Shared Word Translation
Genesis 13
Abram and Lot Separate
So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negev. Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. And he journeyed by stages from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place of the altar that he had made there at first. And there Abram called upon the name of the LORD.
And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together. And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land.
Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are kin. Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you go to the left, then I will go to the right; or if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.”
And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered everywhere—before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah—like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar. So Lot chose for himself all the plain of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward. Thus they separated from one another. Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the plain and moved his tent as far as Sodom. Now the people of Sodom were exceedingly wicked, sinners against the LORD.
The LORD Renews the Promise
The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if one could count the dust of the earth, then your offspring also could be counted. Rise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.”
So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the LORD.