Genesis 13

Abram and Lot Separate

13So Abram went up from Egypt^r to the Negev,^s with his wife and everything he had, and Lot^t went with him. ²Abram had become very wealthy^u in livestock^v and in silver and gold.

³From the Negev^w he went from place to place until he came to Bethel,^x to the place between Bethel and Ai^y where his tent had been earlier ⁴and where he had first built an altar.^z There Abram called on the name of the Lord.^a

⁵Now Lot,^b 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.^{c 7}And quarreling^d arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s. The Canaanites^e and Perizzites^f were also living in the land^g at that time.

⁸So Abram said to Lot,^h “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me,ⁱ or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives.^{j 9}Is 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.”^k

¹⁰Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain^l of the Jordan toward Zoar^m was well watered, like the garden of the Lord,ⁿ like the land of Egypt.^o (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom^p and Gomorrah.)^{q 11}So 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,^r while Lot^s lived among the cities of the plain^t and pitched his tents near Sodom.^{u 13}Now the people of Sodom^v were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord.^w

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.^{x 15}All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring^a forever.^{y 16}I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.^{z 17}Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land,^a for I am giving it to you.”^b

¹⁸So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre^c at Hebron,^d where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the Lord.^e