The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible
Abram and Lot Part Ways
Genesis 13:1–9 — Abram and Lot Part Ways. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.
1So Abram went up out of Egypt into the Negev—he and his wife and all his possessions—and Lot was with him.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’aḇ·rām way·ya·‘al mim·miṣ·ra·yim han·neḡ·bāh hū wə·’iš·tōw wə·ḵāl ’ă·šer- lōw wə·lō·wṭ ‘im·mōw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-went-up Abram out-of-Egypt toward-the-Negev, he and-his-wife and-all that [was] to-him, and-Lot with-him.
Where the English smooths the original
Yes! that is the only place for a man who has faltered and gone aside from the course of obedience. He must begin over again.Maclaren reads the return to the old altar-site (vv.3–4) as the pattern of the penitent.
Abram returns, a wiser and a better man.
At the first does not mean that this was the first altar erected by Abram, but that he built it on his first arrival there. His first altar was at Shechem.
with the repeated breaking up of his camp, required by a nomad lifeGlossing the plural lə·mas·sā·‘āw, "according to his journeys," carried into v.3.
2And Abram had become extremely wealthy in livestock and silver and gold.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·’aḇ·rām mə·’ōḏ kā·ḇêḏ bam·miq·neh bak·ke·sep̄ ū·ḇaz·zā·hāḇ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-Abram [was] heavy exceedingly, in-the-livestock, in-the-silver, and-in-the-gold.
Where the English smooths the original
he was very heavy, so the Hebrew word is; for riches are a burden; and they that will be rich, do but load themselves with thick clayHenry catches the literal sense of kā·ḇêḏ and turns it to its weight of care.
Literally, weighty ; used in the sense of abundance
3From the Negev he journeyed from place to place toward Bethel, until he came to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had formerly been pitched,
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
min·ne·ḡeḇ way·yê·leḵ lə·mas·sā·‘āw bêṯ- ’êl wə·‘aḏ- ‘aḏ- ham·mā·qō·wm bên bêṯ- ’êl ū·ḇên hā·‘āy ’ă·šer- ʾå̄·ho·lōh bat·tə·ḥil·lāh hā·yāh šām
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-he-went on-his-journeys from-the-Negev even-unto Bethel, unto the-place where had-been his-tent there at-the-beginning, between Bethel and-Ai.
Where the English smooths the original
Building for God lasts, for selves perishes. A tent is stricken, and no trace remains but embers.Maclaren's homily on the tent (self) versus the altar (God) of vv.3–4.
he came to the place of the altar, either to revive the remembrance of the communion he had had with God at that place
into the neighbourhood of Bethel and Ai, where he had previously encamped and built an altar
4to the site where he had built the altar. And there Abram called on the name of the LORD.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’el- mə·qō·wm ’ă·šer- ‘ā·śāh bā·ri·šō·nāh ham·miz·bê·aḥ šām ’aḇ·rām way·yiq·rā šām bə·šêm Yah·weh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Unto the-place-of the-altar which he-had-made there at-the-first; and-called there Abram on-the-name of-YHWH.
Where the English smooths the original
He felt a strong desire to reanimate his faith and piety on the scene of his former worship
Unto the place of the altar, i.e. where the altar was; for the altar itself was either fallen downPoole reads "place of the altar" precisely: the site, not a standing structure.
You may as soon find a living man without breath as one of God's people without prayer.
5Now Lot, who was traveling with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
lə·lō·wṭ ha·hō·lêḵ ’eṯ- ’aḇ·rām wə·ḡam- hā·yāh ṣōn- ū·ḇā·qār wə·’ō·hā·lîm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-also to-Lot, the-[one]-going with Abram, there-was flock and-herd and-tents.
Where the English smooths the original
like Abram, was the chief of a powerful clan.Ellicott reads the "tents" as evidence Lot led a sizable following.
The uncle's prosperity overflowed upon the nephew.
Mine and thine are the great make-bates of the world. Poverty and labour, wants and wanderings, could not separate Abram and Lot; but riches did so.
6But the land was unable to support both of them while they stayed together, for they had so many possessions that they were unable to coexist.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hā·’ā·reṣ wə·lō- nā·śā ’ō·ṯām lā·še·ḇeṯ yaḥ·dāw kî- hā·yāh rāḇ rə·ḵū·šām yā·ḵə·lū wə·lō lā·še·ḇeṯ yaḥ·dāw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-not bore the-land them to-dwell together, for had-been their-substance much, and-not were-they-able to-dwell together.
