Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Sing Praises to the Lord

Abram and Lot Separate

13 Abram and Sarai took everything they owned and went to the Southern Desert. Lot went with them.

² Abram was very rich. He owned many cattle, sheep, and goats, and had a lot of silver and gold. ³ Abram moved from place to place in the Southern Desert. And finally, he went north and set up his tents between Bethel and Ai, ⁴ where he had earlier camped and built an altar. There he worshiped the Lord.

⁵ Lot, who was traveling with him, also had sheep, goats, and cattle, as well as his own family and slaves. ^6-7 At this time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were still living in the same area, and so there wasn't enough pastureland left for Abram and Lot with all of their animals. Besides this, the men who took care of Abram's animals and the ones who took care of Lot's animals started quarreling.

⁸ Abram said to Lot, “We are close relatives. We shouldn't argue, and our men shouldn't be fighting one another. ⁹ There is plenty of land for you to choose from. Let's separate. If you go north, I'll go south; if you go south, I'll go north.”

^10 (A) This happened before the Lord had destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. And when Lot looked around, he saw there was plenty of water in the Jordan Valley. All the way to Zoar the valley was as green as the garden of the Lord or the land of Egypt. ¹¹ So Lot chose the whole Jordan Valley for himself, and as he started out toward the east, he and Abram separated. ¹² Abram stayed in the land of Canaan. But Lot settled near the cities of the valley and put up his tents not far from Sodom, ¹³ where the people were evil and sinned terribly against the Lord.

Abram Moves to Hebron

¹⁴ After Abram and Lot had gone their separate ways, the Lord said to Abram:

Look around to the north, south, east, and west. ^15 (B) I will give you and your family all the land you can see. It will be theirs forever! ¹⁶ I will give you more descendants than there are specks of dust on the earth, and someday it will be easier to count those specks of dust than to count your descendants. ¹⁷ Now walk back and forth across the land, because I am going to give it to you.

¹⁸ Abram took down his tents and went to live near the sacred trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar in honor of the Lord.

¹⁷ These people are like dried up water holes and clouds blown by a windstorm. The darkest part of hell is waiting for them. ¹⁸ They brag out loud about their stupid nonsense. And by being vulgar and crude, they trap people who have barely escaped from living the wrong kind of life. ¹⁹ They promise freedom to everyone. But they are merely slaves of filthy living, because people are slaves of whatever controls them.

²⁰ When they learned about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they escaped from the filthy things of this world. But they are again caught up and controlled by these filthy things, and now they are in worse shape than they were at first. ²¹ They would have been better off if they had never known about the right way. Even after they knew what was right, they turned their backs on the holy commandments they were given. ^22 (A) What happened to them is just like the true saying,