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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Berĕshith (Genesis) 13

1And Aḇram went up from Mitsrayim into the South, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him.

2And Aḇram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.

3And he went on his journey from the South as far as Bĕyth Ěl, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bĕyth Ěl and Ai,

4to the place of the slaughter-place which he had made there at first. And there Aḇram called on the Name of יהוה.

5Now Lot, who went with Aḇram, also had flocks and herds and tents.

6And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together, for their possessions were great, so that they could not dwell together.

7And there was strife between the herdsmen of Aḇram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. And at that time the Kena‛anites and the Perizzites dwelt in the land.

8Then Aḇram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brothers.

9“Is not all the land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I go to the left.”

10And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of the Yardĕn, that it was well watered everywhere – before יהוה destroyed Seḏom and Amorah – like the garden of יהוה, like the land of Mitsrayim as you go toward Tso‛ar.

11So Lot chose for himself all the plain of the Yardĕn, and Lot moved east. Thus they separated from each other,

12Aḇram dwelling in the land of Kena‛an, and Lot dwelling in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent as far as Seḏom.

13But the men of Seḏom were evil and sinned before יהוה, exceedingly so.

14And after Lot had separated from him, יהוה said to Aḇram, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward,

15for all the land which you see I shall give to you and your seed forever.

16“And I shall make your seed as the dust of the earth, so that, if a man could count the dust of the earth, then your seed also could be counted.

17“Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.”

18So Aḇram moved his tent, and went and dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamrĕ, which are in Ḥeḇron, and built a slaughter-place there to יהוה.

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Genesis 13

Berĕshith (Genesis) 13