Where the English smooths the original
The two opulent sheiks (elders, heads of houses) cannot dwell together anymore. Their serfs come to strife. The carnal temper comes out among their dependents.
what one would think would make them more comfortable together, is the cause and occasion of their separation.Gill's irony: the very abundance meant to ease them divides them.
The Canaanites and other former inhabitants of the country undoubtedly occupied the best of the land
This inconvenience came by their riches, which break friendships and the bounds of nature.The earliest voice in this unit (1599); the Reformation marginal note names wealth as what severs both friendship and kinship.
7And there was discord between the herdsmen of Abram and the herdsmen of Lot. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were also living in the land.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·hî- rîḇ bên rō·‘ê ’aḇ·rām ū·ḇên miq·nêh- rō·‘ê lō·wṭ miq·nêh- ’āz wə·hak·kə·na·‘ă·nî wə·hap·pə·riz·zî yō·šêḇ bā·’ā·reṣ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-there-was strife between the-shepherds-of Abram's-livestock and-between the-shepherds-of Lot's-livestock; and-the-Canaanite and-the-Perizzite then dwelling in-the-land.
Where the English smooths the original
if Abram and Lot cannot agree to feed their flocks together, it is well if the common enemy do not come upon them and plunder them both.Benson reads the Canaanite-and-Perizzite clause as the danger that makes peace urgent.
The quarrels of professors are the reproach of religion, and give occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme.
originating doubtless in the scarcity of pasture, and having for its object the possession of the best wells and most fertile groundsOn the concrete object of the strife.
8So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no contention between you and me, or between your herdsmen and my herdsmen. After all, we are kinsmen.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’aḇ·rām way·yō·mer ’el- lō·wṭ nā ṯə·hî ’al- mə·rî·ḇāh bê·nî ū·ḇê·ne·ḵā ū·ḇên rō·‘ay ū·ḇên rō·‘e·ḵā kî- ’ă·nā·šîm ’ă·nā·ḥə·nū ’a·ḥîm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-said Abram unto Lot, "Let there be no contention, I-pray, between-me and-between-you, and-between my-shepherds and-between your-shepherds; for men brethren [are] we."
Where the English smooths the original
The heavenly principle of forbearance evidently holds the supremacy in Abram's breast. He walks in the moral atmosphere of the sermon on the mountBarnes hears the Matthew 5 ethic of yielding one's rights already at work in Abram.
yet he voluntarily, and without reluctance or hesitation, relinquishes his own right to his inferior for the sake of peace
But Abram meets him with the utmost generosity, acknowledges that their growth in wealth rendered a separation necessary, and gives him his choice.
9Is not the whole land before you? Now separate yourself from me. If you go to the left, I will go to the right; if you go to the right, I will go to the left.”
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hă·lō ḵāl hā·’ā·reṣ lə·p̄ā·ne·ḵā nā hip·pā·reḏ mê·‘ā·lāy ’im- haś·śə·mōl wə·’ê·mi·nāh wə·’im- hay·yā·mîn wə·’aś·mə·’î·lāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
"Is not the-whole land before-you? Separate-yourself, I-pray, from-upon-me. If [you go] to-the-left then-I-will-go-right; and-if [you go] to-the-right then-I-will-go-left."
Where the English smooths the original
he sets it all before him to choose what part he would dwell in, which was great condescension in him
Abram resigns his own right to buy peace.Geneva's terse gloss on the offer: peace purchased by the surrender of a right.
the Hebrew language being a concise or short language, such supplements are frequently necessary, and very usual.Poole explains the bracketed "[you go]" the literal rendering must supply: the Hebrew omits the verb in each clause.
The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.
AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.
The unit opens with a single word of moral geography: Abram way·ya·‘al, "went up," out of Egypt (v.1). Albert Barnes reads the whole detour in that verb — "Abram returns, a wiser and a better man" — and the narrator confirms it by sending him not forward but backward, to "the place where his tent had been at the beginning" (bat·tə·ḥil·lāh, v.3) and to "the altar which he had made there at the first" (v.4). Alexander Maclaren turns this into the law of the penitent: "Yes! that is the only place for a man who has faltered and gone aside from the course of obedience. He must begin over again." Charles Ellicott guards the detail against over-reading — "At the first does not mean that this was the first altar erected by Abram, but that he built it on his first arrival there. His first altar was at Shechem." The restoration is sealed not by sacrifice but by speech: Abram way·yiq·rā... bə·šêm YHWH, "called in the name of the LORD" (v.4) — the cultic idiom of 4:26. Matthew Henry presses the point home: "You may as soon find a living man without breath as one of God's people without prayer."
