Genesis 13: 1-18 in the KJV and AWPR Translations and a Related Commentary Rebuke of the Tall El-Hammam Northern Sodom Theory

Genesis 13

King James Version (KJV)

Alternate with Word Pictures and Reiterations (AWPR) version 

1 And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south.         (KJV)

1)    And ascended up Abram out of Egypt,

he and his wife (and) all that was completely his to him;

and Lot with him (also), into the Negeb / Negev.

(AWPR)

2 And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.     (KJV)

2)    And Abram was very rich and heavy laden with wealth

[includes possessions of things of material value]

such as that which was vehemently and hastily thrust upon him –

in livestock that graze,

in silver and gold.      (AWPR)

3 And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai;     (KJV)

3)    And he walked – traveled on his journeys,

      pulling and breaking camp

[as that of a Nomad]

from the Negeb / Negev to as far as Bethel;

to as far as the (regular)  Standing Place / Station  (to raise up)

where his tent had been before – where his tent had been at the first,

between –amongst that of Bethel and Ai:      (AWPR)

4 Unto the place of the altar, which he had make there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.     (KJV)

4)     To the (regular)  Standing Place / Station  (to raise up)

 of the altar of sacrifice

 which was pressed together – made there

 at the beginning    [of Abram’s entry into Canaan].

 And there Abram called out on the Name of YHVeH.

 (AWPR)

5 And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents.     (KJV)

5)     And in like manner also,

Lot who traveled by walking with Abram, went with Abram;

(and) there were sheep and oxen and (many) tents.   (AWPR)

 

6 And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together.      (KJV)

6)     And not was able to bear and carry – support them

 the Land, for giving and restoring life / for a living

 with renewal and regeneration

 in union together,

 for their worth / their estate / their movable possessions and property

 was abundant in increase / (collectively) great (in number),

 so that they could not prevail – overcome while

 living in union together.     (AWPR)

7 And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.     (KJV)

7)    And there was contention – controversy – strife

with physical combat

between – amongst

[also includes a location such as that of a no man’s land area between – in the midst of, as well as the direct action of occurrence of blows between individuals]

those pasturing – shepherding Abram’s livestock that graze

and those pasturing – shepherding Lot’s livestock that graze.

And the Canaanite and the Perrizite were enthroned,

remaining – dwelling – sitting (in authority) in the Land.

(AWPR)

8 And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren.     (KJV)

8)     And said – spoke commandingly Abram to Lot,

         ‘Do not now – Do not, I exhort (you),

          let there be strife between – amongst

[also includes a location such as that of a no man’s land area between – in the midst of, as well as the direct action of occurrence of blows between individuals]

          me and you,

          and between – amongst

[also includes a location such as that of a no man’s land area between – in the midst of, as well as the direct action of occurrence of blows between individuals]

          my pasturers – herders – shepherds

          and your pasturers –herders – shepherds,

          for (we are) men:   brothers we (are).   (AWPR)

9 Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.     (KJV) 

9)     Is not the complete Land – Is not all the Land

 before your face?

 Now – I exhort (you),

 be separated – divided [to your own way, away] from me.

 If to the left / to the elevated (regions),

 [Left - / elevated .  Cf. the Hebrew context of left used in Genesis 48:13-14 by the same author, Moses.]

 so will I go to the right / to the lower elevations;

 [Rashi states that we should read  “I will right (turn) myself just as I will left (turn) myself.’]

 or if to the right / to the lower elevations,

 then I will go to the left / to the elevated (regions).

 (AWPR)

10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.      (KJV)

      10)    And Lot lifted up his eyes to see and behold,

           and beheld and had respect to the complete kikar –

           and beheld and had respect to all the Circuit / disc plain

           of the Jordan,

    

           that it was completely refreshingly watered-

           that it was completely irrigated with watering.

                    [This same Land which]

                    At / To the face of – In the presence of

                    YHVeH (when He)

                    destroyed with a sinking 
                 and bowing down into a pit

                     Sodom and Gomorrah,

                     
                     as an enclosed garden of YHVeH,

                     like the land of Egypt (was the Earth)

                    [with irrigation canals, streams, reeds and marshes

                     Against the main river, and orderly sectioned fields

                     of various farm and orchard plantings and plains of

                       green grasses for grazing]

                   reaching Zoar – as you come and enter into Zoar.

