Gen 13 | EE | STEP | Abram went from Egypt to the Negev. He took his wife and everything that he had. Lot went with him.

Genesis 13

Abram and Lot separate

1 Abram went from Egypt to the Negev. He took his wife and everything that he had. Lot went with him.

2 Abram had many valuable things. He had cows, silver and gold. ^{▼▼13:2 Silver is a valuable metal.}

3 Abram left the Negev. He went from place to place until he came to Bethel. He came to the place between Bethel and Ai. This is where he had put his tent before. 4 This is where Abram had built an altar to worship God. There, Abram called out to the LORD.

5 Lot was moving from place to place with Abram. Lot also had cows, sheep and tents. 6 The ground could not grow enough food for all the animals to eat. The ground could not grow enough food for Abram’s animals and for Lot’s animals. Abram and Lot could not stay together. They had too many animals and people with them. 7 Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen began to quarrel. At that time, Canaanites and Perizzites also lived in the land. ^{▼▼13:7 Herdsmen are men who keep cows and other animals safe.}

8 Abram said to Lot, ‘We must not quarrel with each other. Your herdsmen and my herdsmen must not quarrel with each other. There must be no more quarrelling because we belong to the same family.’

9 ‘The whole land is in front of you. We must separate. If you go to the left, I will go to the right. If you go to the right, I will go to the left.’

10 Lot looked up. He saw the flat land of Jordan. He saw that it had water. It was like the garden of the LORD. It was like the land of Egypt, towards Zoar. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose the flat land of Jordan. He went towards the East. ^{▼▼13:11 The Canaanites and Perizzites did not worship God. It was not good for them to see people who worship God quarrelling with each other.} ^{▼▼13:11 Lot chose the land that he thought was the best.}

12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan. Lot lived in the cities of the land that he had chosen. Lot put his tents near Sodom. 13 The men of Sodom were very bad. They sinned against the LORD.

14 After Lot had gone, the LORD said to Abram, ‘Look up from where you are. Look to the north and south. Look to the east and west. 15 I will give you all the land that you can see. I will give it to you and your descendants for all time. 16 I will make your descendants like the dust of the ground. If anyone can count the pieces of dust, they can count your descendants.’ ^{▼▼13:16 Dust is the dry top of the ground. No one can count dust on top of the ground. There are too many small parts. God is telling Abram that his descendants will be too many to count.}

17 The LORD said, ‘Go and walk through all this land. Because I am giving it to you.’ 18 Abram moved his tents. He went to live near the big trees of Mamre. This is at Hebron. Abram built an altar here. This was so that he could worship the LORD.