Genesis 12-14
Expanded Bible
God Calls Abram
12 The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country, your relatives, and your father’s ·family [L house], and go to the land I will show you [C Canaan, the Promised Land].
2 I will make you a great nation,
and I will bless you.
I will make ·you famous [L your name great],
·and [or so that] you will be a blessing to others.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and I will place a curse on those who ·harm [or curse] you.
And all the ·people [families; clans] on earth
will be blessed through you [C the promises of the Abrahamic covenant].”
4 So Abram left Haran [11:31] as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. At this time Abram was 75 years old. 5 He took his wife Sarai, ·his nephew [L the son of his brother] Lot, and everything they owned, as well as all the ·servants [L people] they had gotten in Haran. They set out from Haran, planning to go to the land of Canaan, and in time they arrived there.
6 Abram ·traveled [passed] through that land as far as the great oak [or terebinth] tree of Moreh at Shechem [C a town in northern Palestine]. The Canaanites were living in the land at that time. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your ·descendants [L seed].” So Abram built an altar [C a place to offer sacrifices] there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 Then he traveled from Shechem to the mountain east of Bethel [C a town in the central hill country south of Shechem] and set up his tent there. Bethel was to the west, and Ai [C a town near Bethel] was to the east. There Abram built another altar to the Lord and ·worshiped him [L called on the name of the Lord]. 9 After this, he traveled on toward ·southern Canaan [L the Negev; 13:1].
Abram Goes to Egypt
10 At this time there was ·not much food [L a famine] in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to ·live [L sojourn] because ·there was so little food [L the famine was severe]. 11 Just before they arrived in Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know you are a very beautiful woman. 12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This woman is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but let you live. 13 Tell them you are my sister so that things will go well with me and I may be allowed to live because of you [20:1–18; 26; C Abram did not trust God to protect him].”
14 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was very beautiful. 15 The Egyptian officers saw her and ·told the king of Egypt how beautiful she was [L they praised her]. They took her to the king’s palace, and 16 the king was kind to Abram ·because he thought Abram was her brother [L on account of her]. He gave Abram sheep, cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.
17 But the Lord sent terrible ·diseases [plagues] on the king and all the people in his house because of Abram’s wife Sarai. 18 So the king sent for Abram and said, “What have you done to me? Why didn’t you tell me Sarai was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’ so that I made her my wife? Now, here is your wife. Take ·her [L your wife] and ·leave [go]!” 20 Then the king commanded his men to make Abram leave Egypt; so Abram and his wife left with everything they owned.
Abram and Lot Separate
13 So Abram, his wife, and Lot ·left [L came up from] Egypt, taking everything they owned, and traveled ·to southern Canaan [L into the Negev; C a somewhat desolate area]. 2 Abram was very rich in cattle, silver, and gold.
3 He ·left [L went by stages from] ·southern Canaan [L the Negev] and went back to Bethel where ·he had camped before [L his tent had been], between Bethel and Ai [12:8], 4 and where he had built an altar [L at first]. So he ·worshiped [L called on the name of] the Lord there.
5 During this time Lot was traveling with Abram, and Lot also had flocks, herds, and tents. 6 Abram and Lot had so many ·animals [L possessions] that the land could not support both of them together, 7 so Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen began to argue. The Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at this time.
8 Abram said to Lot, “There should be no arguing between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, because we are ·brothers [relatives]. 9 We should separate. ·The whole land is [L Is not the whole land…?] there in front of you. If you go to the left, I will go to the right. If you go to the right, I will go to the left.”
10 Lot looked all around and saw the whole Jordan ·Valley [or plain; region] and that there was much water there. It was like the Lord’s garden [C the garden of Eden], like the land of Egypt in the direction of Zoar [C name meaning “small,” in the vicinity of Sodom and Gomorrah; 14:2, 17; 19:23–24]. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah [19:1–29].) 11 So Lot chose to move east and live in the Jordan Valley [13:10]. In this way Abram and Lot separated. 12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, but Lot lived among the cities in the Jordan Valley [13:10], ·very near to [L he moved his tent near] Sodom. 13 Now the people of Sodom were very evil and were always sinning against the Lord.
14 After Lot ·left [L had separated from him], the Lord said to Abram, “Look all around you—to the north and south and east and west. 15 All this land that you see I will give to you and your ·descendants [L seed] forever. 16 I will make your ·descendants [L seed] as many as the dust of the earth. If anyone could count the dust on the earth, he could count your ·people [L seed]. 17 Get up! Walk through ·all [L the length and width of] this land because I am now giving it to you.”
