Bible in a Year · Day 5 of 365
Today’s reading: Genesis 13–15 (3 chapters)
Read the passage below, or open your own Bible and follow along. The text here is the World English Bible, a public-domain translation, printed in full so the day’s reading is all on one page.
About Genesis
Genesis is the book of beginnings: the heavens and the earth, the first man and woman, the first sin and its spread, and then God's answer in a chosen family. The opening eleven chapters move quickly, from a garden to a flood to a tower, and they raise the questions the rest of the Bible answers. From chapter 12 the pace slows and the focus narrows to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, one family carried through famine, rivalry, and long delay. What holds the book together is God's word doing what it says. He speaks and light appears, he promises and keeps his promise across generations, and he stays with a flawed family in a land that is not yet theirs.
What to watch for. Watch how often God speaks and acts first, and how often the people he calls respond badly and are still carried along. Notice the repeated promise of blessing to the nations, and the way the same failures run from Adam through Jacob's sons.
Genesis 13
1Abram went up out of Egypt — he, his wife, all that he had, and Lot with him — into the South. 2Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. 3He went on his journeys from the South even to 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 at the first. There Abram called on Yahweh’s name. 5Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks, herds, and tents.
6The land was not able to bear them, that they might live together; for their substance was great, so that they could not live together. 7There was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites lived in the land at that time. 8Abram said to Lot, “Please, let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen; for we are relatives. 9Isn’t the whole land before you? Please separate yourself from me. If you go to the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if you go to the right hand, then I will go to the left.” 10Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw all the plain of the Jordan, that it was well-watered everywhere, before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of Yahweh, like the land of Egypt, as you go to Zoar.
11So Lot chose the Plain of the Jordan for himself. Lot traveled east, and they separated themselves the one from the other. 12Abram lived in the land of Canaan, and Lot lived in the cities of the plain, and moved his tent as far as Sodom. 13Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against Yahweh. 14Yahweh said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him, “Now, lift up 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 offspring forever.
16I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can count the dust of the earth, then your offspring may also be counted. 17Arise, walk through the land in its length and in its width; for I will give it to you.” 18Abram moved his tent, and came and lived by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to Yahweh.
Genesis 14
1In the days of Amraphel, king of Shinar, Arioch, king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of Goiim, 2they 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 (also called Zoar). 3All these joined together in the valley of Siddim (also called the Salt Sea). 4They served Chedorlaomer for twelve years, and in the thirteenth year, they rebelled. 5In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer came, and the kings who were with him, and struck the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim,
6and the Horites in their Mount Seir, to El Paran, which is by the wilderness. 7They returned, and came to En Mishpat (also called Kadesh), and struck all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that lived in Hazazon Tamar. 8The king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (also called Zoar) went out; and they set the battle in array against them in the valley of Siddim; 9against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings against the five. 10Now the valley of Siddim was full of tar pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and some fell there, and those who remained fled to the hills.
11They took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their food, and went their way. 12They took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, who lived in Sodom, and his goods, and departed. 13One who had escaped came and told Abram, the Hebrew. At that time, he lived by the oaks of Mamre, the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner; and they were allies of Abram. 14When Abram heard that his relative was taken captive, he led out his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued as far as Dan. 15He divided himself against them by night, he and his servants, and struck them, and pursued them to Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.
16He brought back all the goods, and also brought back his relative, Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the other people. 17The king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, at the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). 18Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine: and he was priest of God Most High. 19He blessed him, and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth: 20and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” Abram gave him a tenth of all.
21The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people, and take the goods for yourself.” 22Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted up my hand to Yahweh, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, 23that I will not take a thread nor a sandal strap nor anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ 24I will accept nothing from you except that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Let them take their portion.”
Genesis 15
1After these things Yahweh’s word came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” 2Abram said, “Lord Yahweh, what will you give me, since I go childless, and he who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3Abram said, “Behold, to me you have given no children : and, behold, one born in my house is my heir.” 4Behold, Yahweh’s word came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir, but he who will come out of your own body will be your heir.” 5Yahweh brought him outside, and said, “Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” He said to Abram, “So will your offspring be.”
6He believed in Yahweh, who credited it to him for righteousness. 7He said to Abram, “I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.” 8He said, “Lord Yahweh, how will I know that I will inherit it?” 9He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10He brought him all these, and divided them in the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; but he didn’t divide the birds.
11The birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. 12When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. Now terror and great darkness fell on him. 13He said to Abram, “Know for sure that your offspring will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years. 14I will also judge that nation, whom they will serve. Afterward they will come out with great wealth, 15but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried at a good old age.
16In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.” 17It came to pass that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18In that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, “I have given this land to your offspring, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates: 19the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,
21the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB), a public-domain translation. Day numbering follows the calendar year; you can start at Day 1 on any date.
