Genesis 13:1-18

Abram’s Solution to the Strife

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.

Genesis 9:25

9:25 So he said,

“Cursed ⁴²  be Canaan! ⁴³ 

The lowest of slaves ⁴⁴ 

he will be to his brothers.”

Genesis 12:1

The Obedience of Abram

12:1 Now the Lord said ⁴⁵  to Abram, ⁴⁶ 

“Go out ⁴⁷  from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household

to the land that I will show you. ⁴⁸ 

Jude 1:9

1:9 But even ⁴⁹  when Michael the archangel ⁵⁰  was arguing with the devil and debating with him ⁵¹  concerning Moses’ body, he did not dare to bring a slanderous judgment, but said, “May the Lord rebuke you!”

Revelation 12:7

War in Heaven

12:7 Then ⁵²  war broke out in heaven: Michael ⁵³  and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.

[13:1]  ¹ tn Or “the South [country]” (also in v. 3).

[13:1]  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.”

[13:2]  ³ tn Heb “heavy.”

[13:2]  ⁴ tn This parenthetical clause, introduced by the vav (ו) disjunctive (translated “now”), provides information necessary to the point of the story.

[13:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “on his journeys”; the verb and noun combination means to pick up the tents and move from camp to camp.

[13:3]  ⁶ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[13:3]  ⁷ tn The words “he returned” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[13:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “where his tent had been.”

[13:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “to the place of the altar which he had made there in the beginning” (cf. Gen 12:7-8).

[13:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he called in the name of the Lord.” The expression refers to worshiping the Lord through prayer and sacrifice (see Gen 4:26; 12:8; 21:33; 26:25). See G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:116, 281.

[13:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “was going.”

[13:5]  ¹² tn The Hebrew idiom is “to Lot…there was,” the preposition here expressing possession.

[13:6]  ¹³ tn The potential nuance for the perfect tense is necessary here, and supported by the parallel clause that actually uses “to be able.”

[13:6]  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.

[13:6]  ¹⁵ tn The same infinitive occurs here, serving as the object of the verb.

[13:7]  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.

[13:7]  ¹⁷ sn Since the quarreling was between the herdsmen, the dispute was no doubt over water and vegetation for the animals.

[13:7]  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.

[13:8]  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.

[13:9]  ²⁰ tn The words “you go” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons both times in this verse.

[13:10]  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.

[13:10]  ²² tn Or “plain”; Heb “circle.”

[13:10]  ²³ tn The words “he noticed” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[13:10]  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).

[13:10]  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.

[13:10]  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 Lord and to the land of Egypt for comparison. Just as the tree in the garden of Eden had awakened Eve’s desire, so the fertile valley attracted Lot. And just as certain memories of Egypt would cause the Israelites to want to turn back and abandon the trek to the promised land, so Lot headed for the good life.

[13:11]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Lot traveled.” The proper name has not been repeated in the translation at this point for stylistic reasons.

[13:11]  ²⁸ tn Heb “a man from upon his brother.”

[13:12]  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.

[13:13]  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.

[13:13]  ³¹ tn Heb “men.” However, this is generic in sense; it is unlikely that only the male residents of Sodom were sinners.

[13:13]  ³² tn Heb “wicked and sinners against the Lord exceedingly.” The description of the sinfulness of the Sodomites is very emphatic. First, two nouns are used to form a hendiadys: “wicked and sinners” means “wicked sinners,” the first word becoming adjectival. The text is saying these were no ordinary sinners; they were wicked sinners, the type that cause pain for others. Then to this phrase is added “against the Lord,” stressing their violation of the laws of heaven and their culpability. Finally, to this is added מְאֹד (mÿ’od, “exceedingly,” translated here as “extremely”).

[13:14]  ³³ tn Heb “and the Lord said to Abram after Lot separated himself from with him.” The disjunctive clause at the beginning of the verse signals a new scene.

[13:14]  ³⁴ tn Heb “lift up your eyes and see.”

[13:15]  ³⁵ tn Heb “for all the land which you see to you I will give it and to your descendants.”

[13:16]  ³⁶ tn The translation “can be counted” (potential imperfect) is suggested by the use of יוּכַל (yukhal, “is able”) in the preceding clause.

[13:17]  ³⁷ tn The connective “and” is not present in the Hebrew text; it has been supplied for purposes of English style.

[13:17]  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.

[13:17]  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).

[13:18]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “he came and lived.”

[13:18]  ⁴¹ tn Or “terebinths.”

[9:25]  ⁴² sn For more on the curse, see H. C. Brichto, The Problem of “Curse” in the Hebrew Bible (JBLMS), and J. Scharbert, TDOT 1:405-18.

[9:25]  ⁴³ sn Cursed be Canaan. The curse is pronounced on Canaan, not Ham. Noah sees a problem in Ham’s character, and on the basis of that he delivers a prophecy about the future descendants who will live in slavery to such things and then be controlled by others. (For more on the idea of slavery in general, see E. M. Yamauchi, “Slaves of God,” BETS 9 [1966]: 31-49). In a similar way Jacob pronounced oracles about his sons based on their revealed character (see Gen 49).

[9:25]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “a servant of servants” (עֶבֶד עֲבָדִים, ’eved ’avadim), an example of the superlative genitive. It means Canaan will become the most abject of slaves.

[12:1]  ⁴⁵ sn The Lord called Abram while he was in Ur (see Gen 15:7; Acts 7:2); but the sequence here makes it look like it was after the family left to migrate to Canaan (11:31-32). Genesis records the call of Abram at this place in the narrative because it is the formal beginning of the account of Abram. The record of Terah was brought to its end before this beginning.

[12:1]  ⁴⁶ tn The call of Abram begins with an imperative לֶךְ־לְךָ (lekh-lÿkha, “go out”) followed by three cohortatives (v. 2a) indicating purpose or consequence (“that I may” or “then I will”). If Abram leaves, then God will do these three things. The second imperative (v. 2b, literally “and be a blessing”) is subordinated to the preceding cohortatives and indicates God’s ultimate purpose in calling and blessing Abram. On the syntactical structure of vv. 1-2 see R. B. Chisholm, “Evidence from Genesis,” A Case for Premillennialism, 37. For a similar sequence of volitive forms see Gen 45:18.

[12:1]  ⁴⁷ tn The initial command is the direct imperative (לֶךְ, lekh) from the verb הָלַךְ (halakh). It is followed by the lamed preposition with a pronominal suffix (לְךָ, lÿkha) emphasizing the subject of the imperative: “you leave.”

[12:1]  ⁴⁸ sn To the land that I will show you. The call of Abram illustrates the leading of the Lord. The command is to leave. The Lord’s word is very specific about what Abram is to leave (the three prepositional phrases narrow to his father’s household), but is not specific at all about where he is to go. God required faith, a point that Heb 11:8 notes.

[1:9]  ⁴⁹ tn The word “even” is not in Greek; it is implied by the height of the contrast.

[1:9]  ⁵⁰ sn According to Jewish intertestamental literature (such as 1 En. 20), Michael was one of seven archangels.

[1:9]  ⁵¹ tn The sentence structure is a bit different in Greek. Literally it reads: “But Michael the archangel, when arguing with the devil and disputing.”

[12:7]  ⁵² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[12:7]  ⁵³ sn The archangel Michael had a special role in protecting the nation of Israel in the OT (Dan 10:13, 21; 12:1; see also Jude 9).