Abram and Lot Separate
1So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. 2Abram had become very wealthy in livestock, silver, and gold. 3From the Negev he went on, by stages, to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been at first, 4to the site of the altar he had built there before. There Abram called on the name of Yahweh. 5Lot, who was traveling with Abram, also had flocks, herds, and tents, 6and the land could not support them living together, for their possessions were so great that they could not stay together. 7Quarreling broke out between the herders of Abram’s livestock and the herders of Lot’s livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites were also living in the land at that time. 8So Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are relatives. 9Is not the whole land before you? Let us separate. If you go to the left, I will go to the right; if you go to the right, I will go to the left.” 10Lot looked up and saw the whole plain of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere — this was before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah — like the garden of Yahweh, like the land of Egypt, all the way to Zoar. 11So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. Thus the two men parted from each other. 12Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. 13Now the people of Sodom were wicked, sinning greatly against Yahweh.
The Promise of the Land
14After Lot had parted from him, Yahweh said to Abram, “Lift up your eyes and look, from where you are, to the north, the south, the east, and the west. 15All the land you see, I will give to you and your offspring forever. 16I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. 17Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.” 18So Abram moved his tent and went to live near the great trees of Mamre, at Hebron, where he built an altar to Yahweh.
