Genesis 13:9-13

9 ¹Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left."

10 And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the ²Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like ³the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of ⁴Zoar. (This was before the LORD ⁵destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)

11 So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other.

12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom.

13 Now the men of Sodom ⁶were wicked, great sinners against the LORD.

Genesis 13:9-13 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.

Cross References

• 1. Genesis 20:15; Genesis 34:10
• 2. Genesis 19:17, 25, 28; Deuteronomy 34:3; 1 Kings 7:46; [Matthew 3:5]
• 3. Genesis 2:8; Isaiah 51:3; Ezekiel 28:13; Joel 2:3
• 4. Genesis 14:2, 8; Genesis 19:22
• 5. Genesis 19:24, 25
• 6. Genesis 18:20; Ezekiel 16:49; 2 Peter 2:7, 8