Genesis 13:1-18 NIV
Abram and Lot Separate
1So
Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and
Lot went with him.2Abram had
become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.
3From
the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place
between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier 4and where he
had first built an altar.
5Now
Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. 6But the land
could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were
so great that they were not able to stay together.
7And quarreling
arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s. The Canaanites and Perizzites were
also living in the land at that time.
8So
Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or
between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives. 9Is not the
whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to
the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.”
10Lot
looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well
watered, like The Garden of The Lord, like the
land of Egypt. (This was before The Lord Destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11So Lot chose
for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two
men parted company:
12Abram
lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and
pitched his tents near Sodom. 13Now
the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against The Lord.
14The Lord Said to Abram after Lot had parted
from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east
and west. 15All the land
that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. 16I
will make your offspring like the dust
of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your
offspring could be counted.
17Go, through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”
17Go, through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”
There he built an altar to The Lord.