Genesis 13:8-18

8 And Abram said to Lot, I pray thee let there be no contention between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen, for we are brethren.
9 Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if to the left, then I will take the right; and if to the right, then I will take the left.
10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of the Jordan that it was thoroughly watered, before Jehovah had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah; as the garden of Jehovah, like the land of Egypt, as one goes to Zoar.
11 And Lot chose for himself all the plain of the Jordan; and Lot went toward the east. And they separated the one from the other:
12 Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan; and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and pitched tents as far as Sodom.
13 And the people of Sodom were wicked, and great sinners before Jehovah.
14 And Jehovah said to Abram, after that Lot had separated himself from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward and southward and eastward and westward;
15 for all the land that thou seest will I give to thee, and to thy seed for ever.
16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth, so that if any one can number the dust of the earth, thy seed also will be numbered.
17 Arise, walk through the land according to the length of it and according to the breadth of it; for I will give it to thee.
18 Then Abram moved [his] tents, and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron. And he built there an altar to Jehovah.

Genesis 13:8-18 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 13

This chapter gives an account of the return of Abram from Egypt to the land of Canaan, and to the same place in it he had been before, Ge 13:1-4 and of a strife between the herdsmen of Abram and Lot, and the occasion of it, Ge 13:5-7 which was composed by the prudent proposal of Abram, Ge 13:8,9 upon which they parted; Abram continued in Canaan, and Lot chose the plain of Jordan, and dwelt near Sodom, a place infamous for wickedness, Ge 13:10-13 after which the Lord renewed to Abram the grant of the land of Canaan to him, and to his seed, Ge 13:14-17 and then he removed to the plain of Mamre in Hebron, and there set up the worship of God, Ge 13:18.

Footnotes 5

  • [a]. Lit. 'men, brethren.'
  • [b]. 'Circle:' used for the plain at the mouth of the Jordan, most of which was afterwards covered by the Salt sea. Ch. 14.3.
  • [c]. Burning.
  • [d]. Submersion.
  • [e]. Zor, or Zar, in Egypt: not Bela, ch. 14.2,8.
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.