The Bible in Basic English BBE
Good News Translation GNT
1 And Abram went up out of Egypt with his wife and all he had, and Lot with him, and they came in to the South.
1
Abram went north out of Egypt to the southern part of Canaan with his wife and everything he owned, and Lot went with him.
2 Now Abram had great wealth of cattle and silver and gold.
2
Abram was a very rich man, with sheep, goats, and cattle, as well as silver and gold.
3 And travelling on from the South, he came to Beth-el, to the place where his tent had been before, between Beth-el and Ai;
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Then he left there and moved from place to place, going toward Bethel. He reached the place between Bethel and Ai where he had camped before
4 To the place where he had made his first altar, and there Abram gave worship to the name of the Lord.
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and had built an altar. There he worshiped the Lord.
5 And Lot, who went with him, had flocks and herds and tents;
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Lot also had sheep, goats, and cattle, as well as his own family and servants.
6 So that the land was not wide enough for the two of them: their property was so great that there was not room for them together.
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And so there was not enough pasture land for the two of them to stay together, because they had too many animals.
7 And there was an argument between the keepers of Abram's cattle and the keepers of Lot's cattle: at that time the Canaanites and Perizzites were still living in the land.
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So quarrels broke out between the men who took care of Abram's animals and those who took care of Lot's animals. (At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were still living in the land.)
8 Then Abram said to Lot, Let there be no argument between me and you, and between my herdmen and your herdmen, for we are brothers.
8
Then Abram said to Lot, "We are relatives, and your men and my men shouldn't be quarreling.
9 Is not all the land before you? then let us go our separate ways: if you go to the left, I will go to the right; or if you take the right, I will go to the left.
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So let's separate. Choose any part of the land you want. You go one way, and I'll go the other."
10 And Lot, lifting up his eyes and looking an the valley of Jordan, saw that it was well watered everywhere, before the Lord had sent destruction on Sodom and Gomorrah; it was like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, on the way to Zoar.
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Lot looked around and saw that the whole Jordan Valley, all the way to Zoar, had plenty of water, like the Garden of the Lord or like the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord had destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.)
11 So Lot took for himself all the valley of Jordan, and went to the east, and they were parted from one another.
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So Lot chose the whole Jordan Valley for himself and moved away toward the east. That is how the two men parted.
12 Abram went on living in the land of Canaan, and Lot went to the lowland towns, moving his tent as far as Sodom.
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Abram stayed in the land of Canaan, and Lot settled among the cities in the valley and camped near Sodom,
13 Now the men of Sodom were evil, and great sinners before the Lord.
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whose people were wicked and sinned against the Lord.
14 And the Lord had said to Abram, after Lot was parted from him, From this place where you are take a look to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west:
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After Lot had left, the Lord said to Abram, "From where you are, look carefully in all directions.
15 For all the land which you see I will give to you and to your seed for ever.
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I am going to give you and your descendants all the land that you see, and it will be yours forever.
16 And I will make your children like the dust of the earth, so that if the dust of the earth may be numbered, then will your children be numbered.
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I am going to give you so many descendants that no one will be able to count them all; it would be as easy to count all the specks of dust on earth!
17 Come, go through all the land from one end to the other for I will give it to you.
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Now, go and look over the whole land, because I am going to give it all to you."
18 And Abram, moving his tent, came and made his living-place by the holy tree of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and made an altar there to the Lord.
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So Abram moved his camp and settled near the sacred trees of Mamre at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.