Fathers

Genesis 13

Tap a verse to read the Fathers. Press and hold, then drag, to make a card.

Abram went up out of Egypt—he, his wife, all that he had, and Lot with him—into the South. Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. He went on his journeys from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first. There Abram called on Yahweh’s name. Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks, herds, and tents. The land was not able to bear them, that they might live together; for their possessions were so great that they couldn’t live together. There 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. Abram said to Lot, “Please, let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen; for we are relatives. Isn’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.” Lot 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. So Lot chose the Plain of the Jordan for himself. Lot traveled east, and they separated themselves from one other. Abram lived in the land of Canaan, and Lot lived in the cities of the plain, and moved his tent as far as Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against Yahweh. Yahweh 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, for I will give all the land which you see to you and to your offspring forever. I 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. Arise, walk through the land in its length and in its width; for I will give it to you.” Abram moved his tent, and came and lived by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to Yahweh.

About · Privacy · Credits · Support VRSZ

What the Fathers say

Genesis 13:14

Eastern Fathers

Clement of Rome

Abraham, styled "the friend," [Isaiah 41:8] was found faithful, inasmuch as he rendered obedience to the words of God. He, in the exercise of obedience, went out from his own country, and from his kindred, and from his father's house, in order that, by forsaking a small territory, and a weak family, and an insignificant house, he might inherit the promises of God. For God said to him, "Get you out from your country, and from your kindred, and from your father's house, into the land which I shall show you. …

Clement's First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 10 ↗

Western Saints

Ambrose of Milan

There follows a passage that clearly teaches us how fast the soul progresses once the excesses of the irrational parts have been eliminated and how much evil is produced by an accumulation of vices. Not without reason did Scripture put it this way: "And God said to Abraham, after Lot had separated from him: 'Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward: for all the land which you see I will give to you and to your descendants for ever.' " This text is the source from which …

On Abraham ↗

Jerome

Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, towards the north, south, east, and west; for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring. He set the four regions of the world: east, west, north, and south. But what is read in all the Scriptures, let it suffice to say once, that the sea is always considered to be in the west: because the region of Palestine is situated in such a way that the sea is in the western part.

Hebrew Questions on Genesis ↗

Bede

And the Lord said to Abram after Lot had separated from him: Lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are northward and southward and eastward and westward: all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. Some manuscripts have "unto the age," which both translate from the one Greek term Aeonion, αἰὼν. Therefore, if it is read as "unto eternity," it rightly raises the question of how Abraham's offspring can possess that land eternally, whereas human life in this world cannot be everlasting. …

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron) ↗