Genesis 13:4 Explained in Context

Selected verse

Verse 4. Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the LORD.

King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions

Quick Meaning

Abram returns to the altar he had made earlier and again calls on the name of the LORD. Worship frames the household's renewed presence in Canaan before the resource conflict begins.

Read It With

Genesis 13:1–18

Read verse 4 with 12:7–9 and 13:5–7. Abram had built the altar during his first movement through Canaan; now he worships there again, but abundant possessions soon expose a practical conflict.

Why This Verse Appears Here

Worship at the former altar reconnects the return with the call story before possessions create a new relational test.

Read Genesis 13:1–4 together

Why these verses belong together: The household's ascent from Egypt, wealth notice, return itinerary, former altar, and renewed worship form the Canaan-return movement.

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

Verse 2. And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.

Verse 3. And he went on his journeys from the south even to Beth-el, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Beth-el and Hai;

Verse 4. Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the LORD.

What This Verse Is Not Saying

Calling on the LORD does not prove that every later choice Abram makes is beyond evaluation or that worship automatically resolves resource conflict.

What Remains True

Worship can reorient a person after crisis, yet it does not remove the need to resolve material and relational problems faithfully.

How It Can Shape Life

Let worship lead into honest stewardship and conflict resolution rather than using religious activity to avoid the practical work immediately in front of you.

Continue in Context

The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.

Read Genesis 13:1–18 — Abram and Lot Separate

Sources used for this Verse Lens

How certain is this explanation? strong

These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.

Biblical text

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society

USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.

Supports: Displayed wording, immediate sequence, land-and-offspring promise, Lot trajectory, Mamre, and canonical connections.

Exact location: Genesis 13:1–18 in the pinned eng-kjv2006 source; compared with Genesis 12:7–20; 14:1–16; 18–19; 23; and later Abrahamic promise texts

Open source ↗

hebrew text morphology and lemma data

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible — Genesis

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project

Open Scriptures, Version 2.2 released 2021; repository inspected 2026

Supports: Went-up return verb, heavy-wealth idiom, land-support repetition, riv conflict, kinship phrase, kikkar district, seeing and choosing, eastward travel, Sodom evaluation, ad-olam promise, dust simile, traversing command, and Mamre tree term.

Exact location: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible, wlc/Gen.xml, Genesis 13:1–18

Open source ↗

Translation and textual notes

NET Bible — Genesis with translators' notes

Biblical Studies Press

Biblical Studies Press, Digital edition accessed 2026

Supports: Negeb, wealth idiom, journey language, worship phrase, carrying capacity, conflict and kinship terms, Jordan district, Sodom parentheticals, repeated sight, traversing, and oaks or terebinths.

Exact location: NET Bible, Genesis 13 and notes 1–41

Open NET Genesis 13 ↗

Open the complete thought-unit research record