Genesis 13:5-17

5 Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents.
6 But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together.
7 And quarreling arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time.
8 So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives.
9 Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.”
10 Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)
11 So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company:
12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom.
13 Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.
14 The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west.
15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring[a] forever.
16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.
17 Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”

Genesis 13:5-17 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 28

  • 1. S Genesis 11:27
  • 2. S Genesis 12:5; Genesis 33:9; Genesis 36:7
  • 3. Genesis 26:20,21; Numbers 20:3
  • 4. S Genesis 10:18
  • 5. Genesis 15:20; Genesis 34:30; Exodus 3:8; Judges 1:4
  • 6. Genesis 12:6; Genesis 34:30
  • 7. S Genesis 11:27
  • 8. Proverbs 15:18; Proverbs 20:3
  • 9. Genesis 19:9; Exodus 2:14; Numbers 16:13; Psalms 133:1
  • 10. Genesis 20:15; Genesis 34:10; Genesis 47:6; Jeremiah 40:4
  • 11. 1 Kings 7:46; 2 Chronicles 4:17
  • 12. Numbers 13:29; Numbers 33:48
  • 13. Genesis 2:8-10; Isaiah 51:3; Ezekiel 31:8-9
  • 14. Genesis 46:7
  • 15. Genesis 14:2; Genesis 19:22,30; Deuteronomy 34:3; Isaiah 15:5; Jeremiah 48:34
  • 16. Deuteronomy 29:23; Job 39:6; Psalms 107:34; Jeremiah 4:26
  • 17. Genesis 14:8; Genesis 19:17-29
  • 18. S Genesis 10:19
  • 19. S Genesis 11:27
  • 20. S ver 10; Ge 19:17,25,29
  • 21. Genesis 14:12
  • 22. Genesis 19:4; Isaiah 1:10; Isaiah 3:9
  • 23. Genesis 18:20; Genesis 19:5; Genesis 20:6; Genesis 39:9; Numbers 32:23; 1 Samuel 12:23; 2 Samuel 12:13; Psalms 51:4; Ezekiel 16:49-50; 2 Peter 2:8
  • 24. Genesis 28:14; Genesis 32:12; Genesis 48:16; Deuteronomy 3:27; Deuteronomy 13:17; Isaiah 54:3
  • 25. S Genesis 12:7; Galatians 3:16*
  • 26. S Genesis 12:2; Genesis 16:10; Genesis 17:20; Genesis 21:13,18; Genesis 25:16; Numbers 23:10
  • 27. ver 15; Numbers 13:17-25
  • 28. S Genesis 12:7; Genesis 15:7

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Or "seed" ; also in verse 16
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