Study Desk

From these the people of the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, every one according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.

And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

Canaan fathered Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth,

Two sons were born to Eber; the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother's name was Joktan.

Haran died during the lifetime of his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.

Now Terah took his son Abram, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram's wife, and they departed together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran and settled there.

Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the people which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; so they came to the land of Canaan.

Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD.

It came about, when he was approaching Egypt, that he said to his wife Sarai, "See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman;

and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife'; and they will kill me, but they will let you live.

But the LORD struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.

And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they escorted him away, with his wife and all that belonged to him.

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

And 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,

Lot 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.

Abram 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.

Then 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.

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

When 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.

Then 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.