                   (AWPR)                

11 Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.     (KJV)

11)        And Lot carefully considered and chose for himself

         all the KiKar – the complete Circuit - all the disc plain

         of the Jordan;

         and Lot pulled up – broke camp pulling out and

         removing (tent) pegs – set forth

         Eastward to confront or draw near

     [the land that is stated in the previous verse to be

      enclosed by mountainous terrains or elevations as

      the Dead Sea region is on two sides, and was still to some

      degree when the Jordan still flowed as a river through what

      is now no more than a Dead Sea pool]

                     and separated – divided

                    [as though by a wedge or permanent separate river course that

                    forks off into an entirely separate traveling existence]

                   

          (each) man from his brother.  (AWPR)

12 Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.     (KJV)

12)        Abram was seated (in authority), 

        remaining – dwelling – sitting in the Land of Canaan;

        and Lot remained – dwelt-sat

        in the cities of the Kikar – the circuit - the disc plain, 

        and dwelt in a home as far as Sodom.  (AWPR)

  [Lot appears to have made his dwelling to the southern and mostly unclaimed

   parts of the land, in an area that gave him the closest trade route access to trade

  with merchants from Egypt, as well as be the first to receive the Kikar’s other

  Merchant caravans coming down from what we call the King’s highway that runs

  through the mountainous terrain of the East side of the then river valley (now the

  Dead Sea).]  

13 But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.    (KJV)

      13)         And the men of Sodom were distressingly evil and

              injurious,

              and sinned ever more increasingly

              in failing to respect and acknowledge YHVeH.

                 (AWPR)

14 And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:      (KJV)

               14)           And YHVeH commandingly said to Abram,

                     After Lot had separated – divided

                    [as though by a wedge or permanent separate river course that

                    forks off into an entirely separate traveling existence]

                    from him:

                             ‘Lift up your eyes to see and behold now,

                              and have respect to look out and behold

                              from the (regular) standing place / station

                              where you are [now, at this time, in Hebron]:

                                Northward

                                      [Psalm 48:2 (in Hebrew, Psalm 48:3) calls

                                       Jerusalem as northward]

                              and to the Negev / Southward,

                              and Eastward,

                              and to the Sea / Westward.        (AWPR)

         

                    [To the Sea, westward, clearly means the Mediterranean Sea.

                     the etymological use in the Hebrew also tells us that the Dead Sea

                     has not yet been created, because we are to tie the very existence of

                    Dead Sea with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, which has

                    not yet occurred at this point in history.  THAT is the testimony of

                    Scripture.]

15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.     (KJV)

            15)          For the complete Land – For all the Land

                  which you have respect to see and behold,

                  to you will I give it – to you will I bestow it as a gift,

                  and to your seed – to your male offspring / generations

                  forever.      (AWPR)

16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.     (KJV)

        16)        And I will make lie down – And I will appoint and place

               your seed  - male offspring / generations

               as the dust, as the particles or granules of the Land,

               so that if one can count the dust,

               so that if one can count the particles or granules of the Land,

               then also your seed – your male offspring

              will be counted.        (AWPR)

17 Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.      (KJV)

         17)         Stand up – Arise!

               Walk and travel about through the Land

                in its longness – length   

                and in its width – broadness – breadth,

                for to you will I give it – bestow it as a gift.

               (AWPR)

18 Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord.      (KJV)

         18)         And having cleared (his) tent,

               Abram came – entered  and was seated (in authority), 

               and remained – dwelt – sat by the oak of Mamre

               which (is) in Hebron,

               and he built there an altar of sacrifice to YHVeH.

