Genesis 13:1

Summary

Genesis 13:1 narrates Abram's departure from Egypt toward the Negev, specifying that he traveled together with his wife, all his possessions, and Lot. The verse marks a geographical and narrative transition, closing the Egypt episode and resuming the story in the land of Canaan's southern region.

Key words

• ya'al ("he went up", H5927G) — qal verb in narrative form (vav-consecutive), indicating sequential action: "and then he went up." The verb itself denotes upward movement, consistent with travel from Egypt (lower elevation) toward Canaan.
• ishto ("his wife", H0802H + H9023) — feminine singular noun in construct form with a pronominal suffix, literally "wife-of-him," identifying Sarai as accompanying Abram.
• kol 'asher lo ("all that [belonged] to him", H3605 + H0834A + H9005 + H9033) — a construction combining "all" with a relative clause "that to him," idiomatically expressing full possession: "everything he owned."
• immo ("with him", H5973A + H9033) — preposition with pronominal suffix, marking Lot's accompaniment as a separate clause from the wife/possessions grouping.
• ha-Negbah ("toward the Negev", H9009 + H5045G + H9011) — the place name Negev with definite article and a directional he suffix, grammatically marking motion "toward" that location.

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative vav on va-ya'al ("and he went up," H9001 + H5927G), a standard construction that continues the story sequence from the preceding Egypt narrative. The subject Avram (H0087) is reinforced by the independent pronoun hu' ("he", H1931), which in Hebrew syntax adds emphasis, underscoring Abram as the primary actor before the accompanying parties are listed.

The list that follows — ishto ("his wife"), kol 'asher lo ("all that was his"), and ve-Lot immo ("and Lot with him") — is structured with repeated ve ("and", H9002) conjunctions, creating a paratactic chain typical of Hebrew narrative lists. Notably, Lot's accompaniment is marked with the preposition im ("with", H5973A) rather than being grouped grammatically with the possessions, which may reflect his distinct status as a relative rather than a possession.

The final word, ha-Negbah, uses the directional he suffix (H9011) attached to the place name Negev, a common Hebrew device indicating motion toward a location without needing a separate preposition "to."

Differences between versions

The LXX renders ha-Negbah ("toward the Negev") as εἰς τὴν ἔρημον ("into the desert/wilderness"), a generic geographical term rather than the specific place name Negev found in the Hebrew. The Vulgate similarly translates it as ad australem plagam ("toward the southern region"), interpreting the directional sense of Negev as a compass direction rather than retaining it as a proper name. The Hebrew text itself treats Negev as a specific place name (proper name marker in the word-by-word data), while both LXX and Vulgate opt for descriptive geographical phrases instead of transliterating the name.