Abram Returns to Canaan

13 So Abram left Egypt. Abram traveled through the Negev* with his wife and everything he owned. Lot was also with them. ²At this time, Abram was very rich. He had many animals and much silver and gold. ³Abram continued traveling around. He left the Negev* and went back to Bethel. He went to the place between the city of Bethel and the city of Ai. This was the same place Abram and his family had camped before. ⁴This was the place Abram had built an altar.* So Abram worshiped the Lord at this place.

Abram and Lot Separate

⁵During this time, Lot was also traveling with Abram. Lot had many animals and tents. ⁶Abram and Lot had so many animals that the land could not support both of them together. ⁷And the Canaanite people and the Perizzite people were also living in this land at the same time. The shepherds of Abram and Lot began to argue. ⁸So Abram said to Lot, “There should be no arguing between you and me. Your people and my people should not argue. We are all brothers. ⁹We should separate. You can choose any place you want. If you go to the left, I will go to the right. If you go to the right, I will go to the left.” ¹⁰Lot looked and saw the Jordan Valley. Lot saw that there was much water there. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. At that time the Jordan Valley all the way to Zoar was like the Lord’s Garden. This was good land, like the land of Egypt.) ¹¹So Lot chose to live in the Jordan Valley. The two men separated, and Lot began traveling east. ¹²Abram stayed in the land of Canaan, and Lot lived among the cities in the valley. Lot moved far south to Sodom and made his camp there. ¹³The Lord knew that the people of Sodom were very evil sinners. ¹⁴After Lot left, the Lord said to Abram, “Look around you. Look north and south and east and west. ¹⁵All this land that you see I will give to you and your people who live after you. This will be your land forever. ¹⁶I will make your people as many as the dust of the earth. If people could count all the dust on earth, then they could count your people. ¹⁷So go. Walk through your land. I now give it to you.” ¹⁸So Abram moved his tents. He went to live near Mamre’s big trees. This was near the city of Hebron. At that place Abram built an altar* for worshiping the Lord.

Negev The desert area in the southern part of Judah. altar(s) A stone table used for burning sacrifices that were offered as gifts to God.

Lot Is Captured

14 Amraphel was the king of Shinar. Arioch was the king of Ellasar. Kedorlaomer was the king of Elam. And Tidal was the king of Goiim. ²All these kings fought a war against Bera the king of Sodom, Birsha the king of Gomorrah, Shinab the king of Admah, Shemeber the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela. (Bela is also called Zoar.) ³All these kings joined their armies in the Valley of Siddim. (The Valley of Siddim is now the Salt Sea.) ⁴These kings had served Kedorlaomer for twelve years. But in the 13th year they all rebelled against him. ⁵So in the 14th year, King Kedorlaomer and the kings with him came to fight against them. Kedorlaomer and the kings with him defeated the Rephaim people in Ashteroth Karnaim. They also defeated the Zuzim people in Ham. They defeated the Emim people in Shaveh Kiriathaim. ⁶And they defeated the Horite people who lived in the area from the hill country of Seir* to El Paran.* (El Paran is near the desert.) ⁷Then King Kedorlaomer turned back and went to En Mishpat (that is Kadesh) and defeated the Amalekite people. He also defeated the Amorite people living in Hazezon Tamar. ⁸At that time, the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (Zoar) joined together and went to fight against their enemies. {They went to fight} in the Valley of Siddim.* ⁹They fought against Kedorlaomer the king of Elam, Tidal the king of Goiim, Amraphel the king of Shinar, and Arioch the king of Ellasar. So there were four kings fighting against five. ¹⁰There were very many holes filled with tar* in the Valley of Siddim. The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah {and their armies} ran away. Many of the soldiers fell into those holes. But the others ran away to the mountains. ¹¹So their enemies took all the things that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah owned. They took all their food and clothing and left. ¹²Lot, the son of Abram’s brother, was living in Sodom, and the enemy captured him. The enemy also took everything he owned and left. ¹³One of the men that was not captured went to Abram the Hebrew and told him what happened. Abram was camped near the trees of Mamre the Amorite. Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner had made an agreement to help each other.* And they had also signed an agreement to help Abram.

Abram Rescues Lot ¹⁴Abram learned that Lot was captured. So Abram called all of his family together. There were 318 trained soldiers. Abram led the men and chased the enemy all the way to the town of Dan. ¹⁵That night, he and his men made a surprise attack against the enemy. They defeated the enemy and chased them to Hobah, north of Damascus. ¹⁶Then Abram brought back all the things that the enemy had stolen. Abram brought back the women and servants, and also Lot and everything Lot owned. ¹⁷Then Abram went home after he defeated Kedorlaomer and the kings with Kedorlaomer. When he came home, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh. (This is now called King’s Valley.)