The Hebrew refuses to call Abram simply "rich." He is kā·ḇêḏ mə·’ōḏ — "very heavy" — and Matthew Henry catches the literal sting: "he was very heavy, so the Hebrew word is; for riches are a burden; and they that will be rich, do but load themselves with thick clay." The Cambridge Bible notes the inventory of v.2 climbs an "ascending scale of value" (livestock, silver, gold). Lot's wealth is introduced with a deliberate wə·ḡam, "and also" (v.5), so the two heaps stand side by side — and the land, personified, simply cannot nā·śā, "carry," them both (v.6). Twice the verse uses the identical phrase lā·še·ḇeṯ yaḥ·dāw, "to dwell together," and twice it fails. John Gill names the irony exactly: "what one would think would make them more comfortable together, is the cause and occasion of their separation." Henry's epigram becomes the hinge of the unit: "Mine and thine are the great make-bates of the world. Poverty and labour, wants and wanderings, could not separate Abram and Lot; but riches did so."
The blessing curdles into rîḇ (v.7) — a near-forensic word, a pressed quarrel — between the rō·‘ê, the shepherds, of the two camps, and the narrator adds the watching presence of "the Canaanite and the Perizzite" then in the land. Joseph Benson reads the danger plainly: "if Abram and Lot cannot agree to feed their flocks together, it is well if the common enemy do not come upon them and plunder them both." Matthew Henry sees the deeper scandal: "The quarrels of professors are the reproach of religion, and give occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme." Abram, the elder and the heir of the promise, answers by lowering himself. He shifts from the herdsmen's rîḇ to its rare intensive mᵉrîybâh (v.8) and forbids it; he pleads with the entreating nā; he grounds the appeal not on his rights but on blood — ’ă·nā·šîm ’a·ḥîm, "men, brethren, are we." Albert Barnes hears the Gospel already breathing here: "The heavenly principle of forbearance evidently holds the supremacy in Abram's breast. He walks in the moral atmosphere of the sermon on the mount." Joseph Benson marvels that the greater man "voluntarily, and without reluctance or hesitation, relinquishes his own right to his inferior for the sake of peace." Then comes the offer of v.9 in its chiastic, no-favoritism form — left for right, right for left — of which Jamieson, Fausset & Brown say simply: "Waiving his right to dictate, he gave the freedom of choice to Lot."
Read under Sola Scriptura, the chapter teaches that the security of the heir of promise is so total that he can afford to lose. Abram holds the deed to the whole land (God will repeat it in v.14, the moment Lot is gone), yet he hands the first choice to the man with no claim at all. The faith that brought him "up" out of Egypt is the same faith that lets him take the leftovers of Canaan — because a man who truly believes the land is already his does not need to grab the best acre of it. The peril is not Abram's poverty but his heaviness: the text twice marks the wealth (vv.2, 5) as the literal weight that drives brothers apart, and Lot, choosing by his eyes, will discover that the well-watered plain (v.10) is Sodom. The unit thus sets two responses to abundance side by side — the man who lets it be divided off "from upon" him (v.9), and the man who follows it toward the fire. This is a fallible reading, offered to be tested against the whole counsel of Scripture.
The heir who owns the whole land can afford to be handed the leftovers of it.
AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.
In v.8 Abram forbids mə·rî·ḇāh (H4808), the rare intensive of the strife (rîḇ) named in v.7. The same noun crystallizes into the place-name Meribah, where Israel's quarreling over water cost both Moses and Aaron the land (Num 27:14, "the waters of Meribah"). The Verifier records mᵉrîybâh as a genuinely rare lexeme (only 2 occurrences in the index), so the verbal link is firm: what Abram successfully refuses at the chapter's outset, the nation later embodies and is judged for. The figural weight is interpretive, but the word itself is the recorded basis.