18 So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great ·trees [L oaks; or terebinths] of Mamre [C an area near Hebron, named after an Amorite leader; 14:13, 24] at the city of Hebron [C nineteen miles south of Jerusalem]. There he built an altar to the Lord.
Lot Is Captured
14 Now Amraphel was king of ·Babylonia [L Shinar], Arioch was king of Ellasar [C possibly in Mesopotamia], Kedorlaomer was king of Elam [C located on the Iranian plateau], and Tidal was king of Goiim [C possibly a people otherwise known as the Umman-manda]. 2 All these kings went to war against several other kings: Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela. (Bela is also called Zoar.) [C Sodom and Gomorrah were located in the vicinity of the Dead Sea, and the other named cities are thought to have been nearby.]
3 These kings who were attacked united their armies in the Valley of Siddim (·now [L that is] the ·Dead [L Salt] Sea). 4 They had served Kedorlaomer for twelve years, but in the thirteenth year, they all ·turned [rebelled] against him. 5 Then in the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings with him came and ·defeated [subdued] the ·Rephaites [or Rephaim; C an especially warlike tribe in Canaan] in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, and the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim [C the Zuzites and Emites were likely related to the Rephaites; Deut. 2:10–11]. 6 They also defeated the Horites in the mountains of ·Edom [L Seir; C a region outside of Palestine on the southeastern coast of the Dead Sea] to El Paran (near the ·desert [wilderness]). 7 Then they turned back and went to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh). They ·defeated [subdued] all the Amalekites [C a fearsome tribe in pre-Israelite Canaan], as well as the Amorites who lived in Hazazon Tamar.
8 At that time the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela went out to fight in the Valley of Siddim. (Bela is called Zoar.) 9 They fought against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of ·Babylonia [L Shinar], and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings fighting against five. 10 There were many ·tar [bitumen] pits in the Valley of Siddim. When the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and their armies ·ran away [fled], some of the soldiers fell into the tar pits, but the others ·ran away [fled] to the mountains.
11 Now Kedorlaomer and his armies took everything the people of Sodom and Gomorrah owned, including their food, and left. 12 They took Lot, Abram’s ·nephew [L son of his brother] who was living in Sodom, and ·everything he owned [L his possessions/goods]. Then they left. 13 One of the men who was not captured went to Abram, the Hebrew, and told him what had happened. At that time Abram was camped near the ·great trees [L oaks; or terebinths] of Mamre the Amorite. Mamre was a brother of Eshcol and Aner, and they had all made an ·agreement to help [covenant/treaty with] Abram.
Abram Rescues Lot
14 When Abram learned that ·Lot [L his relative/brother] had been captured, he called out his 318 trained men who had been born in his camp. He led the men and ·chased the enemy [went in pursuit] all the way to the town of Dan [C in the far north of Palestine]. 15 That night he divided his men into groups, and ·they made a surprise attack against the enemy [L he subdued/defeated/struck them]. They chased them all the way to Hobah, north of Damascus [C a major city in Syria]. 16 Then Abram brought back ·everything the enemy had stolen [L all their possessions/goods], the women and the other people, and Lot, and ·everything Lot owned [L his goods/possessions].
17 After defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, Abram ·went home [L returned]. As he was returning, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (now called King’s Valley [C somewhere in the vicinity of Jerusalem]).
18 Melchizedek king of ·Salem [C probably an old name of Jerusalem] brought out bread and wine. He was a priest for God Most High [Ps. 110; Heb. 5:6–10; 6:20—7:28] 19 and blessed Abram, saying,
“Abram, may you be blessed by God Most High,
the ·God [L one] who made heaven and earth.
20 And ·we praise [L blessed be] God Most High,
who has ·helped you to defeat your enemies [L delivered your enemies into your hand].”
Then Abram gave Melchizedek a ·tenth [tithe] of everything he had brought back from the battle.
21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, “You may keep ·all these things [the goods/possessions] for yourself. Just give me my people who were captured.”
22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I ·make a promise [L lifted my hand; C a gesture of swearing] to the Lord, the God Most High, who made heaven and earth. 23 I promise that I will not keep anything that is yours. I will not keep even a thread or a sandal strap [C that is, not the smallest thing] so that you cannot say, ‘I made Abram rich.’ 24 I will keep nothing but the food my young men have eaten. But give Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre their share of what we won, because they went with me into battle.”
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