The separation of Abram and Lot

Lot, who was going with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents; the Greek has cattle where the Hebrew has tents. The land did not bear them, to dwell together (BSB “unable to support both of them while they stayed together” and “unable to coexist”), because their goods were many. There was strife (BSB “there was discord”) between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. The Canaanite and the Perizzite were then dwelling in the land: 12:6 had the Canaanite; this verse adds the Perizzite and a participle. BSB’s also is not in the Hebrew; see Gen 13:7 → Gen 12:6. Keil explains that “the land did not furnish space enough for the numerous herd to graze” Abram then asks that there be no strife, for they are men, brothers, and offers Lot the choice of left or right. The offer and Lot’s choice are taken up in the notes that follow. The persons are real. Questions of sources for this narrative, stated as the J account or as a unity, are pointed once to Reading Genesis 2:4–25 alongside Genesis 1: from Josephus and Philo to Keil, Driver and Skinner and are not argued again here. See “The land did not bear them” and The separation of Abram and Lot in early reading.