Genesis 13:8 · Numbers 27:14
basis: shared rare lexeme H4808 mᵉrîybâh ("contention/Meribah"), freq 2 in index — Verifier-confirmed verbal link
Abram's offer in v.9 verbs the directions themselves: wə·’ê·mi·nāh (H3231, "go right") and wə·’aś·mə·’î·lāh (H8041, "go left"). Both denominative verbs are genuinely rare — the Verifier counts only 4 and 5 occurrences across the whole Hebrew Bible — and the two appear together, the surest mark of a fixed idiom for an exhaustive, no-favoritism range of choice, as in the woman of Tekoa's "to turn to the right hand or to the left" (2 Sam 14:19; the same paired verbs recur in 1 Chr 12:2 and Ezek 21:16). Because both shared lexemes are rare, the Verifier confirms a verbal link; we note it is a shared stock idiom rather than one text citing the other. The force is the same either way: Abram's offer is deliberately total — Lot may have anything, in any direction.
Genesis 13:9 · 2 Samuel 14:19
basis: Verifier-confirmed shared rare paired lexemes H3231 yâman (freq 4) and H8041 sâmaʼl (freq 5) — a fixed right/left idiom (shared phraseology, not one verse quoting the other)
The same triad of names — Abram (H87), Lot (H3876), and the Negev (H5045) — that opens this unit (v.1) reappears in v.14, where, the instant Lot has separated, the LORD tells Abram to lift his eyes and see all the land, for it is his. The Verifier confirms these three proper names co-occur across 13:1 and 13:14, and although it mechanically promotes the pair to "verbal" on Lot's lower frequency (30 vv), we DOWNGRADE to structural: recurring proper place- and person-names inside one continuous narrative are narrative continuity, not a quotation of one text by another. The thematic payoff is the unit's own: Abram offers Lot "the whole land before you" (v.9) and forfeits the choice; God answers — the moment Lot is gone — by giving Abram the whole land he had just surrendered. The contrast of choosing is itself verbal: Lot "lifts his eyes" by his own greed in v.10, then the LORD bids Abram "lift your eyes" in v.14.
Genesis 13:1 · Genesis 13:9 · Genesis 13:14
basis: Verifier-computed shared proper-name lexemes H87 ʼAbrâm (50 vv), H3876 Lôwṭ (30 vv), H5045 negeb (98 vv) co-occurring across Gen 13:1 and Gen 13:14; EDITOR DOWNGRADE from the Verifier's mechanical 'verbal' — recurring proper names within one continuous narrative is recurrence, not quotation
The exact economic logic of the rupture — "their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together; and the land was not able to bear them" (vv.6) — recurs almost word for word when Jacob and Esau part: "their substance was too great for them to dwell together; and the land of their sojournings could not bear them because of their cattle" (Gen 36:7). The Cambridge Bible flags the parallel directly, noting v.6 and 36:7 give "a similar reason, in P's narrative, for the separation," and that "substance" (rᵉkûwsh) "is characteristic of P." The Verifier confirms the shared cluster rᵉkûwsh (H7399, 27 vv), yachad ("together"), yâkôl ("be able"), rab ("great"), nâsâʼ ("bear"), and yâshab ("dwell") — the whole formula, not one stray word. This is structural/thematic: a repeated narrative pattern (abundance forces the separation of kinsmen) rather than a quotation, and Genesis tells it twice so the reader weighs Abram's generosity against Esau's later parting.
Genesis 13:6 · Genesis 36:7
basis: Verifier-computed shared lexemes H7399 rᵉkûwsh (27 vv), H3162 yachad (139 vv), H3201 yâkôl (183 vv), H7227 rab (437 vv), H5375 nâsâʼ (612 vv), H3427 yâshab (973 vv) across Gen 13:6 and Gen 36:7 — a repeated separation-of-kinsmen formula (Cambridge-noted), structural pattern not quotation
Abram grounds peace on ’a·ḥîm, "brethren" (v.8). The bond is structural to the whole cycle: it is precisely because "his brother" (Lot) is taken captive that Abram arms his men in 14:14, and the shared name Abram (H87) plus the kinship vocabulary thread the two scenes. The Verifier confirms the shared lexemes are common (ʼâch, freq 571; Abram, freq 50), so this is a thematic/structural tie, not a rare-word quotation — Abram's appeal to brotherhood in ch. 13 is what makes his rescue of his "brother" in ch. 14 the same man's consistency.
