የአብራምና የሎጥ መለያየት
1አብራም ሚስቱንና ንብረቱን ሁሉ ይዞ ከግብፅ ወደ ኔጌብ ሄደ፤ ሎጥም አብሮት ነበረ። 2አብራም በከብት፣ በብርና በወርቅ እጅግ በልጽጎ ነበር።
3አብራም ከኔጌብ ተነሥቶ እስከ ቤቴል ተጓዘ፤ ቀድሞ በቤቴልና በጋይ መካከል ድንኳኑን ከተከለበት፣ 4ለመጀመሪያ ጊዜም መሠዊያ ካቆመበት ስፍራ ደረሰ፤ በዚያም የእግዚአብሔርን (ያህዌ) ስም ጠራ።
5ከአብራም ጋር አብሮት ይጓዝ የነበረው ሎጥ በጎች፣ ከብቶችና ድንኳኖች ነበሩት። 6ሆኖም ሁለቱ አንድ ላይ ሲኖሩ ስፍራው አልበቃቸውም፤ ንብረታቸው እጅግ ብዙ ስለ ነበር፣ አብረው መኖር አልቻሉም። 7ይህም በመሆኑ በአብራምና በሎጥ እረኞች መካከል ጠብ ተፈጠረ። በዚያን ዘመን ከነዓናውያንና ፌርዛውያን በዚያው አገር ይኖሩ ነበር።
8አብራምም ሎጥን እንዲህ አለው፤ “እኛ ወንድማማቾች ነንና፣ በአንተና በእኔ ወይም በእረኞቻችን መካከል ጠብ ሊኖር አይገባም። 9ይኸው እንደምታየው አገሩ ሰፊ ነው፤ ብንለያይ ይሻላል። አንተ ግራውን ብትመርጥ፣ እኔ ወደ ቀኝ እሄዳለሁ፤ አንተ ቀኙን ብትመርጥ፣ እኔ ወደ ግራ አመራለሁ።”
10ሎጥ ዐይኑን አቅንቶ ሲመለከት፣ የዮርዳኖስ ረባዳ ሜዳ እንደ እግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) ገነት፣ በዞዓር አቅጣጫ እንዳለው እንደ ግብፅ ምድር ውሃማ ቦታ ሆኖ አገኘው። እንዲህም የነበረው እግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) የሰዶምንና የገሞራን ከተሞች ከማጥፋቱ በፊት ነው። 11ሎጥ የዮርዳኖስን ረባዳ ሜዳ በሙሉ መርጦ ወደ ምሥራቅ አመራ፤ ሁለቱ ሰዎች በዚሁ ተለያዩ። 12አብራም መኖሪያውን በከነዓን ምድር አደረገ፤ ሎጥ ግን በረባዳው ሜዳ ውስጥ ባሉት ከተሞች መካከል በሰዶም አቅራቢያ ድንኳኑን ተከለ። 13የሰዶም ሰዎች ግን ክፉዎችና በእግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) ፊት እጅግ ኀጥኣን ነበሩ።
14ሎጥ ከተለየው በኋላ እግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) አብራምን እንዲህ አለው፤ “ካለህበት ስፍራ ቀና ብለህ ወደ ሰሜንና ወደ ደቡብ፣ ወደ ምሥራቅና ወደ ምዕራብ ተመልከት፤ 15ዐይንህ የሚያየውን ምድር ሁሉ ለአንተና ለዘርህ ለዘላለም እሰጣለሁ። 16ዘርህን እንደ ምድር ትቢያ አበዛዋለሁ፤ ማንም የምድርን ትቢያ ሊቈጥር እንደማይችል ሁሉ የአንተም ዘር የማይቈጠር ይሆናል። 17እንግዲህ ምድሪቱን ስለምሰጥህ ተነሣ፤ በርዝመቷም፣ በስፋቷም ተመላለስባት።”
18አብራምም ድንኳኑን ነቀለ፤ ሄዶም ኬብሮን በሚገኙት ትልልቅ የመምሬ ዛፎች አጠገብ ተቀመጠ፤ በዚያም ለእግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) መሠዊያ ሠራ።
Abram and Lot Separate
1Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev Desert. He took his wife and everything he had. Lot went with him. 2Abram had become very rich. He had a lot of livestock and silver and gold.
3Abram left the Negev Desert. He went from place to place until he came to Bethel. Then he came to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier. 4There he called on the name of the Lord at the altar he had built.
5Lot was moving around with Abram. Lot also had flocks and herds and tents. 6But the land didn’t have enough food for both Abram and Lot. They had large herds and many servants, so they weren’t able to stay together. 7The people who took care of Abram’s herds and those who took care of Lot’s herds began to argue. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time.
8So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not argue with each other. The people taking care of your herds and those taking care of mine shouldn’t argue with one another either. After all, we’re part of the same family. 9Isn’t the whole land in front of you? Let’s separate. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right. If you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.”
10Lot looked around. He saw that the whole Jordan River valley toward the town of Zoar had plenty of water. It was like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. 11So Lot chose the whole Jordan River valley for himself. Then he started out toward the east. The two men separated. 12Abram lived in the land of Canaan. Lot lived among the cities of the Jordan River valley. He set up his tents near Sodom. 13The people of Sodom were evil. They were sinning greatly against the Lord.
14The Lord spoke to Abram after Lot had left him. He said, “Look around from where you are. Look north and south, east and west. 15I will give you all the land you see. I will give it forever to you and your family who comes after you. 16I will make them like the dust of the earth. Can dust be counted? If it can, then your family can be counted. 17Go! Walk through the land. See how long and wide it is. I am giving it to you.”
18So Abram went to live near the large trees of Mamre at Hebron. There he pitched his tents and built an altar to honor the Lord.
