46 | Genesis 12:17
17 But the Lord in flicted se ri ous dis eases on Phar aoh and his house hold h be cause of Abram’ s wife Sa rai. 18 So Phar aoh sum moned Abram.“ What have you done to me?” i he said.“ Why didn’ t you tell me she was your wife? 19 Why did you say,‘ She is my sis ter,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!” 20 Then Pharaoh gave or ders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.
Abram and Lot Separate
13 So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, j with his wife and ev ery thing he had,
and Lot went with him. 2 Abram had be come very wealthy in live stock and in sil ver and gold.
3 From the Negev he went from place to place un til he came to Bethel, k to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been ear lier 4 and where he had first built an al tar. l There Abram called on the name of the Lord.
5 Now Lot, who was mov ing about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. 6 But the land could not sup port them while they stayed to gether, for their pos ses sions were so great that they were not able to stay to gether. m 7 And quarreling n arose between Abram’ s herd ers and Lot’ s. The Ca naan ites and Per iz zites were also liv ing in the land o at that time.
8 So Abram said to Lot,“ Let’ s not have any quar rel ing be tween you and me, p or be tween your herd ers and mine, for we are close rel a tives. q 9 Is not the whole land be fore you? Let’ s part com pany. 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 Jor dan to ward Zoar r was well wa tered, like the gar den of the Lord, s like the land of Egypt.( This was be fore the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) t
11 So Lot chose for him self the whole plain of the Jor dan and set out to ward the east. The two men parted com pany: 12 Abram lived in the land of Ca naan, while Lot lived among the cit ies of the plain u and pitched his tents near Sodom. v 13 Now the peo ple of Sodom were wicked and were sin ning greatly against the Lord. w
14 The Lord said to Abram af ter Lot had parted from him,“ Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. x 15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your off spring a for ever. y
16 I will make your off spring like the dust of the earth, so that if any one could count the dust, then your off spring could be counted. 17 Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, z for I am giv ing it to you.”
18 So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre a at He bron, b where he pitched his tents. There he built an al tar to the Lord. c
12:17 h 1Ch 16:21 12:18 i Ge 20:9; 26:10 13:1 j Ge 12:9 13:3 k Ge 12:8 13:4 l Ge 12:7 13:6 m Ge 36:7
13:7 n Ge 26:20, 21 o Ge 12:6
13:8 p Pr 15:18; 20:3 q Ps 133:1
13:10 r Ge 19:22, 30 s Ge 2:8-10; Isa 51:3
t Ge 14:8; 19:17‐29
13:12 u Ge 19:17, 25, 29 v Ge 14:12
13:13 w Ge 18:20; Eze 16:49-50; 2Pe 2:8
13:14 x Ge 28:14; Dt 3:27
13:15 y Ge 12:7; Gal 3:16 *
13:17 z ver 15; Nu 13:17‐25
13:18 a Ge 14:13, 24; 18:1 b Ge 35:27 c Ge 8:20
14:1 d Ge 10:10
14:2 e Ge 10:19 f Ge 13:10
Abram Rescues Lot
14 At the time when Am ra phel was king of Shi nar, b d Ar i och king of El la sar, Ked orla o mer king of Elam and Ti dal king of Goyim, 2 these kings went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Bir sha king of Go mor rah, Shi nab king of Ad mah, Shem e ber king of Zeboyim, e and the king of Bela( that is, Zoar). f 3 All these lat ter kings joined forces in the
14:1 – 24 Abram Rescues Lot. When a foreign confederation of four kings defeats an alliance of five Canaanite kings, they take captive Abram’ s nephew Lot. After Abram returns from successfully rescuing Lot and other capa 15 Or seed; also in verse 16 b 1 That is, Babylonia; also in verse 9
until the end of the second millennium BC. Archaeological evidence for the early domestication of camels is understandably limited given their use in desert regions. Even in Genesis they are usually mentioned in contexts involving long-distance travel close to deserts( e. g., 24:10 – 64; 31:17,34; 37:25). Recent research, however, suggests that people used camels as early as the third millennium BC. Genesis tends to mention them at the very end of lists of possessions( 30:43; 32:7), possibly suggesting that they were the least numerous of the animals the patriarchs owned. 12:17 serious diseases. A minimum of detail is given regarding Phar aoh’ s punishment. There is no reason to assume that these are related to any of the diseases recorded in Exod 7 – 12.
13:1 – 18 Abram and Lot Separate. After they return to Canaan, a conflict over pastureland causes Abram to give his nephew Lot first choice of the land. However, after the two men part company, God reiterates his promise to Abram that his descendants will possess all of Canaan. 13:6 land could not support them. The hill country to the east of Bethel( v. 3) provides inadequate pasture for all the livestock Abram and Lot own. 13:7 Canaanites and Perizzites. The presence of other inhabitants probably also limited the pastureland available to the livestock of Abram and Lot. 13:10 well watered. An abundance of water made the Jordan Valley an obvious choice for Lot, especially after the famine mentioned in 12:10. But the fertility of the land masks a hidden danger. Sodom and Gomorrah. Linked in 10:19 to Canaan, Noah’ s grandson, whom Noah cursed( 9:25 – 27). The brief remark about their destruction anticipates the fuller description in ch. 19. The original location of these cities is unknown, although they were probably situated near the southern end of the Dead Sea. 13:11 – 12 Separating from Abram, Lot camps near Sodom. When we next read of him, he has settled within the city( 14:12; see 19:3 – 11). In sharp contrast to Abram, the men of Sodom are antagonistic toward the Lord. As subsequent events reveal, Lot’ s choice seriously endangers his well-being on two occasions( chs. 14; 19). 13:16 like the dust of the earth. Although Abram remains childless, the Lord promises him that his descendants will be numerous. Elsewhere, God compares Abram’ s descendants to the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore( 22:17; see 15:5). 13:18 altar. The one built by Abraham near Hebron was located relatively close to those mentioned in 12:6 – 8. All three altars were constructed in what would later be the central regions of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.