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Gênesis 13

ARC · Chapter 13/50

1Subiu, pois, Abrão do Egypto para a banda do Sul, elle e sua mulher, e tudo o que tinha, e com elle Lot.

2E ia Abrão muito rico em gado, em prata, e em oiro.

3E fez as suas jornadas do Sul até Beth-el, até ao logar onde ao principio estivera a sua tenda, entre Beth-el e Ai;

4Até ao logar do altar que d'antes ali tinha feito; e Abrão invocou ali o nome do Senhor.

5E tambem Lot, que ia com Abrão, tinha rebanhos, e vaccas, e tendas.

6E não tinha capacidade a terra para poderem habitar juntos; porque a sua fazenda era muita; de maneira que não podiam habitar juntos.

7E houve contenda entre os pastores do gado de Abrão, e os pastores do gado de Lot: e os Cananeus e os Perizeus habitavam então na terra.

8E disse Abrão a Lot: Ora não haja contenda entre mim e ti, e entre os meus pastores e os teus pastores, porque irmãos varões somos.

9Não está toda a terra diante de ti? Eia, pois, aparta-te de mim; se escolheres a esquerda, irei para a direita; e se a direita escolheres, eu irei para a esquerda.

10E levantou Lot os seus olhos, e viu toda a campina do Jordão, que era toda bem regada, antes do Senhor ter destruido Sodoma e Gomorrha, e era como o jardim do Senhor, como a terra do Egypto, quando se entra em Zoar.

11Então Lot escolheu para si toda a campina do Jordão, e partiu Lot para o Oriente, e apartaram-se um do outro.

12Habitou Abrão na terra de Canaan, e Lot habitou nas cidades da campina, e armou as suas tendas até Sodoma.

13Ora eram maus os varões de Sodoma, e grandes peccadores contra o Senhor.

14E disse o Senhor a Abrão, depois que Lot se apartou d'elle: Levanta agora os teus olhos, e olha desde o logar onde estás, para a banda do Norte, e do Sul, e do Oriente, e do Occidente;

15Porque toda esta terra que vês, te hei de dar a ti, e á tua semente, para sempre.

16E farei a tua semente como o pó da terra; de maneira que se alguem podér contar o pó da terra, tambem a tua semente será contada.

17Levanta-te, percorre essa terra, no seu comprimento e na sua largura; porque a ti a darei.

18E Abrão armou as suas tendas, e veiu, e habitou nos carvalhaes de Mamre, que estão junto a Hebron; e edificou ali um altar ao Senhor.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Abram and his nephew Lot part ways because of conflicts between their herdsmen; Lot chooses the fertile plain of the Jordan near Sodom, and God reaffirms to Abram the promise of the land.

Explanation

This chapter shows Abram acting with generosity and maturity: instead of insisting on his rights as the elder uncle, he lets Lot have first choice of the land, avoiding family conflict. Lot chooses what looks most advantageous to human eyes — the fertile region near Sodom — without considering that closeness to a morally corrupt city would bring future trouble, as the text itself hints ('the men of Sodom were wicked and great sinners'). Right after this separation, God reaffirms and expands the promise of the land to Abram, showing that yielding in generosity brought no loss, only confirmation of the divine blessing. The practical lesson is that decisions based purely on the appearance of immediate advantage can hide bigger risks, and that trusting God often means not fighting for the best piece for yourself.

Fun facts

  • The comparison of the plain of the Jordan to 'the garden of the LORD' and 'the land of Egypt' (v. 10) evokes both the lost Eden and the fertility of the banks of the Nile, showing how the text draws on images already familiar to the reader to describe how attractive that region was.
  • This is the first chapter in which God formally promises Abram offspring 'as the dust of the earth' (v. 16), an image of uncountable multiplication that will be repeated and expanded in later chapters, such as Genesis 15 and 22.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Gênesis 13:1Abram goes up from Egypt back to Canaan, with Sarai, Lot, and everything he had—resuming the journey that the famine in the previous chapter had interrupted.
  2. Gênesis 13:2The text highlights that Abram leaves Egypt rich, with plenty of livestock, silver, and gold—part of that wealth came precisely from the gifts Pharaoh had given him because of Sarai.
  3. Gênesis 13:3Abram returns by the same route he had traveled before, back to the spot between Beth-el and Hai where he had already camped—a kind of return to his starting point before the famine.
  4. Gênesis 13:4He arrives at the same altar he had already built before going down to Egypt, and calls on the name of the LORD there again—resuming the worship at the place where he had left off.
  5. Gênesis 13:5Lot, who travels with Abram, had also grown rich, with his own flocks and tents—it’s this growth of both men that will create the problem described in the next verse.
  6. Gênesis 13:6The land can no longer support the flocks of both families together—too much wealth to share the same space, which forces Abram and Lot to separate.
  7. Gênesis 13:7A quarrel breaks out between the herdsmen of the two groups over pasture and water—and the text notes that other peoples, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, also occupied that land.
  8. Gênesis 13:8Abram proposes resolving the conflict peacefully, reminding Lot that they are relatives and shouldn’t fight over their servants.
  9. Gênesis 13:9Abram offers Lot first choice of the best land, willing to settle for whatever is left—a generous gesture, since as the uncle he could have chosen first.
  10. Gênesis 13:10Lot sees the plain of the Jordan and compares it to the “garden of the LORD” and to the land of Egypt—two images of abundance and plentiful water that any ancient reader would instantly recognize. It’s a description of green, rich land, the opposite of the surrounding desert; the irony is that this same region will include Sodom, destroyed just a few chapters later.
  11. Gênesis 13:11Lot chooses the more fertile region, near the Jordan, and heads east—repeating the same movement of drawing away that has already appeared earlier in the Bible, always linked to distancing oneself from the center of the story.
  12. Gênesis 13:12Abram stays in Canaan, the land promised to him, while Lot settles closer and closer to Sodom—a choice that will prove dangerous in the chapters that follow.
  13. Gênesis 13:13This short line warns, well before the full story told in chapter 19, that the people of Sodom had a reputation for wickedness. It’s an early heads-up from the narrator, setting up the reason the city will later be destroyed.
  14. Gênesis 13:14After Lot separates from him, God speaks to Abram again, asking him to look in every direction—the invitation to take in the extent of the land He’s about to promise him.
  15. Gênesis 13:15God formally promises that all that visible land will be given to Abram and his descendants forever—the same promise of Canaan repeated with even more force after Lot’s separation.
  16. Gênesis 13:16Comparing Abram’s descendants to the “dust of the earth” is an old way of saying “countless,” not an exact figure. It’s the same promise that, later on, also appears compared to the stars of the sky—an image exaggerated on purpose to convey the idea of a multitude impossible to count.
  17. Gênesis 13:17God tells Abram to walk the land on foot, its length and its breadth—a symbolic gesture of taking possession even before it actually belonged to his descendants.
  18. Gênesis 13:18The “plain of Mamre” was a grove near Hebron, in the south of Canaan, a region that will come up again several times in Abram’s life. It’s simply the name of the place where he sets up permanent camp and builds an altar, functioning as a kind of home base between his travels.

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