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Gênesis 13

BLIVRE · Chapter 13/50

1Subiu, pois, Abrão do Egito até o Sul de Canaã, ele e sua mulher, com tudo o que tinha, e com ele Ló.

2E Abrão era riquíssimo em gado, em prata e ouro.

3E voltou por suas jornadas da parte do Sul até Betel, até o lugar onde havia estado antes sua tenda entre Betel e Ai;

4Ao lugar do altar que havia feito ali antes: e invocou ali Abrão o nome do SENHOR.

5E também Ló, que andava com Abrão, tinha ovelhas, e vacas, e tendas.

6E a terra não os podia sustentar para que habitassem juntos; porque a riqueza deles era muita, e não podiam morar num mesmo lugar.

7E houve briga entre os pastores do gado de Abrão e os pastores do gado de Ló: e os cananeus e os ferezeus habitavam então na terra.

8Então Abrão disse a Ló: Não haja agora briga entre mim e ti, entre meus pastores e os teus, porque somos irmãos.

9Não está toda a terra diante de ti? Eu te rogo que te separes de mim. Se fores à esquerda, eu irei à direita: e se tu à direita, eu irei à esquerda.

10E levantou Ló seus olhos, e viu toda a planície do Jordão, que toda ela era bem regada, antes que destruísse o SENHOR a Sodoma e a Gomorra, como o jardim do SENHOR, como a terra do Egito entrando em Zoar.

11Então Ló escolheu para si toda a planície do Jordão: e partiu-se Ló ao Oriente, e separaram-se um do outro.

12Abrão assentou na terra de Canaã, e Ló assentou nas cidades da planície, e foi pondo suas tendas até Sodoma.

13Mas os homens de Sodoma eram maus e pecadores para com o SENHOR em grande maneira.

14E o SENHOR disse a Abrão, depois que Ló se separou dele: Levanta agora teus olhos, e olha desde o lugar onde estás até o norte, e ao sul, e ao oriente e ao ocidente;

15Porque toda a terra que vês, a darei a ti e à tua descendência para sempre.

16E farei tua descendência como o pó da terra: que se alguém puder contar o pó da terra, também tua descendência será contada.

17Levanta-te, vai pela terra ao longo dela e à sua largura; porque a ti a tenho de dar.

18Abrão, pois, removendo sua tenda, veio e morou nos carvalhos de Manre, que é em Hebrom, e edificou ali 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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