Genesis 13 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
Around 2100 to 2000 BC, in the Middle Bronze Age
Location
The hill country between Bethel and Ai in central Canaan, looking down over the well watered Jordan valley toward Sodom
Audience
Israelites of the Mosaic era, who knew the territory being described from their own settlement of it
Situation
Abram and his nephew Lot have grown too wealthy in livestock for the land to support both households, and their herdsmen quarrel. Abram lets Lot choose first, Lot takes the fertile Jordan plain and moves toward Sodom, and God renews the land promise to Abram.
Key Background
Grazing rights were a constant source of conflict among herding families, because a semi arid region supports a fixed number of animals and wells were limited and jealously held. Custom gave the elder and senior man first choice, so Abram's deferring to his younger nephew is a deliberate surrender of his rights. Walking the length and breadth of a territory was a recognised legal act of taking possession in the ancient Near East, which is why God tells Abram to get up and walk through the land.
So Abram went up from Egypt — he, his wife, and everything he had — and Lot went with him, heading into the
Abram had become very — rich in livestock, silver, and gold.
He traveled by from the Negev all the way to — to the place between and where he had first set up his tent,
to the site of the he had built there earlier. And there Abram on the of
Now Lot, who was traveling with Abram, also had flocks, herds, and tents of his own.
But the land couldn't support both of them living together. They had so much that they just couldn't coexist in the same area.
Conflict broke out between the herders working for Abram and the herders working for Lot. (The and were also living in the land at that time.)
So Abram said to Lot, "Let's not have any conflict between you and me, or between your herders and mine. We're after all."
"The whole land is right there in front of you. Let's go our separate ways. If you head left, I'll go right. If you head right, I'll go left."
Lot looked around and saw that the whole was well-watered everywhere — this was before Yahweh destroyed and — like own like the land of Egypt all the way to
So Lot chose the entire Jordan plain for himself and That's how they separated from each other.
Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the plain and
Now the people of Sodom were —
After Lot had separated from him, Yahweh said to Abram, "Look around from where you're standing—north, south, east, and west."
"Because all the land that you see, I'm giving to you and your
"I'll make your descendants like the of the — so that if anyone could actually count every speck of then they could count your descendants too."
"Get up and the — its whole length and width — because I'm giving it to you."
So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the of at and he built an there to Yahweh.