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¹So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, he and his wife and all that belonged to him, and Lot with him.

²Now Abram was very rich in livestock, silver, and gold.

³And he went on his journeys from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,

⁴to the place of the altar which he had made there previously; and there Abram called on the name of the LORD.

⁵Now Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks, herds, and tents.

⁶And the land could not support both of them while living together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to remain together.

⁷And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. Now the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at that time.

⁸So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are relatives!

⁹Is the entire land not before you? Please separate from me; if you choose the left, then I will go to the right; or if you choose the right, then I will go to the left.”

¹⁰Lot raised his eyes and saw all the vicinity of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere—this was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah—like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt going toward Zoar.

¹¹So Lot chose for himself all the vicinity of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward. So they separated from each other.

¹²Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled in the cities of the vicinity of the Jordan, and moved his tents as far as Sodom.

¹³Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked sinners against the LORD.

¹⁴The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Now raise your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward, and eastward and westward;

¹⁵for all the land which you see I will give to you and to your descendants forever.

¹⁶I will make your descendants as plentiful as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can count the dust of the earth, then your descendants could also be counted.

¹⁷Arise, walk about in the land through its length and width; for I will give it to you.”

¹⁸Then Abram moved his tent and came and lived by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron; and there he built an altar to the LORD.

¹And it came about in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim,

²that they made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).

³All these kings came as allies to the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea).

⁴For twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

⁵And in the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim,

⁶and the Horites on their Mount Seir, as far as El-paran, which is by the wilderness.

⁷Then they turned back and came to En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and conquered all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, who lived in Hazazon-tamar.

⁸And the king of Sodom and the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) came out; and they lined up for battle against them in the Valley of Siddim,

⁹against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five.

¹⁰Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell into them. But those who survived fled to the hill country.

¹¹Then they took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food supply, and departed.

¹²They also took Lot, Abram’s nephew, and his possessions and departed, for he was living in Sodom.

¹³Then a survivor came and told Abram the Hebrew. Now he was residing by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner, and they were allies with Abram.

¹⁴When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he led out his trained men, born in his house, numbering 318, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.

¹⁵Then he divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus.

¹⁶He brought back all the possessions, and also brought back his relative Lot with his possessions, and also the women, and the other people.

¹⁷Then after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).

¹⁸And Melchizedek the king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High.

¹⁹And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth;

²⁰And blessed be God Most High, Who has handed over your enemies to you.” And he gave him a tenth of everything.

²¹Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give the people to me and take the possessions for yourself.”

²²But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have sworn to the LORD God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth,

²³that I will not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, so that you do not say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’

²⁴I will take nothing except what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their share.”

¹After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.”

²But Abram said, “Lord GOD, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”

³Abram also said, “Since You have given me no son, one who has been born in my house is my heir.”

⁴Then behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.”

⁵And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

⁶Then he believed in the LORD; and He credited it to him as righteousness.

⁷And He said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.”

⁸But he said, “Lord GOD, how may I know that I will possess it?”

⁹So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”

¹⁰Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds.

¹¹And birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

¹²Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him.

¹³Then God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years.

¹⁴But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions.

¹⁵As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age.

¹⁶Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the wrongdoing of the Amorite is not yet complete.”

¹⁷Now it came about, when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, a smoking oven and a flaming torch appeared which passed between these pieces.

¹⁸On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:

¹⁹the land of the Kenite, the Kenizzite, the Kadmonite,

²⁰the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Rephaim,

²¹the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.”

¹Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not borne him a child, but she had an Egyptian slave woman whose name was Hagar.

²So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please have relations with my slave woman; perhaps I will obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

³And so after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave woman, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife.

⁴Then he had relations with Hagar, and she conceived; and when Hagar became aware that she had conceived, her mistress was insignificant in her sight.

⁵So Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be upon you! I put my slave woman into your arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was insignificant in her sight. May the LORD judge between you and me.”

⁶But Abram said to Sarai, “Look, your slave woman is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight.” So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence.

⁷Now the angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.

⁸He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s slave woman, from where have you come, and where are you going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”

⁹So the angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her authority.”

¹⁰The angel of the LORD also said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.”

¹¹The angel of the LORD said to her further, “Behold, you are pregnant, And you will give birth to a son; And you shall name him Ishmael, Because the LORD has heard your affliction.

¹²But he will be a wild donkey of a man; His hand will be against everyone, And everyone’s hand will be against him; And he will live in defiance of all his brothers.”

¹³Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees me”; for she said, “Have I even seen Him here and lived after He saw me?”

¹⁴Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵So Hagar bore a son to Abram; and Abram named his son, to whom Hagar gave birth, Ishmael.

¹⁶Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.

¹Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless.

²I will make My covenant between Me and you, And I will multiply you exceedingly.”

³Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying,

⁴“As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, And you will be the father of a multitude of nations.

⁵No longer shall you be named Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

⁶I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.

⁷I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.

⁸And I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land where you live as a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”

⁹God said further to Abraham, “Now as for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.

¹⁰This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised.

¹¹And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you.

¹²And every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, including a slave who is born in the house or who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your descendants.

¹³A slave who is born in your house or who is bought with your money shall certainly be circumcised; so My covenant shall be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant.

¹⁴But as for an uncircumcised male, one who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

¹⁵Then God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, you shall not call her by the name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.

¹⁶I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”

¹⁷Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man a hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth to a child?”

¹⁸And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!”

¹⁹But God said, “No, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.

²⁰As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation.

²¹But I will establish My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.”

²²When He finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.

²³Then Abraham took his son Ishmael, and all the slaves who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on this very same day, as God had said to him.

²⁴Now Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

²⁵And his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

²⁶On this very same day Abraham was circumcised, as well as his son Ishmael.

²⁷And all the men of his household, those who were born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.