               (AWPR)

Disclaimer:  The Alternate Word Pictures with Reiterations (AWPR) translation should be used as a Bible Study Aid only, and it is recommended that a direct literal translation or the King James Bible be used for regular and ecclesiastical purposes, and that the AWPR be used in association only as a Bible study aid so as to help the reader / user in their Bible Studying to clarify context and Scriptural Intent.     Thanks.  -- Brianroy

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Commentary regarding Verse 10 and the Northern Sodom (north of the Dead Sea) Theory 

                    YHVeH (when He)

                    destroyed with a sinking 

                 and bowing down into a pit

                     Sodom and Gomorrah,

                     

                     as an enclosed garden

Regarding Verse 10:   A required bowing of the earth down as a pit for where Sodom was or is…and that Sodom be enclosed in.   

In Genesis 13 verse 10 the word for destroyed is Shin-Chet-Tav (SHaCHaT), destroyed in the Piel Infinitive Construct..

I read it after the interpretation that  “YHVeH destroyed with a sinking and bowing down into a pit  Sodom and Gomorrah...."  taking into account usage toward land and earth such as land masses bowed down and crushed into oceans under the weight of the Great Flood  in Genesis 9:11,15 and the related Hebrew of Psalm 7:16 (7:15 in English) and Psalm 35:7.

 [Commentary]

(    ) = (enhanced definition}

  /  means "alternatively rendered or translated as"

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Genesis 9:

11 וַהֲקִמֹתִ֤י אֶת־בְּרִיתִי֙ אִתְּכֶ֔ם וְלֹֽא־יִכָּרֵ֧ת כָּל־בָּשָׂ֛ר עֹ֖וד מִמֵּ֣י הַמַּבּ֑וּל וְלֹֽא־יִהְיֶ֥ה עֹ֛וד מַבּ֖וּל לְשַׁחֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ׃

 And I will confirm My covenant with you:  Never again shall all flesh be cut off again by the waters of the Flood; and never again shall there ever be a Flood to destroy (with a sinking and  bowing down) the Earth.


15 וְזָכַרְתִּ֣י אֶת־בְּרִיתִ֗י אֲשֶׁ֤ר בֵּינִי֙ וּבֵ֣ינֵיכֶ֔ם וּבֵ֛ין כָּל־נֶ֥פֶשׁ חַיָּ֖ה בְּכָל־בָּשָׂ֑ר וְלֹֽא־יִֽהְיֶ֨ה עֹ֤וד הַמַּ֙יִם֙ לְמַבּ֔וּל לְשַׁחֵ֖ת כָּל־בָּשָֽׂר׃

  I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you, and every living soul among all flesh.   And the waters shall not again become a Flood (with a sinking and bowing down [of the Earth]) to destroy all flesh.




Psalm 7:16 in Hebrew, 7:15 in English
בֹּ֣ור כָּ֭רָֽה וַֽיַּחְפְּרֵ֑הוּ וַ֝יִּפֹּ֗ל בְּשַׁ֣חַת יִפְעָֽל׃

A (sunken) pit / cistern / well he dug  and bored it, and has fallen into the (sunken and bowed down) ditch he made.


Psalm 35:7
  כִּֽי־חִנָּ֣ם טָֽמְנוּ־לִ֭י שַׁ֣חַת רִשְׁתָּ֑ם חִ֝נָּ֗ם חָפְר֥וּ לְנַפְשִֽׁי׃

For without a cause they hid for me, (in the bowing down) [the area of darkness in the chasm] (of) a pit / (in) a pit
 their net;  without cause they have dug for my soul.
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There are those who are promoting great error in denying the witness of the Bible, with a claim to take only these verses of Chapter 13 alone to prove their theory, as stated in this year (March/ April 2013 issue) in the Biblical Archaeology Review.  http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-sites-places/biblical-archaeology-sites/where-is-sodom/

See also: 

http://www.tallelhammam.com/

The very premise of adhering only to Genesis 13 in the Hebrew while being in denial of even all the rest of the Bible, is utterly ridiculous.  The Hebrew of verse 10 of this chapter clearly and immediately refutes the proponents of the Tall el-Hammam NST as either intentionally lying or clearly delusional (it seems to me)...take your pick.