Genesis 13:8 · Genesis 14:14
basis: shared common lexemes H251 ʼâch ("brother", freq 571) and H87 ʼAbrâm — thematic continuity of the kinship motif, not a rare-word quotation
Verse 4 says Abram returned to "the place of the altar which he had made there at the first... and there Abram called on the name of the LORD" — explicitly recalling 12:8, where he first built that altar and first called on the name. Keil & Delitzsch read v.4 as the resumption of the journey of v.3 so that Abram "called upon the name of the Lord again." The Verifier finds the two verses share the altar-and-worship vocabulary (mizbêach H4196, qârâʼ H7121, shêm H8034, shâm H8033), but every one of these is a high-frequency word (338, 687, 771, 732 occurrences), so the tie is the recurrence of a stock cultic formula, not a rare-word quotation. The whole-Bible weight of "call on the name of the LORD" first surfaces in 4:26 and threads forward; here it marks the deliberate re-staging of Abram's first Canaan worship. Held at structural/thematic — the narrator's own back-reference ("at the first") plus the common-word formula, not a verbal quotation.
Genesis 13:4 · Genesis 12:8
basis: Verifier-computed shared lexemes H4196 mizbêach (338 vv), H7121 qârâʼ (687 vv), H8034 shêm (771 vv), H8033 shâm (732 vv) — all high-frequency; recurrence of the cultic 'called on the name of the LORD / altar' formula across one continuous narrative, not a rare-word quotation
AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.
Abram, holder of the promise to the whole land, lets his lesser kinsman choose first and takes what is left (vv.8–9). Albert Barnes already sees here the moral air of the Sermon on the Mount — the yielding of one's rights for peace. The Church has long read this self-emptying generosity as a shadow of the One who, "though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor" (2 Cor 8:9), and who "did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped" (Phil 2:6). Abram's refusal to grab the best acre, secure because the land is already his by promise, prefigures the Heir of all things who descends to take the lowest place. This is a widely-held typological reading, offered as figure, not as the verse's plain sense.
Genesis 13:8 · Genesis 13:9
The restored Abram seals his return not with sacrifice (the altar may lie in ruins) but by proclaiming the divine name (v.4), the same act that in 4:26 inaugurates corporate worship of YHWH. The pattern — a people brought back from a far country and given again to call on the Name — finds its fullness where "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (Joel 2:32; Rom 10:13), the Name now confessed as Jesus. Reading Abram's invocation as anticipating the Gospel's universal call is an ancient and widely-held Christian reading of the "call on the name" formula, offered here as type rather than as the verse's lexical claim.
Genesis 13:4
The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.
Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:
Several voices in this unit (Henry, Maclaren, Barnes, JFB) print one block of commentary across a verse-range (13:1–4, 13:5–9, etc.); each excerpt above is a verbatim contiguous substring of the block as attached to that verse in voices_raw, trimmed only at the ends. Where BSB renders the same Hebrew phrase two ways (lā·še·ḇeṯ yaḥ·dāw as both "stayed together" and "coexist" in v.6; the omitted verb supplied as "[you go]" in v.9), the literal lines and divergences restore the Hebrew's actual repetition and ellipsis. Two cross-references are badged "verbal — confirmed" because they rest on genuinely rare shared lexemes the Verifier computed: H4808 mᵉrîybâh (freq 2) for the Meribah thread, and the paired H3231/H8041 right–left verbs (freq 4/5) — the latter a shared stock idiom rather than one verse quoting another. Two threads the Verifier mechanically promoted to "verbal" on a lower-frequency proper name (Gen 13:1↔13:14; and the 13:4↔12:8 cultic-formula tie) have been EDITOR-DOWNGRADED to structural/thematic: recurring proper names and a high-frequency "call on the name / altar" formula inside one continuous narrative are recurrence, not quotation. (The earlier draft's claim that the Verifier found no shared lexeme for 13:4↔12:8 was inaccurate and has been corrected: it returns four shared but high-frequency lexemes.) The Gen 13:6↔36:7 thread is newly added on a Cambridge-noted, Verifier-confirmed shared separation-of-kinsmen formula. No cross-Testament link in this unit is tiered "verbal," since Hebrew↔Greek pairs cannot share Strong's numbers; the Christ readings are marked as type (ancient/widely-held), not as quotation. All Hebrew parses follow the supplied Berean/Strong's data and are not contradicted here.
✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)