Genesis 13–19

CHAPTER 13

Abram and Lot Separate

¹So Abram went up from Egypt to ^athe ¹Negev, he and his wife and all that belonged to him, and Lot with him.

²Now Abram was ^avery rich in livestock, in silver and in gold.

³And he went ¹on his journeys from the ²Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, ^abetween Bethel and Ai,

⁴to the place of the ^aaltar which he had made there formerly; and there Abram called upon the name of Yahweh.

⁵Now ^aLot, who was going with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents.

⁶And ^athe land could not ¹sustain them ²while living together, ^bfor their possessions were so abundant that they were not able to live together.

^7aAnd there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. Now ^bthe Canaanite and the Perizzite were living then in the land.

^8aSo Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brothers.

⁹“Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me; if to the left, then I will go to the right; or if to the right, then I will go to the left.”

¹⁰Then Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the ^1avalley of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere—this was before Yahweh ^bdestroyed Sodom and Gomorrah—like ^cthe garden of Yahweh, ^dlike the land of Egypt as you go to ^eZoar.

¹¹So Lot chose for himself all the ¹valley of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward. Thus they separated from each other.

¹²Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived in ^athe cities of the ¹valley and moved his tents as far as Sodom.

¹³Now ^athe men of Sodom were evil and ^bsinners, exceedingly so, against Yahweh.

¹⁴And Yahweh said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “^aNow lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, ^bnorthward and southward and eastward and westward;

^15afor all the land which you see, ^bI will give it to you and to your seed forever.

¹⁶“And I will make your seed ^aas the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your seed can also be numbered.

¹⁷“Arise, ^awalk about the land through its length and breadth; for ^bI will give it to you.”

¹⁸Then Abram moved his tent and came and lived by the ^1aoaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and there he built ^ban altar to Yahweh.

CHAPTER 14

Kings of the Valley Take Lot

¹And it happened in the days of Amraphel king of ^aShinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of ^bElam, and Tidal king of ¹Goiim,

²that they made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of ^aAdmah, and Shemeber king of ^bZeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, ^cZoar).

³All these ¹came as allies to ^athe valley of Siddim (that is, ^bthe Salt Sea).

⁴Now for twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, but the thirteenth year they rebelled.

⁵So in the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him, came and struck the ^aRephaim in ^bAshteroth-karnaim and the Zuzim in Ham and the Emim in ^1cShaveh-kiriathaim,

⁶and the ^aHorites in their Mount Seir, as far as ^bEl-paran, which is by the wilderness.

⁷Then they turned back and came to En-mishpat (that is, ^aKadesh). And they struck all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, who were living in ^bHazazon-tamar.

⁸And the king of Sodom and the king of Gomorrah and the king of Admah and the king of Zeboiim and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) came out; and they arranged themselves for battle against them in ^athe valley of Siddim,

⁹against Chedorlaomer king of Elam and Tidal king of ¹Goiim and Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar, four kings against five—

¹⁰now the valley of Siddim was full of tar pits—and ^athe kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell ¹into them; but those who remained behind fled to the ^bhill country.

¹¹Then they took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food supply and departed.

¹²They also took Lot, ^aAbram’s nephew, and his possessions and departed; ^bnow he was living in Sodom.

¹³Then ¹a fugitive came and told Abram the ^aHebrew. Now he was dwelling by the ^2boaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner, and these were ^3cin a covenant with Abram.

¹⁴So Abram heard that ^ahis ¹relative had been taken captive, and he ²led out his trained men, ^bborn in his house, 318 in number, and went in pursuit as far as ^cDan.

^15aAnd he divided ¹his men against them by night, he and his servants, and struck them and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is ²north of ^bDamascus.

¹⁶And he ^abrought back all the possessions, and he also brought back ^bhis ¹relative Lot with his possessions and also the women and the people.

Melchizedek Blesses Abram

¹⁷Then after he came back from striking down Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, ^athe king of Sodom went out to meet him at the valley of Shaveh (that is, ^bthe King’s Valley).

