And he saw, and, behold, the land was very pleasant from the entering of Hamath to the lofty oak. 3 And the Lord said to him: "To thee and to thy seed will I give this land. "
And the Lord said to him, To you and to your seed I will give this land. And he built there an altar, and offered upon it a burnt offering to the Lord who had appeared to him.
And he saw and behold, the land was very wide and good, and everything grew thereon--vines and figs and pomegranates, oaks and ilexes, and terebinths and oil trees, and cedars and cypresses and date trees, and all trees of the field, and there was water on the mountains.
And it came 1954 A.M. to pass in the first year, in the seventh week, on the new moon of the first month, that he built an altar on this mountain, and called on the name of the Lord: "Thou, the eternal God, art my God. "
And he removed from thence and went towards the south, 4 and he came to Hebron, and Hebron was built at, that time, and he dwelt there two years, and he went (thence) into the land of the south, to Bealoth 2 and there was a famine in the land.
NOW Tanaas in Egypt was at that time built--seven years after Hebron. 5 11 And it came to pass when Pharaoh seized Sarai, the wife of Abram, that the Lord plauged Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.
And it came to pass, when Pharaoh took Sarai the wife of Abram, that the Lord smote Pharaoh and his household with great plagues on account of Sarai the wife of Abram.
And Abram was very glorious by reason of possessions in sheep, and cattle, and asses, and horses, and camels, and menservants, and maidservants, and in silver and gold exceedingly. And Lot also, his brother's son, was wealthy.
And Pharaoh gave back Sarai, the wife of Abram, and he sent him out of the land of Egypt, 6 and he journeyed to the place where he had pitched his tent at the beginning, to the place of the altar, with Ai on the east, and Bethel on the west, and he blessed the Lord his God who had brought him back in peace.
And it came to pass in the forty-first jubilee, in the third year of the first week, that he returned to this place and offered thereon a burnt sacrifice, and called on the name of the Lord, and said: "Thou, the most high God, art my God for ever and ever. "
And it grieved him in his heart that his brother's son had parted from him; for he had no children. 19.1 In that year when Lot was taken captive, the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot had parted from him, in the fourth year of this week: "Lift up thine eyes from the place where thou art dwelling, northward and southward, and westward and eastward.
For all the land which thou seest I shall give to thee and to thy seed for ever, and I shall make thy seed as the sand of the sea: 2 though a man may number the dust of the earth, yet thy seed shall not be numbered.
Arise, walk (through the land) in the length of it and the breadth of it, and see it all; for to thy seed shall I give it. " And Abram went to Hebron, and dwelt there. Footnotes 8. 8. 9. 10.
And they took captive Sodom and Adam 6 and Zeboim, and they took captive Lot also, the son of Abram's brother, and all his possessions, and they went to Dan.
And one who had escaped came and told Abram that his brother's son had been taken captive and (Abram) armed 8 his household servants. 25 . . . . . . . . . for Abram, and for his seed, a tenth of the first-fruits to the Lord, 1 and the Lord ordained it as an ordinance for ever that they should give it to the priests who served before Him, that they should possess it for ever.
And he restored the goods of his household. And Abram went and slew Chedorlaomer, and returned and tithed a tenth of everything, and gave it to Melchizedek.
And to this law there is no limit of days; for He hath ordained it for the generations for ever that they should give to the Lord the tenth of everything, of the seed and of the wine and of the oil and of the cattle and of the shee . And He gave (it) unto His priests to eat and to drink with joy before Him.
And the king of Sodom came to him and bowed himself before him, and said: "Our Lord Abram, give unto us the souls which thou hast rescued, but let the booty be thine. "
And Abram said unto him: "I lift up my hands to the Most High God, that from a thread to a shoe-latchet I shall not take aught that is thine, lest thou shouldst say I have made Abram rich; save only what the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me--Aner, Eschol, and Mamre. These will take their portion. " 3 Footnotes 14. 25. It no doubt contained an account of the pursuit of the kings and told of Melchizedek (cf. Gen. xiv. 15-20). That Abraham should have given tithes to Melchizedek (who was uncircumcised) was a difficulty to later Jews (cf. Justin, Trypho xix.). One way of overcoming it was to identify Melchizedek with Shem. 15.