours also? Let’s separate. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right, and if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.” 10Then Lot looked in the direction of Zoar as far as he could see. He saw that the whole Jordan Plain was well-watered like the Lord’s garden or like Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)

11Lot chose the whole Jordan Plain for himself. He moved toward the east. They each went their own way. 12Abram lived in Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain, moving his tents as far as Sodom. 13(The people who lived in Sodom were very wicked. They committed terrible sins against the Lord.)

The LORD’s Third Promise to Abram

14After Lot left, the Lord said to Abram, “Look north, south, east, and west of where you are. 15I will give all the land you see to you and to your descendants for an indefinite period of time. 16I will also give you as many descendants as the dust of the earth. If anyone could count the dust of the earth, then he could also count your descendants. 17Go! Walk back and forth across the entire land because I will give it to you.” 18So Abram moved his tents and went to live by the oak trees belonging to Mamre at Hebron. There he built an altar for the Lord.

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Genesis 13

1And Abram went up out of Egypt: he and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south.

2And he was very rich in possession of gold and silver.

3And he returned by the way that he came, from the south to Bethel, to the place where before he had pitched his tent between Bethel and Hai:

4In the place of the altar which he had made before. And there he called upon the name of the Lord.

5But Lot also, who was with Abram, had flocks of sheep, and herds of beasts, and tents.

6Neither was the land able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, and they could not dwell together.

7Whereupon also there arose a strife between the herdsmen of Abram and of Lot. And at that time the Chanaanite and the Pherezite dwelled in that country.

8Abram therefore said to Lot: Let there be no quarrel, I beseech thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen: for we are brethren.

9Behold, the whole land is before thee: depart from me I pray thee. If thou wilt go to the left hand, I will take the right: if thou choose the right hand, I will pass to the left.

10And Lot, lifting up his eyes, saw all the country about the Jordan, which was watered throughout, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha, as the paradise of the Lord, and like Egypt as one comes to Segor.

11And Lot chose to himself the country about the Jordan, and he departed from the east: and they were separated one brother from the other.

12Abram dwelt in the land of Chanaan; and Lot abode in the towns that were about the Jordan, and dwelt in Sodom.

13And the men of Sodom were very wicked, and sinners before the face of the Lord, beyond measure.

14And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him: Lift up thy eyes, and look from the place wherein thou now art, to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west.

15All the land which thou seest, I will give to thee, and to thy seed for ever.

16And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: if any man be able to number the dust of the earth, he shall be able to number thy seed also.

17Arise and walk through the land in the length, and in the breadth thereof: for I will give it to thee.

18So Abram removing his tent came and dwelt by the vale of Mambre, which is in Hebron: and he built there an altar to the Lord.

An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.

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Genesis 13

Genesis 13