¹⁸And ^aMelchizedek king of Salem brought out ^bbread and wine; now he was a ^cpriest of ¹God Most High.

¹⁹Then he blessed him and said,

“Blessed be Abram of ¹God Most High,

^2aPossessor of heaven and earth;

²⁰And blessed be ¹God Most High,

Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”

^aThen he gave him a tenth of all.

²¹And the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give the ¹people to me, but take the possessions for yourself.”

²²Then Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have ¹raised my hand to Yahweh ^2aGod Most High, ^3bpossessor of heaven and earth,

²³that ^aI will not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, so that you would not say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’

²⁴“¹I will take nothing except what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me, ^aAner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their share.”

CHAPTER 15

Yahweh Cuts a Covenant with Abram

¹After these things ^athe word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision, saying,

“^bDo not fear, Abram,

I am ^ca shield to you;

¹Your ^dreward shall be very great.”

²And Abram said, “O Lord Yahweh, what will You give me, as I go on being childless, and the ¹heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”

³And Abram said, “¹Since You have given no seed to me, behold, ²one ^aborn in my house is my heir.”

⁴Then behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, “This one will not be your heir; ^abut one who will come forth from your own ¹body, he shall be your heir.”

⁵And He brought him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and ^anumber the stars, if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “^bSo shall your seed be.”

^6aThen he believed in Yahweh; and He counted it to him as righteousness.

⁷And He said to him, “I am Yahweh who brought you out of ^aUr of the Chaldeans, to ^bgive you this land to ¹possess it.”

⁸And he said, “O Lord Yahweh, ^ahow may I know that I will ¹possess it?”

⁹So He said to him, “¹Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”

¹⁰Then he ¹brought all these to Him and ^asplit them into parts ²down the middle and laid each part opposite the other; but he ^bdid not split apart the birds.

¹¹Then the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

¹²Now it happened that when the sun was going down, ^aa deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, ¹terror and great darkness fell upon him.

¹³Then God said to Abram, “Know for certain that ^ayour seed will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, ¹and ^bthey will be enslaved and mistreated ^cfour hundred years.

¹⁴“But I will also judge the nation to whom they are enslaved, and afterward they will come out ^awith ¹many possessions.

¹⁵“As for you, ^ayou shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age.

¹⁶“Then in ^athe fourth generation they will return here, for ^bthe iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”

¹⁷Now it happened that the sun had set, and it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which ^apassed between these pieces.

¹⁸On that day Yahweh cut a covenant with Abram, saying,

“^aTo your seed I have given this land,

From ^bthe river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:

^19athe Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite

²⁰and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim

²¹and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.”

CHAPTER 16

Sarai and Hagar

¹Now ^aSarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children, and she had ^ban Egyptian servant-woman whose name was Hagar.

²So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, Yahweh has shut my womb from bearing children. ^aPlease go in to my servant-woman; perhaps I will ¹obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

³And after Abram had ¹lived ^aten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant-woman, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife.

⁴So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. Then she saw that she had conceived, so her mistress became ¹contemptible in her sight.

⁵And Sarai said to Abram, “^aMay the violence done to me be upon you. I gave my servant-woman into your ¹embrace, but she saw that she had conceived, so I became ²contemptible in her ³sight. ^bMay Yahweh judge between ⁴you and me.”

⁶But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant-woman is in your ¹hand; do to her what is good in your ²sight.” So Sarai afflicted her, and ^ashe fled from her presence.

⁷Now ^athe angel of Yahweh found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to ^bShur.

⁸And he said, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant-woman, ^awhere have you come from and where are you going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”

⁹Then the angel of Yahweh said to her, “Return to your mistress and ¹humble yourself under her hands.”

¹⁰Moreover, the ^aangel of Yahweh said to her, “^bI will greatly multiply your seed so that ¹they will be too many to be counted.”

¹¹And the angel of Yahweh said to her further,

“Behold, you ¹are with child,

And you will bear a son;

And you shall call his name ²Ishmael,

Because ^aYahweh has…