13:1 So Abram went up from Egypt into the Negev. 1 He took his wife and all his possessions with him, as well as Lot. 2 13:2 (Now Abram was very wealthy 3 in livestock, silver, and gold.) 4
13:3 And he journeyed from place to place 5 from the Negev as far as Bethel. 6 He returned 7 to the place where he had pitched his tent 8 at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai. 13:4 This was the place where he had first built the altar, 9 and there Abram worshiped the Lord. 10
13:5 Now Lot, who was traveling 11 with Abram, also had 12 flocks, herds, and tents. 13:6 But the land could 13 not support them while they were living side by side. 14 Because their possessions were so great, they were not able to live 15 alongside one another. 13:7 So there were quarrels 16 between Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen. 17 (Now the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at that time.) 18
13:8 Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no quarreling between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are close relatives. 19 13:9 Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself now from me. If you go 20 to the left, then I’ll go to the right, but if you go to the right, then I’ll go to the left.”
13:10 Lot looked up and saw 21 the whole region 22 of the Jordan. He noticed 23 that all of it was well-watered (before the Lord obliterated 24 Sodom and Gomorrah) 25 like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, 26 all the way to Zoar. 13:11 Lot chose for himself the whole region of the Jordan and traveled 27 toward the east.
So the relatives separated from each other. 28 13:12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled among the cities of the Jordan plain 29 and pitched his tents next to Sodom. 13:13 (Now 30 the people 31 of Sodom were extremely wicked rebels against the Lord.) 32
13:14 After Lot had departed, the Lord said to Abram, 33 “Look 34 from the place where you stand to the north, south, east, and west. 13:15 I will give all the land that you see to you and your descendants 35 forever. 13:16 And I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone is able to count the dust of the earth, then your descendants also can be counted. 36 13:17 Get up and 37 walk throughout 38 the land, 39 for I will give it to you.”
13:18 So Abram moved his tents and went to live 40 by the oaks 41 of Mamre in Hebron, and he built an altar to the Lord there.
13:1 So Abram went up from Egypt into the Negev. 42 He took his wife and all his possessions with him, as well as Lot. 43
28:1 So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. Then he commanded him, “You must not marry a Canaanite woman! 51
9:27 May God enlarge Japheth’s territory and numbers! 52
May he live 53 in the tents of Shem
and may Canaan be his slave!”
1 tn Or “the South [country]” (also in v. 3).
2 tn Heb “And Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all which was his, and Lot with him, to the Negev.”
3 tn Heb “heavy.”
4 tn This parenthetical clause, introduced by the vav (ו) disjunctive (translated “now”), provides information necessary to the point of the story.
5 tn Heb “on his journeys”; the verb and noun combination means to pick up the tents and move from camp to camp.
6 map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.
7 tn The words “he returned” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
8 tn Heb “where his tent had been.”
9 tn Heb “to the place of the altar which he had made there in the beginning” (cf. Gen 12:7-8).
10 tn Heb “he called in the name of the
11 tn Heb “was going.”
12 tn The Hebrew idiom is “to Lot…there was,” the preposition here expressing possession.
13 tn The potential nuance for the perfect tense is necessary here, and supported by the parallel clause that actually uses “to be able.”
14 tn The infinitive construct לָשֶׁבֶת (lashevet, from יָשַׁב, yashav) explains what it was that the land could not support: “the land could not support them to live side by side.” See further J. C. de Moor, “Lexical Remarks Concerning Yahad and Yahdaw,” VT 7 (1957): 350-55.
15 tn The same infinitive occurs here, serving as the object of the verb.
16 tn The Hebrew term רִיב (riv) means “strife, conflict, quarreling.” In later texts it has the meaning of “legal controversy, dispute.” See B. Gemser, “The rîb – or Controversy – Pattern in Hebrew Mentality,” Wisdom in Israel and in the Ancient Near East [VTSup], 120-37.
17 sn Since the quarreling was between the herdsmen, the dispute was no doubt over water and vegetation for the animals.
18 tn This parenthetical clause, introduced with the vav (ו) disjunctive (translated “now”), again provides critical information. It tells in part why the land cannot sustain these two bedouins, and it also hints of the danger of weakening the family by inner strife.
19 tn Heb “men, brothers [are] we.” Here “brothers” describes the closeness of the relationship, but could be misunderstood if taken literally, since Abram was Lot’s uncle.
20 tn The words “you go” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons both times in this verse.
21 tn Heb “lifted up his eyes and saw.” The expression draws attention to the act of looking, indicating that Lot took a good look. It also calls attention to the importance of what was seen.
22 tn Or “plain”; Heb “circle.”
