Abram and Lot Separate

13 So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, ^(A)into the Negeb.

^2 (B)Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. ³ And he journeyed on from the Negeb as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, ⁴ to ^(C)the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of the Lord. ⁵ And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, ⁶ so that ^(D)the land could not support both of them dwelling together; for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together, ^7 (E)and there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock. At that time ^(F)the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land.

⁸ Then Abram said to Lot, ^(G)“Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, ^(H)for we are kinsmen.^{[a] 9 (I)}Is 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 ^(J)Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like ^(K)the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of ^(L)Zoar. (This was before the Lord ^(M)destroyed 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 ^(N)were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.

¹⁴ The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, ^(O)northward and southward and eastward and westward, ¹⁵ for all the land that you see I will give ^(P)to you and ^(Q)to your offspring forever. ^16 (R)I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. ¹⁷ Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” ¹⁸ So Abram moved his tent and came and ^(S)settled by the ^(T)oaks^[b] of Mamre, which ^(U)are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord.

Abram Rescues Lot

14 In the days of Amraphel king of ^(V)Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of ^(W)Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, ² these kings made war with ^(X)Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of ^(Y)Admah, Shemeber king of ^(Z)Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). ³ And all these joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (^(AA)that is, the Salt Sea). ⁴ Twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled. ⁵ In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the ^(AB)Rephaim in ^(AC)Ashteroth-karnaim, the ^(AD)Zuzim in Ham, the ^(AE)Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim, ⁶ and the ^(AF)Horites in their hill country of Seir as far as ^(AG)El-paran on the border of the wilderness. ⁷ Then they turned back and came to En-mishpat (that is, ^(AH)Kadesh) and defeated all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who were dwelling ^(AI)in Hazazon-tamar.

⁸ Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out, and they joined battle in the Valley of Siddim ⁹ with Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar, four kings against five. ¹⁰ Now the Valley of Siddim was full of ^(AJ)bitumen pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into them, and the rest fled ^(AK)to the hill country. ¹¹ So the enemy took ^(AL)all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way. ¹² They also took Lot, ^(AM)the son of Abram's brother, ^(AN)who was dwelling in Sodom, and his possessions, and went their way.

¹³ Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, ^(AO)who was living by the ^(AP)oaks^[c] of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and of Aner. These were allies of Abram. ¹⁴ When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, ^(AQ)born in his house, 318 of them, and went in pursuit as far as ^(AR)Dan. ¹⁵ And he divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus. ¹⁶ Then he brought back all the possessions, and also brought back his kinsman Lot ^(AS)with his possessions, and the women and the people.

Abram Blessed by Melchizedek

¹⁷ After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the ^(AT)King's Valley). ¹⁸ And ^(AU)Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was ^(AV)priest of ^(AW)God Most High.) ¹⁹ And he blessed him and said,

And Abram gave him ^(AZ)a tenth of everything. ²¹ And the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself.” ²² But Abram said to the king of Sodom, ^(BA)“I have lifted my hand^[e] to the Lord, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth, ²³ that ^(BB)I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ ²⁴ I will take nothing but what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me. Let ^(BC)Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre take their share.”

God's Covenant with Abram

15 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: ^(BD)“Fear not, Abram, I am ^(BE)your shield; your reward shall be very great.” ² But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue^[f] childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³ And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and ^(BF)a member of my household will be my heir.” ⁴ And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; ^(BG)your very own son^[g] shall be your heir.” ⁵ And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and ^(BH)number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, ^(BI)“So shall your offspring be.” ⁶ And ^(BJ)he believed the Lord, and ^(BK)he counted it to him as righteousness.

⁷ And he said to him, “I am the Lord who ^(BL)brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans ^(BM)to give you this land to possess.” ⁸ But he said, “O Lord God, ^(BN)how am I to know that I shall possess it?” ⁹ He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰ And he brought him all these, ^(BO)cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But ^(BP)he did not cut the birds in half. ¹¹ And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

¹² As the sun was going down, a ^(BQ)deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. ¹³ Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain ^(BR)that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and ^(BS)they will be afflicted for ^(BT)four hundred years. ¹⁴ But ^(BU)I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward ^(BV)they shall come out with great possessions. ¹⁵ As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; ^(BW)you shall be buried in a good old age. ¹⁶ And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for ^(BX)the iniquity of the Amorites ^(BY)is not yet complete.”

¹⁷ When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. ¹⁸ On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, ^(BZ)“To your offspring I give^[h] this land, from ^(CA)the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, ¹⁹ the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, ²⁰ the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, ²¹ the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”

Sarai and Hagar

16 ^(CB)Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was ^(CC)Hagar. ² And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children^[i] by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. ³ So, after Abram ^(CD)had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. ⁴ And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, ^(CE)she looked with contempt on her mistress.^{[j] 5} And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May ^(CF)the Lord judge between you and me!” ⁶ But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.

