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Genesis 13

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REVIEWED OVERVIEW

Genesis 13 Overview

Genesis 13 records Abram’s return from Egypt to the altar near Bethel, his separation from Lot, and God’s renewed land promise. Their combined possessions create conflict between herdsmen. Abram gives Lot first choice of territory; Lot chooses the well-watered Jordan plain and moves toward Sodom. After the separation, the LORD tells Abram to look in every direction, promises the land to his seed, and compares his descendants to the dust of the earth.

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Before you read Genesis 13

Coming from

Genesis 12 ends with Abram expelled from Egypt after fear and deception endanger Sarai.

In this chapter

Abram returns to worship and chooses peace over grasping, while Lot chooses by visible advantage and moves toward morally dangerous Sodom.

Leads into

Genesis 14 brings warfare among kings, Lot’s capture, Abram’s rescue mission, and the meeting with Melchizedek.

Key understanding

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Truth 1

Abram returns to the place where he had previously called on the LORD.

Truth 2

Prosperity creates practical strain requiring wise separation.

Truth 3

Abram refuses to fight for first choice and trusts God’s promise.

Truth 4

Lot chooses by what looks fruitful rather than by moral surroundings.

Truth 5

God renews the land and seed promises after Lot separates.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Connection 1

Psalm 37’s themes of trusting rather than grasping resonate with Abram’s choice.

Connection 2

2 Peter 2 later reflects on Lot’s vexation in Sodom.

Connection 3

Hebrews 11 portrays Abraham dwelling as a stranger in the promised land.

Connection 4

Genesis 18–19 develops the moral significance of Sodom.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Keep this clear 1

Lot’s choice is not condemned simply because the land is fertile; the warning is his movement toward a city already identified as exceedingly wicked.

Keep this clear 2

Abram’s generosity does not surrender God’s promise; the LORD restates it afterward.

Keep this clear 3

The land promise is specific and geographic in the narrative.

Keep this clear 4

Prosperity is not presented as proof of moral superiority; both men possess great substance.

Read Genesis 13 watching for…Explore deeper

The return to Bethel and the altar.

The repeated emphasis on what Lot sees.

Abram’s peace-making proposal.

The first explicit moral description of Sodom.

God’s command for Abram to lift up his eyes after Lot has lifted up his own.

Chapter outline3 sections

1-4Abram returns to Bethel 5-13Abram and Lot separate 14-18God renews the land promise to Abram

And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south.

And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.

And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai;

Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the LORD.

And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents.

And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together.

And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.

And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren.

Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.

And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.

Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.

Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.

But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.

And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:

For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.

And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.

Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.

Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD.

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Genesis 13:17

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