23 tn The words “he noticed” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
24 sn Obliterated. The use of the term “destroy” (שַׁחֵת, shakhet) is reminiscent of the Noahic flood (Gen 6:13). Both at the flood and in Sodom the place was obliterated by catastrophe and only one family survived (see C. Westermann, Genesis, 2:178).
25 tn This short temporal clause (preposition + Piel infinitive construct + subjective genitive + direct object) is strategically placed in the middle of the lavish descriptions to sound an ominous note. The entire clause is parenthetical in nature. Most English translations place the clause at the end of v. 10 for stylistic reasons.
26 sn The narrative places emphasis on what Lot saw so that the reader can appreciate how it aroused his desire for the best land. It makes allusion to the garden of the
27 tn Heb “Lot traveled.” The proper name has not been repeated in the translation at this point for stylistic reasons.
28 tn Heb “a man from upon his brother.”
29 tn Or “the cities of the plain”; Heb “[the cities of] the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.
30 tn Here is another significant parenthetical clause in the story, signaled by the vav (וו) disjunctive (translated “now”) on the noun at the beginning of the clause.
31 tn Heb “men.” However, this is generic in sense; it is unlikely that only the male residents of Sodom were sinners.
32 tn Heb “wicked and sinners against the
33 tn Heb “and the
34 tn Heb “lift up your eyes and see.”
35 tn Heb “for all the land which you see to you I will give it and to your descendants.”
36 tn The translation “can be counted” (potential imperfect) is suggested by the use of יוּכַל (yukhal, “is able”) in the preceding clause.
37 tn The connective “and” is not present in the Hebrew text; it has been supplied for purposes of English style.
38 tn The Hitpael form הִתְהַלֵּךְ (hithallekh) means “to walk about”; it also can carry the ideas of moving about, traversing, going back and forth, or living in an area. It here has the connotation of traversing the land to survey it, to look it over.
39 tn Heb “the land to its length and to its breadth.” This phrase has not been included in the translation because it is somewhat redundant (see the note on the word “throughout” in this verse).
40 tn Heb “he came and lived.”
41 tn Or “terebinths.”
42 tn Or “the South [country]” (also in v. 3).
43 tn Heb “And Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all which was his, and Lot with him, to the Negev.”
44 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Lot) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
45 tn The Hebrew verb means “to look intently; to gaze” (see 15:5).
46 tn The infinitive absolute before the verb emphasizes the clarity of their perception.
47 tn Heb “And we said, ‘Let there be.’” The direct discourse in the Hebrew text has been rendered as indirect discourse in the translation for stylistic reasons.
48 tn The pronoun “us” here is inclusive – it refers to the Philistine contingent on the one hand and Isaac on the other.
49 tn The pronoun “us” here is exclusive – it refers to just the Philistine contingent (the following “you” refers to Isaac).
50 tn The translation assumes that the cohortative expresses their request. Another option is to understand the cohortative as indicating resolve: “We want to make.’”
51 tn Heb “you must not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.”
52 tn Heb “may God enlarge Japheth.” The words “territory and numbers” are supplied in the translation for clarity.
53 tn In this context the prefixed verbal form is a jussive (note the distinct jussive forms both before and after this in vv. 26 and 27).
54 tn Heb “and fear of you and dread of you will be upon every living creature of the earth and upon every bird of the sky.” The suffixes on the nouns “fear” and “dread” are objective genitives. The animals will fear humans from this time forward.
55 tn Heb “into your hand are given.” The “hand” signifies power. To say the animals have been given into the hands of humans means humans have been given authority over them.
56 tn The imperative has the force of a prayer here, not a command.
57 tn The “hand” here is a metonymy for “power.”
58 tn Heb “from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau.”
59 tn Heb “for I am afraid of him, lest he come.”
60 sn Heb “me, [the] mother upon [the] sons.” The first person pronoun “me” probably means here “me and mine,” as the following clause suggests.
61 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
62 tn Or “obey”; Grk “hear.” See the note on the phrase “respond to” in v. 29.
63 sn The concluding statement of the parable, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead, provides a hint that even Jesus’ resurrection will not help some to respond. The message of God should be good enough. Scripture is the sign to be heeded.
64 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the result of the reports the man received about his manager.
65 tn Grk “him”; the referent (the manager) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
66 sn Although phrased as a question, the charges were believed by the owner, as his dismissal of the manager implies.
67 tn Or “stewardship”; the Greek word οἰκονομία (oikonomia) is cognate with the noun for the manager (οἰκονόμος, oikonomo").
68 tn The expression “for the display of” is an attempt to convey in English the force of the Greek preposition εἰς (eis) in this context.