>
>Genesis 13-15 (The Message)
>
>Genesis 13
>  1-2 So Abram left Egypt and went back to the Negev, he and his 
> wife and everything he owned, and
>Lot still with him. By now Abram was very rich, loaded
>with cattle and silver and gold.
>
>  3-4 He moved on from the Negev, camping along the way, to Bethel, 
> the place he had first set up his
>tent between Bethel and Ai and built his first altar.
>Abram prayed there to God.
>
>  5-7 Lot, who was traveling with Abram, was also rich in sheep and 
> cattle and tents. But the land
>couldn't support both of them; they had too many possessions.
>They couldn't both live there-quarrels broke out between Abram's 
>shepherds and Lot's shepherds. The
>Canaanites and Perizzites were also living on the land
>at the time.
>
>  8-9 Abram said to Lot, "Let's not have fighting between us, 
> between your shepherds and my
>shepherds. After all, we're family. Look around. Isn't there
>plenty of land out there? Let's separate. If you go left, I'll go 
>right; if you go right, I'll go
>left."
>
>  10-11 Lot looked. He saw the whole plain of the Jordan spread out, 
> well watered (this was before
>God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah), like God's garden,
>like Egypt, and stretching all the way to Zoar. Lot took the whole 
>plain of the Jordan. Lot set out
>to the east.
>
>  11-12 That's how they came to part company, uncle and nephew. 
> Abram settled in Canaan; Lot settled
>in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent near
>Sodom.
>
>  13 The people of Sodom were evil-flagrant sinners against God.
>
>  14-17 After Lot separated from him, God said to Abram, "Open your 
> eyes, look around. Look north,
>south, east, and west. Everything you see, the whole land
>spread out before you, I will give to you and your children forever. 
>I'll make your descendants like
>dust-counting your descendants will be as impossible
>as counting the dust of the Earth. So-on your feet, get moving! Walk 
>through the country, its length
>and breadth; I'm giving it all to you."
>
>  18 Abram moved his tent. He went and settled by the Oaks of Mamre 
> in Hebron. There he built an
>altar to God.
>
>Genesis 14
>  1-2 Then this: Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, 
> Kedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal
>king of Goiim went off to war to fight Bera king of
>Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king 
>of Zeboiim, and the king of
>Bela, that is, Zoar.
>
>  3-4 This second group of kings, the attacked, came together at the 
> Valley of Siddim, that is, the
>Salt Sea. They had been under the thumb of Kedorlaomer
>for twelve years. In the thirteenth year, they revolted.
>
>  5-7 In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with 
> him set out and defeated the
>Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim
>in Shaveh Kiriathaim, and the Horites in their hill country of Seir 
>as far as El Paran on the far
>edge of the desert. On their way back they stopped at
>En Mishpat, that is, Kadesh, and conquered the whole region of the 
>Amalekites as well as that of the
>Amorites who lived in Hazazon Tamar.
>
>  8-9 That's when the king of Sodom marched out with the king of 
> Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the
>king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, that is, Zoar. They
>drew up in battle formation against their enemies in the Valley of 
>Siddim-against Kedorlaomer king
>of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar,
>and Arioch king of Ellasar, four kings against five.
>
>  10-12 The Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits. When the kings of 
> Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they
>fell into the tar pits, but the rest escaped into the
>mountains. The four kings captured all the possessions of Sodom and 
>Gomorrah, all their food and
>equipment, and went on their way. They captured Lot, Abram's
>nephew who was living in Sodom at the time, taking everything he 
>owned with them.
>
>  13-16 A fugitive came and reported to Abram the Hebrew. Abram was 
> living at the Oaks of Mamre the
>Amorite, brother of Eshcol and Aner. They were allies
>of Abram. When Abram heard that his nephew had been taken prisoner, 
>he lined up his servants, all of
>them born in his household-there were 318 of them-and
>chased after the captors all the way to Dan. Abram and his men split 
>into small groups and attacked
>by night. They chased them as far as Hobah, just north
>of Damascus. They recovered all the plunder along with nephew Lot 
>and his possessions, including the
>women and the people.
>
>  17-20 After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and his 
> allied kings, the king of Sodom came
>out to greet him in the Valley of Shaveh, the King's
>Valley. Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine-he 
>was priest of The High God-and
>blessed him:
>
>    Blessed be Abram by The High God,
>       Creator of Heaven and Earth.
>    And blessed be The High God,
>       who handed your enemies over to you.
>
>    Abram gave him a tenth of all the recovered plunder.
>
>  21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me back the people but 
> keep all the plunder for
>yourself."
>
>  22-24 But Abram told the king of Sodom, "I swear to God, The High 
> God, Creator of Heaven and Earth,
>this solemn oath, that I'll take nothing from you,
>not so much as a thread or a shoestring. I'm not going to have you 
>go around saying, 'I made Abram
>rich.' Nothing for me other than what the young men
>ate and the share of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and 
>Mamre; they're to get their share
>of the plunder."
>
>Genesis 15
>  1 After all these things, this word of God came to Abram in a 
> vision: "Don't be afraid, Abram. I'm
>your shield. Your reward will be grand!"
>
>  2-3 Abram said, "God, Master, what use are your gifts as long as 
> I'm childless and Eliezer of
>Damascus is going to inherit everything?" Abram continued,
>"See, you've given me no children, and now a mere house servant is 
>going to get it all."
>
>  4 Then God's Message came: "Don't worry, he won't be your heir; a 
> son from your body will be your
>heir."
>
>  5 Then he took him outside and said, "Look at the sky. Count the 
> stars. Can you do it? Count your
>descendants! You're going to have a big family, Abram!"
>
>  6 And he believed! Believed God! God declared him "Set-Right-with-God."
>
>  7 God continued, "I'm the same God who brought you from Ur of the 
> Chaldees and gave you this land
>to own."
>
>  8 Abram said, "Master God, how am I to know this, that it will all be mine?"
>
>  9 God said, "Bring me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three 
> years old, and a dove and a young
>pigeon."
>
>  10-12 He brought all these animals to him, split them down the 
> middle, and laid the halves opposite
>each other. But he didn't split the birds. Vultures
>swooped down on the carcasses, but Abram scared them off. As the sun 
>went down a deep sleep overcame
>Abram and then a sense of dread, dark and heavy.
>
>  13-16 God said to Abram, "Know this: your descendants will live as 
> outsiders in a land not theirs;
>they'll be enslaved and beaten down for 400 years. Then
>I'll punish their slave masters; your offspring will march out of 
>there loaded with plunder. But not
>you; you'll have a long and full life and die a good
>and peaceful death. Not until the fourth generation will your 
>descendants return here; sin is still
>a thriving business among the Amorites."
>
>  17-21 When the sun was down and it was dark, a smoking firepot and 
> a flaming torch moved between
>the split carcasses. That's when God made a covenant with
>Abram: "I'm giving this land to your children, from the Nile River 
>in Egypt to the River Euphrates
>in Assyria-the country of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
>Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaim, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, 
>and Jebusites."