Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Genesis 13:7 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 7. 7And 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.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Conflict breaks out between Abram's herders and Lot's herders, while Canaanites and Perizzites are already living in the land. The notice makes both the dispute and the territory's existing population impossible to ignore.
Read It With
- Genesis 13:1–18
Read verses 5–9 together. Possessions create a carrying-capacity problem, herders contest resources, existing peoples share the land, and Abram acts before the dispute spreads from workers to relatives.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Material pressure becomes open herder conflict, while the existing inhabitants make the land's shared character visible.
Read Genesis 13:5–7 together
Why these verses belong together: Lot's possessions, the land's inability to support both households, herder strife, and the resident-peoples notice establish the conflict.
Verse 5. 5 And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents.
Verse 6. 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.
Verse 7. 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.
Follow the Context
- Abram, Sarai, Lot, and the household go up from Egypt into the Negeb with all they have (13:1).
- Abram is described as very wealthy, and he retraces the earlier itinerary to the altar between Bethel and Ai, where he again calls on the LORD (13:2–4).
- Lot also has extensive livestock and tents; the land cannot support both households together, and conflict develops between their herders while other peoples already live in the land (13:5–7).
- Abram appeals to their kinship, asks that conflict cease, and gives Lot the first choice of direction so the households can separate (13:8–9).
- Lot sees the well-watered Jordan district, chooses it for himself, travels east, and pitches toward Sodom; the narrator warns that Sodom's inhabitants are exceedingly wicked against the LORD (13:10–13).
- After Lot separates, the LORD directs Abram to look in every direction and renews the gifts of land and innumerable offspring (13:14–16).
- The LORD tells Abram to traverse the land; Abram moves to the oaks or terebinths of Mamre near Hebron and builds an altar (13:17–18).
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“there was a strife”
In plain language: A dispute or quarrel developed.
The capacity problem has become active conflict among the herders.
Why it matters: The Hebrew term can describe serious controversy, not a trivial disagreement.
How certain? strong“between the herdmen”
In plain language: The conflict occurs among those managing the livestock.
Abram and Lot intervene before worker-level conflict consumes the family relationship.
Why it matters: Leaders remain responsible for conflicts carried by people under their authority.
How certain? very strong“the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land”
In plain language: Other peoples were already living in the territory.
The two households do not occupy an empty landscape.
Why it matters: It both intensifies resource pressure and blocks empty-land assumptions.
How certain? strongWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
The herders' strife does not prove Abram and Lot had already become personal enemies.
The verse does not say exactly whether the dispute concerned water, pasture, boundaries, theft, or every one of those issues.
The Canaanite and Perizzite presence does not portray the land as vacant or authorize readers to erase existing populations.
The notice does not provide enough information to reconstruct the exact number, territory, or political organization of those peoples.
What Remains True
Resource disputes can endanger both working relationships and public witness; inhabited land and affected neighbors must remain visible in the solution.
How It Can Shape Life
- Address frontline conflict early, include the people most affected by resource decisions, and refuse plans that pretend occupied space has no existing claims or communities.
Teach It Back
Explain Genesis 13:7's contribution to Genesis 13:1–18. Include why the nearby verses are required, what the verse clearly says, and one conclusion it does not justify.
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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 SeparateSources 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 ↗peer reviewed open literary ethical and compositional study
Conflict and Conflict Resolution: Inner Controversies and Tensions as Places of Israel's Self-Conception in the Patriarchal Traditions of Genesis
Theodor Seidl
Old Testament Essays 26.3, 2013
Supports: Conflict-story substructure, resource pressure, riv terminology, kinship appeal, peaceful separation, ethical reading, and the distinction between final-form interpretation and reconstructed layers.
Exact location: Old Testament Essays 26.3 (2013), pp. 840–863, especially pp. 842–846 on Genesis 13:5–12
Open source ↗