The Northern Sodom Theory (NST) has no enclosing upon Tall El-Hammam or any other NST location.  Further, Tall El-Hammam rests on top of a hill, while Sodom was upon a plain that lost elevation to such an extent, it can only be located in the lowest elevations upon the Earth (in the Dead Sea Basin) in order to fulfill the Hebrew requirements placed upon it.   

So, when we look at the kikar proposed in the Northern Sodom Theory, which runs due East of Jericho and northwards


 http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2001/of01-216/








we discover there is NO bowing down of the Earth, especially near or around the Jordan River immediately east of Jericho where the Tall el-Hammam excavators claim their "discovery" of the Biblical Sodom was located and to be watered from.   Anyone who can read a map, I would argue, can clearly and reasonably conclude that their claim of a north of the Dead Sea Sodom in an undepressed region of the Jordan River Valley can be looked on and called a "scam".   In fact, the NST scam being currently advanced by someone I debated at the Biblical Archaeology Forums along with his fellow archaeologist assistant at great length fails in altitude, proximity to the Jordan River itself, in being repopulated against prophetical and historical requirements, and a whole host of issues.  For the purpose of the maps above, and verse 10 of Genesis 13, the NST clearly lacks a geological fact that there is NO sinking into the earth, which the destruction of  Sodom and the entire disc plain region is required to do...collapse as if to create a canyon depression into the Earth. 
Hence, Tall el-Hammam is disqualified.

Ruling out the NST
 From about the times of Solomn to the Assyrian conquest, much of the valley basin on the north of the disc around the Jordan River was forested, a vastly wooded area.  During those same times Tall el-Hammam was a land full of life, habitations; Tall el-Hammam being a major influence east of the Jordan. 

Prior to its Iron Age settlement, the disc, and most particularly the plain on which Tall el-Hammam is settled is, is 9 times referred to as  "the plains of Moab":  Numbers 22:1, 26:3, 26:63, 31:12, 33:48, 33:49, 33:50, 35:1, 36:13.  There is NO MENTION OF SODOM as even remotely being mentioned in association with the plains of Moab, where Tall el-Hammam is located, even though later in Deuteronomy we read that the land and country of Sodom is uninhabitable...

Deuteronomy 29:23 - The whole land shall be burned with brimstone and salt; it shall not be sown, nor shall it sprout; nor shall there be any herb in it. It shall be like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim, which Jehovah overthrew in His anger and in His fury.

Deuteronomy 32:32 - For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and their grapes of the fields of Gomorrah, grapes of gall; they have bitter clusters.

...that was not the case with the plains of Moab through which the children of Israel crossed in the Exodus, which was in the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1550-1200 B.C., as stated by Tall el-Hammam excavators with whom I have extensively debated in 2008).  In fact, the plains of Moab east of the Jordan, where Tall el-Hammam was, was so fruitful, that the lands of the disc plain or "kikar" east of the Jordan were able to sustain "a great multitude of cattle"  and 2 1/2 tribes...the number of them as listed in Numbers chapter 1 and chapter 32.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+1&version=KJV
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+32&version=KJV

The excavators of the Tall el-Hammam mound further state that the site, once reinhabited after an absence from extinction in the Middle Bronze Age (they cite as 2000-1550 B.C.), lasted from the Iron Age 1 (1200-1000 B.C.) or most certainly by the beginning of Iron Age 2 (ca. 1000 B.C.)  until after the Muslim conquest in the 700s A.D.  

That is, starting generally around 1100 B.C. and then for 1800 more years, under one name or other, Tall el-Hammam flourished at a time when the Bible again called the lands of Sodom as a current barren and salted wasteland, where even nomads refused to stop and rest if they found themselves in it.  

The Bible says that in the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses every word shall be established.  So we have Moses and Deuteronomy, but the Tall el-Hammam excavators won't believe Moses in Deuteronomy 32. 

I therefore will call forth twice the necessary witnesses needed to slam the door shut on the Northern Sodom Theory hoax in which Tall el-Hammam, a flourishing fruitful and well populated land with fresh waters, is put forth as Sodom by modern excavators using it as a con for fundraising a different civilization altogether.