⁷ The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to ^(CG)Shur. ⁸ And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” ⁹ The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.” ¹⁰ The angel of the Lord also said to her, ^(CH)“I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” ¹¹ And the angel of the Lord said to her,

¹³ So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,”^[l] for she said, ^(CL)“Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.”^{[m] 14} Therefore the well was called ^(CM)Beer-lahai-roi;^[n] it lies between ^(CN)Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵ And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. ¹⁶ Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

Abraham and the Covenant of Circumcision

17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty;^[o] walk before me, and be ^(CO)blameless, ² that I may make my covenant between me and you, and ^(CP)may multiply you greatly.” ³ Then Abram ^(CQ)fell on his face. And God said to him, ⁴ “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be ^(CR)the father of a multitude of nations. ⁵ No longer shall your name be called Abram,^[p] but ^(CS)your name shall be Abraham,^{[q] (CT)}for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. ⁶ I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make ^(CU)you into nations, and ^(CV)kings shall come from you. ⁷ And I will ^(CW)establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, ^(CX)to be God to you and to your offspring after you. ⁸ And ^(CY)I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and ^(CZ)I will be their God.”

⁹ And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. ¹⁰ This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹ You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a ^(DA)sign of the covenant between me and you. ¹² He who is ^(DB)eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or ^(DC)bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, ¹³ both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴ Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

Isaac's Birth Promised

¹⁵ And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah^[r] shall be her name. ¹⁶ I will bless her, and moreover, I will ^(DD)give^[s] you a son by her. I will bless her, and ^(DE)she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” ¹⁷ Then Abraham ^(DF)fell on his face ^(DG)and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” ¹⁸ And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” ¹⁹ God said, “No, but ^(DH)Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name ^(DI)Isaac.^[t] I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. ²⁰ As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and ^(DJ)multiply him greatly. He ^(DK)shall father twelve princes, and ^(DL)I will make him into a great nation. ²¹ But ^(DM)I will establish my covenant with Isaac, ^(DN)whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”

²² When he had finished talking with him, ^(DO)God went up from Abraham. ²³ Then Abraham took Ishmael his son and all those born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. ²⁴ Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁵ And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁶ That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised. ²⁷ And all the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

18 And the Lord appeared to him by the ^(DP)oaks^[u] of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. ² He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. ^(DQ)When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth ³ and said, “O Lord,^[v] if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. ⁴ Let a ^(DR)little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, ⁵ while I bring a morsel of bread, that ^(DS)you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—^(DT)since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” ⁶ And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick! Three seahs^[w] of fine flour! Knead it, and make cakes.” ⁷ And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man, who prepared it quickly. ⁸ Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

⁹ They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is ^(DU)in the tent.” ¹⁰ The Lord said, “I will surely return to you ^(DV)about this time next year, and ^(DW)Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. ¹¹ Now ^(DX)Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. ^12 (DY)So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ^(DZ)“After I am worn out, and ^(EA)my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” ¹³ The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ ^14 (EB)Is anything too hard^[x] for the Lord? ^(EC)At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” ¹⁵ But Sarah denied it,^[y] saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

¹⁶ Then the men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way. ¹⁷ The Lord said, ^(ED)“Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, ¹⁸ seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be ^(EE)blessed in him? ¹⁹ For I have ^(EF)chosen^[z] him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” ²⁰ Then the Lord said, “Because ^(EG)the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, ^21 (EH)I will go down to see whether they have done altogether^[aa] according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, ^(EI)I will know.”

Abraham Intercedes for Sodom

^22 (EJ)So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham ^(EK)still stood before the Lord. ²³ Then Abraham drew near and said, ^(EL)“Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴ Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? ²⁵ Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, ^(EM)so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! ^(EN)Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” ²⁶ And the Lord said, ^(EO)“If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

²⁷ Abraham answered and said, ^(EP)“Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. ²⁸ Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” ²⁹ Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” ³⁰ Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” ³¹ He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” ³² Then he said, ^(EQ)“Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” ³³ And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

God Rescues Lot

19 The ^(ER)two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth ² and said, “My lords, ^(ES)please turn aside to your servant's house and spend the night ^(ET)and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.” They said, ^(EU)“No; we will spend the night in the town square.” ³ But he pressed them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

⁴ But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. ^5 (EV)And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? ^(EW)Bring them out to us, that we ^(EX)may know them.” ⁶ Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him, ⁷ and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. ^8 (EY)Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” ⁹ But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow ^(EZ)came to sojourn, and ^(FA)he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down. ¹⁰ But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. ¹¹ And they struck with ^(FB)blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door.

¹² Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, ^(FC)bring them out of the place. ¹³ For we are about to destroy this place, ^(FD)because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” ¹⁴ So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, ^(FE)“Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.

¹⁵ As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” ¹⁶ But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, ^(FF)the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. ¹⁷ And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. ^(FG)Do not look back or stop anywhere in the ^(FH)valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.” ¹⁸ And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords. ¹⁹ Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. ²⁰ Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!” ²¹ He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. ²² Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called ^(FI)Zoar.^[ab]

God Destroys Sodom

²³ The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. ²⁴ Then ^(FJ)the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. ²⁵ And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. ²⁶ But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became ^(FK)a pillar of salt.

²⁷ And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had ^(FL)stood before the Lord. ²⁸ And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.

²⁹ So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God ^(FM)remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.

Lot and His Daughters

³⁰ Now Lot went up out of Zoar and ^(FN)lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters. ³¹ And the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth. ³² Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” ³³ So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father. He did not know when she lay down or when she arose.

³⁴ The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight also. Then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” ³⁵ So they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. ³⁶ Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. ³⁷ The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab.^{[ac] (FO)}He is the father of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸ The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi.^{[ad] (FP)}He is the father of the Ammonites to this day.