The Preacher's Bible

Abram went up out of Egypt—he, his wife, all that he had, and Lot with him—into the South. ²Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. ³He went on his journeys from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, ⁴to the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first. There Abram called on Jehovah’s name. ⁵Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks, herds, and tents. ⁶The land was not able to bear them, that they might live together; for their possessions were so great that they couldn’t live together. ⁷There was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites lived in the land at that time. ⁸Abram said to Lot, “Please, let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen; for we are relatives. ⁹Isn’t the whole land before you? Please separate yourself from me. If you go to the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if you go to the right hand, then I will go to the left.”

¹⁰Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw all the plain of the Jordan, that it was well-watered everywhere, before Jehovah destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of Jehovah, like the land of Egypt, as you go to Zoar. ¹¹So Lot chose the Plain of the Jordan for himself. Lot traveled east, and they separated themselves from one another. ¹²Abram lived in the land of Canaan, and Lot lived in the cities of the plain, and moved his tent as far as Sodom. ¹³Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against Jehovah.

¹⁴Jehovah said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him, “Now, lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, ¹⁵for I will give all the land which you see to you and to your offspring forever. ¹⁶I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can count the dust of the earth, then your offspring may also be counted. ¹⁷Arise, walk through the land in its length and in its width; for I will give it to you.”

¹⁸Abram moved his tent, and came and lived by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to Jehovah.