Melchizedek ¹⁸Melchizedek, the king of Salem, also went to meet Abram. Melchizedek was a priest of God Most High. Melchizedek brought bread and wine. ¹⁹Melchizedek blessed Abram and said, “Abram, may God Most High bless you. God made heaven and earth. ²⁰And we praise God Most High. God helped you to defeat your enemies.” Abram gave Melchizedek one tenth of everything he had taken during the battle. ²¹Then the king of Sodom told Abram, “Give me my people that the enemy took away. But you can keep all these other things.” ²²But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I promise to the Lord, the God Most High, the One who made heaven and earth—²³I promise that I will not keep anything that is yours—not even a thread or a shoestring! I don’t want you to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’ ²⁴The only thing I will accept is the food that my young men have eaten. But you should give the other men their share. Take the things we won in battle and give some to Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. These men helped me in the battle.”

Seir Or, “Edom.” El Paran Probably the town Elath, at the southern tip of Israel near the Red Sea. Valley of Siddim The valley or plain along the eastern or southeastern side of the Dead Sea. tar Or, “pitch,” a thick oil that must be heated to become liquid. Mamre … other Literally, “Mamre … was a brother of Eshcol and a brother of Aner.”

God’s Agreement With Abram

15 After all these things happened, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision.* God said, “Abram, don’t be afraid. I will defend you. And I will give you a great reward.” ²But Abram said, “Lord God, there is nothing you can give me that will make me happy. Why? Because I have no son. So my slave Eliezer from Damascus will get all the things I own after I die.” ³Abram said, “You have given me no son. So a slave born in my house will get everything I have.” ⁴Then the Lord spoke to Abram. God said, “That slave will not be the one to get the things you have. You will have a son. And your son will get the things you have.” ⁵Then God led Abram outside. God said, “Look at the sky. See the many stars. There are so many you can’t count them. In the future, your family will be like that.” ⁶Abram believed God. And God decided Abram’s faith was the same as living right and doing a good work. ⁷God said to Abram, “I am the Lord who led you from Ur of Babylonia.* I did this so I could give you this land—you will own this land.” ⁸But Abram said, “Lord, my Master, how can I be sure that I will get this land?” ⁹God said to Abram, “{We will make an agreement.} Bring me a three-year-old cow, a three-year-old goat, and a three-year-old ram. Also, bring me a dove and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰Abram brought all these things to God. Abram killed these animals and cut each of them into two pieces. Then Abram laid each half across from the other half. Abram did not cut the birds into two pieces. ¹¹Later, large birds flew down to eat the animals. But Abram chased them away. ¹²Later in the day, the sun was going down. Abram became very sleepy and fell asleep. While he was asleep a very terrible darkness came. ¹³Then the Lord said to Abram, “You should know these things: Your descendants will live in a country that is not their own. They will be strangers there. And the people there will make them slaves and do bad things to them for 400 years. ¹⁴But then I will punish the nation that made them slaves. Your people will leave that land, and they will take many good things with them. ¹⁵“You yourself will live to be very old. You will die in peace. And you will be buried with your family. ¹⁶After four generations your people will come to this land again. At that time, your people will defeat the Amorite people. I will use your people to punish the Amorites living here. This will be in the future, because the Amorite people are not yet evil enough to punish.” ¹⁷After the sun went down, it became very dark. The dead animals still lay on the ground—each animal cut in two pieces. At that time, a column of smoke and fire* passed between the halves of the dead animals.* ¹⁸So on that day, the Lord made a promise and an agreement with Abram. The Lord said, “I will give this land to your descendants. I will give them the land between the River of Egypt* and the great river Euphrates. ¹⁹This is the land of the Kenite people, the Kenizzite people, the Kadmonite people, ²⁰the Hittite people, the Perizzite people, the Rephaim people, ²¹the Amorite people, the Canaanite people, the Girgashite people, and the Jebusite people.”

vision Like a dream. God gave messages to his special people by letting them see and hear things in visions. Ur of Babylonia Literally, “Ur of the Chaldeans.” A city in southern Babylonia. column of smoke and fire A sign that God used to show that he was with his people. passed between the halves of the dead animals This showed that God “signed” or “sealed” the agreement he made with Abraham. In those days, a person making an agreement showed he was sincere by walking between the cut animals and saying something like, “May this same thing happen to me if I don’t keep the agreement.” River of Egypt That is, the stream called, “Wadi El-Arish.”