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Genesis 13
Abram and Lot

The thirteenth chapter tells of Abram's return to Canaan with great wealth. His flocks and those of his nephew Lot are too many to live together: Abram lets Lot choose, and Lot leaves for the fertile plain of the Jordan, near Sodom. The LORD then promises Abram all the land he can see and offspring as countless as the dust of the earth.

Text: World English Bible (public domain). Titles, introduction and illustrations: Imago Biblia.

Verses 1–4

Back to Bethel

Abram went up out of Egypt—he, his wife, all that he had, and Lot with him—into the South.

Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.

He went on his journeys from the South 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, which he had made there at the first. There Abram called on the LORD’s name.

Staff in hand, Abram leads a long caravan through the hills of Canaan: Sarai on a donkey, Lot, camels loaded with chests and gold vessels, flocks; on a hill between two towns, the altar of earlier days is smoking.

Verses 5–7

The herdsmen quarrel

Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks, herds, and tents.

The land was not able to bear them, that they might live together; for their possessions were so great that they couldn’t live together.

There was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites lived in the land at that time.

Around a stone well, two groups of herdsmen argue with wide gestures among the crowded flocks; on the hill stands a Canaanite town.

Verses 8–13

Lot chooses the plain of the Jordan

Abram said to Lot, “Please, let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen; for we are relatives.

Isn’t the whole land before you? Please separate yourself from me. If you go to the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if you go to the right hand, then I will go to the left.”

Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw all the plain of the Jordan, that it was well-watered everywhere, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as you go to Zoar.

So Lot chose the Plain of the Jordan for himself. Lot traveled east, and they separated themselves from one another.

Abram lived in the land of Canaan, and Lot lived in the cities of the plain, and moved his tent as far as Sodom.

Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against the LORD.

On a rocky ridge, Abram holds out his hand toward the land while Lot gazes at the green valley of the Jordan, its river, its palm trees and a walled city; behind them are Sarai and the flocks.

Verses 14–17

“Lift up your eyes”

The LORD said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him, “Now, lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward,

for I will give all the land which you see to you and to your offspring forever.

I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can count the dust of the earth, then your offspring may also be counted.

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

At sunset Abram, seen from behind with arms open on a hill, looks out over the land as far as the sea; far below, Lot's caravan heads away toward the plain.

Verse 18

The oaks of Mamre

Abram moved his tent, and came and lived by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the LORD.

Under huge oaks in front of the tents, Abram kneels with raised hands before a smoking stone altar; Sarai, the women of the camp and the flocks are around him, with Hebron in the distance.