Abundance Separates Abram and Lot
1 Abram went up out of Egypt—he, with his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him—into the South. 2 Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.
3 He journeyed from place to place, from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where he had pitched his tent at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, 4 to the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first. There Abram called on the name of the Lord.
5 Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks, herds, and tents. 6 The land was not able to bear them, that they might live together; for their possessions were so great that they could not live together. 7 There was dissension between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. (At that time, the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land.)
8 Abram said to Lot, “Please, let there be no dissension between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen; for we are relatives. 9 Isn’t the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you go to the left, then I will go to the right. Or if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.”
Lot Moves to the City of Sodom
10 Lot looked up and saw the whole plain of the Jordan, that it was well-watered everywhere, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as you go to Zoar. 11 So Lot chose the Plain of the Jordan for himself. Lot traveled east, and they separated from one other. 12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, and Lot lived in the cities of the plain and moved his tent as far as Sodom. 13 Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against the Lord.
God Describes Abram’s Blessing
14 The Lord said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him, “Now, lift your eyes, and look from the place where you are, north and south and east and west, 15 for I will give all the land which you see to you and to your offspring forever. 16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if one could count the dust of the earth, then your offspring could also be counted. 17 Get up and walk through the land in its length and in its width, for I will give it to you.”
18 Abram moved his tent and came and lived by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the Lord.