Genesis 13–19

Abram and Lot Separate

13So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, ^ainto the Negeb.

^2bNow Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. ³And he journeyed on from the Negeb as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, ⁴to ^cthe place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of the Lord. ⁵And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, ⁶so that ^dthe land could not support both of them dwelling together; for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together, ^7eand there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. At that time ^fthe Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land.

⁸Then Abram said to Lot, ^g“Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, ^hfor we are kinsmen.^{1 9i}Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.” ¹⁰And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the ^jJordan Valley was well watered everywhere like ^kthe garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of ^lZoar. (This was before the Lord ^mdestroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) ¹¹So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other. ¹²Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. ¹³Now the men of Sodom ⁿwere wicked, great sinners against the Lord.

¹⁴The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, ^onorthward and southward and eastward and westward, ¹⁵for all the land that you see I will give ^pto you and ^qto your offspring forever. ^16rI will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. ¹⁷Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” ¹⁸So Abram moved his tent and came and ^ssettled by the ^toaks² of Mamre, which ^uare at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord.

Abram Rescues Lot

14In the days of Amraphel king of ^vShinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of ^wElam, and Tidal king of Goiim, ²these kings made war with ^xBera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of ^yAdmah, Shemeber king of ^yZeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). ³And all these joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (^zthat is, the Salt Sea). ⁴Twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled. ⁵In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the ^aRephaim in ^bAshteroth-karnaim, the ^cZuzim in Ham, the ^dEmim in Shaveh-kiriathaim, ⁶and the ^eHorites in their hill country of Seir as far as ^fEl-paran on the border of the wilderness. ⁷Then they turned back and came to En-mishpat (that is, ^gKadesh) and defeated all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who were dwelling ^hin Hazazon-tamar.

⁸Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out, and they joined battle in the Valley of Siddim ⁹with Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar, four kings against five. ¹⁰Now the Valley of Siddim was full of ⁱbitumen pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into them, and the rest fled ^jto the hill country. ¹¹So the enemy took ^kall the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way. ¹²They also took Lot, ^lthe son of Abram’s brother, ^mwho was dwelling in Sodom, and his possessions, and went their way.

¹³Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, ⁿwho was living by the ^ooaks¹ of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and of Aner. These were allies of Abram. ¹⁴When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, ^pborn in his house, 318 of them, and went in pursuit as far as ^qDan. ¹⁵And he divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus. ¹⁶Then he brought back all the possessions, and also brought back his kinsman Lot ^rwith his possessions, and the women and the people.

Abram Blessed by Melchizedek

¹⁷After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the ^sKing’s Valley). ¹⁸And ^tMelchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was ^upriest of ^vGod Most High.) ¹⁹And he blessed him and said,

^w“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,

^xPossessor² of heaven and earth;

²⁰and blessed be God Most High,

who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”

And Abram gave him ^ya tenth of everything. ²¹And the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself.” ²²But Abram said to the king of Sodom, ^z“I have lifted my hand³ to the Lord, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth, ²³that ^aI would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ ²⁴I will take nothing but what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me. Let ^bAner, Eshcol, and Mamre take their share.”

God’s Covenant with Abram

15After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: ^c“Fear not, Abram, I am ^dyour shield; your reward shall be very great.” ²But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue¹ childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and ^ea member of my household will be my heir.” ⁴And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; ^fyour very own son² shall be your heir.” ⁵And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and ^gnumber the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, ^h“So shall your offspring be.” ⁶And ⁱhe believed the Lord, and ^jhe counted it to him as righteousness.

⁷And he said to him, “I am the Lord who ^kbrought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans ^lto give you this land to possess.” ⁸But he said, “O Lord God, ^mhow am I to know that I shall possess it?” ⁹He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰And he brought him all these, ⁿcut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But ^ohe did not cut the birds in half. ¹¹And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

¹²As the sun was going down, a ^pdeep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. ¹³Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain ^qthat your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and ^rthey will be afflicted for ^sfour hundred years. ¹⁴But ^tI will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward ^uthey shall come out with great possessions. ¹⁵As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; ^vyou shall be buried in a good old age. ¹⁶And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for ^wthe iniquity of the Amorites ^xis not yet complete.”

¹⁷When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. ¹⁸On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, ^y“To your offspring I give³ this land, from ^zthe river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, ¹⁹the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, ²⁰the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, ²¹the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”

Sarai and Hagar

16^aNow Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was ^bHagar. ²And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children¹ by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. ³So, after Abram ^chad lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. ⁴And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, ^dshe looked with contempt on her mistress.^{2 5}And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May ^ethe Lord judge between you and me!” ⁶But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.

⁷The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to ^fShur. ⁸And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” ⁹The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.” ¹⁰The angel of the Lord also said to her, ^g“I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” ¹¹And the angel of the Lord said to her,

“Behold, you are pregnant

and shall bear a son.

You shall call his name Ishmael,³

^hbecause the Lord has listened to your affliction.

¹²He shall be ⁱa wild donkey of a man,

his hand against everyone

and everyone’s hand against him,

and he shall dwell ^jover against all his kinsmen.”

¹³So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,”⁴ for she said, ^k“Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.”^{5 14}Therefore the well was called ^lBeer-lahai-roi;⁶ it lies between ^mKadesh and Bered.

¹⁵And Hagar bore…