Genesis 13:11
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So Lot chose the whole plain of the Jordan for himself and set out toward the east. And Abram and Lot parted company.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Abram, having returned from Egypt to the south of Canaan with his wife and property uninjured, through the gracious protection of God, proceeded with Lot למסּעיו "according to his journeys" (lit., with the repeated breaking up of his camp, required by a nomad life; on נסע to break up a tent, to remove, see Exo 12:37) into the neighbourhood of Bethel and Ai, where he had previously encamped and built an altar (Gen 12:8), that he might there call upon the name of the Lord again. That ויּקרא (Gen 13:4) is not a continuation of the relative clause, but a resumption of the main sentence, and therefore corresponds with ויּלך (Gen 13:3), "he went...and called upon the name of the Lord there," has been correctly concluded by Delitzsch from the repetition of the subject Abram.
Open source ↗In this chapter we have a further account concerning Abram. I. In general, of his condition and behaviour in the land of promise, which was now the land of his pilgrimage. 1. His removes (Gen 13:1, Gen 13:3, Gen 13:4, Gen 13:18). 2. His riches (Gen 13:2). 3. His devotion (Gen 13:4, Gen 13:18). II. A particular account of a quarrel that happened between him and Lot. 1. The unhappy occasion of their strife (Gen 13:5, Gen 13:6). 2. The parties concerned in the strife, with the aggravation of it (Gen 13:7). III. The making up of the quarrel, by the prudence of Abram (Gen 13:8, Gen 13:9). IV. Lot's departure from Abram to the plain of Sodom (Gen 13:10-13). V. God's appearance to Abram, to confirm the promise of the land of Canaan to him (Gen 13:14, etc.).
Open source ↗13:11-18 The narrator makes numerous contrasts between Lot and Abram. 13:11 Lot’s choice was totally selfish, without concern for Abram or faith in the Lord. • The region called the whole Jordan Valley (literally the circle of the Jordan) is believed to have been near the south end of the Dead Sea, based on descriptions in ancient records that locate cities of the Plain. This area is now very desolate.
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
Other passages the community most often connects to this one. Tap to read.
Is 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.”
Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Treat everyone with high regard: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
I am a friend to all who fear You, and to those who keep Your precepts.
Do not forsake your friend or your father’s friend, and do not go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity; better a neighbor nearby than a brother far away.
As for the saints in the land, they are the excellence in whom all my delight resides.
After Lot had departed, the LORD said to Abram, “Now lift up your eyes from the place where you are, and look to the north and south and east and west,
As soon as the men had brought them out, one of them said, “Run for your lives! Do not look back, and do not stop anywhere on the plain! Flee to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”