Witness #1 -

In circa 760 B.C., Sodom is a destroyed place:

Amos 4:7 – it a place of no rain

In verse 9 – it a place of blasting and mildew [hence, moisture of some sort] and the creeping locust

In verse 10 - it is a place forsaken like the plague

In verse 11 – Sodom is an overturned [the use of the word “Hapak” or turned upside down, a plain now a valley in its use] place, a place of burning.

------Hence, Tall el-Hammam -- being inhabited -- is disqualified.



Witness #2 - In circa 735 B.C., Sodom was a place ruined since its overthrow over 1200 years earlier, and set forth as an example.

Isaiah  1:7 speaks of how the land of Israel, ravaged by war,  is a desolation; and its cities burned with fire.

Isaiah 1:9 Except Jehovah of Hosts had left a remnant for us, a few, we would be as Sodom; we would be as Gomorrah

Isaiah 13:19 uses mahpekah to describe Babylon’s overthrow, to describe a destruction as complete as Sodom and Gomorrah…the word picture being to the effect of:  'it shall be taken down with great violence and poured out as liquid from a flask' as the emphasis of the violence of its overthrow.  The word picture in reference to Sodom and Gomorrah, suggest volcanic lava or like activity as being the demise of Sodom and Gomorrah.  The overthrow of Babylon will be as complete as if Creation and a volcanic disaster had wiped that city out. 

Isaiah 13:20 tells us that as of Isaiah’s day, Sodom and Gomorrah were UNINHABITED, and in a place where the Arabian was UNABLE to pitch his tent, and flocks (though they might perhaps step upon), were unable to lie down there. In other words, Sodom and Gomorrah, even under a receding sea due to drought, could well have been known to be under even amounts as little as about a foot or less of water of the Dead Sea consistently in Isaiah’s day.

This points us by markers to the southern regions of the Dead Sea, in a valley that was depressed to be even lower than the Jordan Valley proper, ceasing the river’s former run to the Gulf of Aqaba.

-----Hence, Tall el-Hammam -- being inhabited -- is disqualified.



Witness # 3 - In circa 620 B.C., Sodom is desolation and uninhabited:

Zephaniah 2:9 …surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the sons of Ammon like Gomorrah, a possession of nettles, and a pit of salt, and a ruin forever

-----Hence, Tall el-Hammam -- being inhabited -- is disqualified.




Witness # 4 -
In circa 590 B.C., Sodom is still a destroyed place, having only bitter and poisonous waters, and visibly ruined: Jeremiah 23:14 “They are all of them like Sodom to Me, and those living in her like Gomorrah.

Jeremiah 23:15 So Jehovah of Hosts says this concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them wormwood, and make them drink poisonous water…”

Jeremiah 49:17 And Edom shall be a ruin, everyone who goes by it shall be amazed and shall hiss at all its plagues.

Jeremiah 49:18 As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, and its neighbor, declares Jehovah, no man shall remain there, a son of man shall not live in it."

-----Hence, Tall el-Hammam -- being inhabited -- is disqualified.



Witnesses #5 and #6 -
In circa 47 and 57 A.D., at the very time period of when the Tall el-Hammam excavators claims that their city thrived under the name of “Livias”, and was greatly inhabited, Jude and the Apostle Peter both testify that Sodom is a current example (current in the 1st Century A.D.) of everlasting destruction upon a location, suggesting its ruins were both still visible and uninhabited, and example of what everlasting fire will do:

Jude 1:7 “as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, in like manner to these, committing fornication, and going away after other flesh, laid down an example before-times, undergoing vengeance of everlasting fire.”

2 Peter 2:6  "and covering the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah with ashes, He condemned them with an overthrow, setting an example to men intending to live ungodly.”

According to the historical testimony of 2 Peter 2:6, all the cities of the Sodomic Pentapolis are designated as being covered and/or reduced to ashes in the use of  tephrosas.  The cities were covered with ashes and condemned. In order to FIND Sodom, it must be located from under a great coat of "ashes".

 -----Hence, Tall el-Hammam -- being inhabited and fully uncovered in the time of the Apostle Peter's Ministry in the First Century A.D. -- is disqualified.