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Abram and Lot

¹ So Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot his nephew with him, into ^(C1)the Negev (the South country of Judah).

² Now Abram was ^(C1)extremely rich in livestock and in silver and in gold.³ He journeyed on from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, ^(C1)between Bethel and Ai,⁴ where he had first built an ^(C1)altar; and there Abram called on the name of the LORD in prayer. ^(VR1)5 But ^(C1)Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents.⁶ Now ^(C1)the land was not able to support them that is, sustain all their grazing and water needs while they lived near one another, ^(C2)for their possessions were too great for them to stay together.^7 (C1)And there was strife and quarreling between the herdsmen of Abram's cattle and the herdsmen of Lot's cattle. Now ^(C2)the Canaanite and the Perizzite were living in the land at that same time making grazing of the livestock difficult.

^8 (C1)So Abram said to Lot, "Please let there be no strife and disagreement between you and me, nor between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, because we are relatives.⁹ "Is not the entire land before you? Please separate yourself from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or if you choose the right, then I will go to the left."¹⁰ So Lot looked and saw that the valley of the ^(C1)Jordan was well watered everywhere—this was before the LORD ^(C2)destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah; it was all like ^(C3)the garden of the LORD, ^(C4)like the land of Egypt, as you go to ^(C5)Zoar at the south end of the Dead Sea.¹¹ Then Lot chose for himself all the valley of the Jordan, and he traveled east. So they separated from each other.¹² Abram settled in the land of Canaan, and Lot settled in ^(C1)the cities of the valley and camped as far as Sodom and lived there.¹³ But ^(C1)the men of Sodom were extremely wicked and ^(C2)sinful against the LORD unashamed in their open sin before Him.

¹⁴ The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had left him, "^(C1)Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are standing, ^(C2)northward and southward and eastward and westward;^15 (C1)for all the land which you see ^(C2)I will give to you and to your descendants forever. ^(VR1)16 "I will make your descendants as numerous ^(C1)as the dust of the earth, so that if a man could count the grains of dust of the earth, then your descendants could also be counted. ^(VR1)17 "Arise, ^(C1)walk (make a thorough reconnaissance) around in the land, through its length and its width, for ^(C2)I will give it to you."¹⁸ Then Abram broke camp and moved his tent, and came and settled by the grove of the great ^(C1)terebinths (oak trees) of Mamre the Amorite, which are in Hebron, and there he built ^(C2)an altar to honor the LORD.