Genesis 13; Genesis 14; Genesis 15; Matthew 5:1-26

1 So Abram left Egypt and went back to the Negev, he and his wife and everything he owned, and Lot still with him.

2 By now Abram was very rich, loaded with cattle and silver and gold.

3 He moved on from the Negev, camping along the way, to Bethel, the place he had first set up his tent between Bethel and Ai

4 and built his first altar. Abram prayed there to God.

5 Lot, who was traveling with Abram, was also rich in sheep and cattle and tents.

6 But the land couldn't support both of them; they had too many possessions. They couldn't both live there -

7 quarrels broke out between Abram's shepherds and Lot's shepherds. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living on the land at the time.

8 Abram said to Lot, "Let's not have fighting between us, between your shepherds and my shepherds. After all, we're family.

9 Look around. Isn't there plenty of land out there? Let's separate. If you go left, I'll go right; if you go right, I'll go left."

10 Lot looked. He saw the whole plain of the Jordan spread out, well watered (this was before God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah), like God's garden, like Egypt, and stretching all the way to Zoar.

11 Lot took the whole plain of the Jordan. Lot set out to the east.

12 Abram settled in Canaan; Lot settled in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent near Sodom.

13 The people of Sodom were evil - flagrant sinners against God.

14 After Lot separated from him, God said to Abram, "Open your eyes, look around. Look north, south, east, and west.

15 Everything you see, the whole land spread out before you, I will give to you and your children forever.

16 I'll make your descendants like dust - counting your descendants will be as impossible as counting the dust of the Earth.

17 So - on your feet, get moving! Walk through the country, its length and breadth; I'm giving it all to you."

18 Abram moved his tent. He went and settled by the Oaks of Mamre in Hebron. There he built an altar to God.

1 Then this: Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim

2 went off to war to fight Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, that is, Zoar.

3 This second group of kings, the attacked, came together at the Valley of Siddim, that is, the Salt Sea.

4 They had been under the thumb of Kedorlaomer for twelve years. In the thirteenth year, they revolted.

5 In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him set out and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim,

6 and the Horites in their hill country of Seir as far as El Paran on the far edge of the desert.

7 On their way back they stopped at En Mishpat, that is, Kadesh, and conquered the whole region of the Amalekites as well as that of the Amorites who lived in Hazazon Tamar.

8 That's when the king of Sodom marched out with the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, that is, Zoar. They drew up in battle formation against their enemies in the Valley of Siddim -

9 against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar, four kings against five.

10 The Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits. When the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into the tar pits, but the rest escaped into the mountains.

11 The four kings captured all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, all their food and equipment, and went on their way.

12 They captured Lot, Abram's nephew who was living in Sodom at the time, taking everything he owned with them.

13 A fugitive came and reported to Abram the Hebrew. Abram was living at the Oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and Aner. They were allies of Abram.

14 When Abram heard that his nephew had been taken prisoner, he lined up his servants, all of them born in his household - there were 318 of them - and chased after the captors all the way to Dan.

15 Abram and his men split into small groups and attacked by night. They chased them as far as Hobah, just north of Damascus.

16 They recovered all the plunder along with nephew Lot and his possessions, including the women and the people.

17 After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and his allied kings, the king of Sodom came out to greet him in the Valley of Shaveh, the King's Valley.

18 Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine - he was priest of The High God -

19 and blessed him: Blessed be Abram by The High God, Creator of Heaven and Earth.

20 And blessed be The High God, who handed your enemies over to you. Abram gave him a tenth of all the recovered plunder.

21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me back the people but keep all the plunder for yourself."

22 But Abram told the king of Sodom, "I swear to God, The High God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, this solemn oath,

23 that I'll take nothing from you, not so much as a thread or a shoestring. I'm not going to have you go around saying, 'I made Abram rich.'

24 Nothing for me other than what the young men ate and the share of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; they're to get their share of the plunder."

1 After all these things, this word of God came to Abram in a vision: "Don't be afraid, Abram. I'm your shield. Your reward will be grand!"

2 Abram said, "God, Master, what use are your gifts as long as I'm childless and Eliezer of Damascus is going to inherit everything?"

3 Abram continued, "See, you've given me no children, and now a mere house servant is going to get it all."

4 Then God's Message came: "Don't worry, he won't be your heir; a son from your body will be your heir."

5 Then he took him outside and said, "Look at the sky. Count the stars. Can you do it? Count your descendants! You're going to have a big family, Abram!"

6 And he believed! Believed God! God declared him "Set-Right-with-God."

7 God continued, "I'm the same God who brought you from Ur of the Chaldees and gave you this land to own."

8 Abram said, "Master God, how am I to know this, that it will all be mine?"

9 God said, "Bring me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, and a dove and a young pigeon."

10 He brought all these animals to him, split them down the middle, and laid the halves opposite each other. But he didn't split the birds.

11 Vultures swooped down on the carcasses, but Abram scared them off.

12 As the sun went down a deep sleep overcame Abram and then a sense of dread, dark and heavy.

13 God said to Abram, "Know this: your descendants will live as outsiders in a land not theirs; they'll be enslaved and beaten down for 400 years.

14 Then I'll punish their slave masters; your offspring will march out of there loaded with plunder.

15 But not you; you'll have a long and full life and die a good and peaceful death.

16 Not until the fourth generation will your descendants return here; sin is still a thriving business among the Amorites."

17 When the sun was down and it was dark, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch moved between the split carcasses.

18 That's when God made a covenant with Abram: "I'm giving this land to your children, from the Nile River in Egypt to the River Euphrates in Assyria -

19 the country of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,

20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaim,

21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites."

1 When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down

2 and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said:

3 "You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

4 "You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

5 "You're blessed when you're content with just who you are - no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.

6 "You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.

7 "You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'carefull,' you find yourselves cared for.

8 "You're blessed when you get your inside world - your mind and heart - put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

9 "You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family.

10 "You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom.

11 "Not only that - count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable.

12 You can be glad when that happens - give a cheer, even! - for though they don't like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.

13 "Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You've lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.

14 "Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill.

15 If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand.

16 Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand - shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.

17 "Don't suppose for a minute that I have come to demolish the Scriptures - either God's Law or the Prophets. I'm not here to demolish but to complete. I am going to put it all together, pull it all together in a vast panorama.

18 God's Law is more real and lasting than the stars in the sky and the ground at your feet. Long after stars burn out and earth wears out, God's Law will be alive and working.

19 "Trivialize even the smallest item in God's Law and you will only have trivialized yourself. But take it seriously, show the way for others, and you will find honor in the kingdom.

20 Unless you do far better than the Pharisees in the matters of right living, you won't know the first thing about entering the kingdom.

21 "You're familiar with the command to the ancients, 'Do not murder.'

22 I'm telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder. Carelessly call a brother 'idiot!' and you just might find yourself hauled into court. Thoughtlessly yell 'stupid!' at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire. The simple moral fact is that words kill.

23 "This is how I want you to conduct yourself in these matters. If you enter your place of worship and, about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you,

24 abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God.

25 "Or say you're out on the street and an old enemy accosts you. Don't lose a minute. Make the first move; make things right with him. After all, if you leave the first move to him, knowing his track record, you're likely to end up in court, maybe even jail.

26 If that happens, you won't get out without a stiff fine.