Genesis 13:5

Summary

The verse states that Lot, who traveled together with Abram, also possessed his own sheep, cattle, and tents. It introduces Lot's material holdings before the narrative turns to the tension caused by the size of both men's possessions.

Key words

• gam ("also", H1571) — adverb signaling addition; it links Lot's possessions to Abram's wealth described in the preceding verses, marking that Lot too had substantial goods.
• ha.Lekh ("was traveling", H1980G) — qal participle, masculine singular, with the definite article ha ("the", H9009) attached, forming a substantival phrase "the one who was traveling" — describing Lot's ongoing action of accompanying Abram, not a single completed event.
• ha.Yah ("it be[longed]", H1961) — qal perfect, third person, expressing a completed state of possession; grammatically singular, though it governs three coordinated nouns (sheep, cattle, tents).
• tzon ("sheep", H6629G) — common gender singular noun, here functioning as a collective term for flocks.
• 'ohalim ("tents", H0168G) — masculine plural of H0168G, indicating multiple dwelling-structures, consistent with the semi-nomadic lifestyle depicted.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with ve-gam ("and also", H9002 + H1571), an adverbial construction that ties this verse to the prior description of Abram's wealth, emphasizing that Lot's possessions are being added to the account, not merely mentioned in isolation. The subject "Lot" (Lot, H3876) is marked with the preposition le ("to", H9005), producing a dative-like construction — literally "and also to Lot" — which in Biblical Hebrew idiom expresses possession, paralleling constructions used elsewhere for "belonging to."

The relative-like phrase ha-holekh et-Avram ("the one traveling with Abram") uses the participle ho.Lekh (H1980G) with the definite article functioning as a relative pronoun equivalent, describing Lot's continuous state of accompanying Abram up to this point in the narrative, rather than a single motion event. The verb ha.Yah (H1961), a qal perfect third-person form, is singular in form but takes three coordinated nouns as its logical subject — tzon ("sheep", H6629G), va.Kar ("cattle", H1241), and 'ohalim ("tents", H0168G) — a common Hebrew pattern in which the verb agrees with the first-listed noun rather than reflecting full plural agreement across the compound subject.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders va.Kar ("cattle", H1241) as βόες ("oxen") and adds κτήνη ("livestock/cattle" more broadly), producing a slightly different threefold list (πρόβατα, βόες, κτήνη) than the Hebrew's tzon-bakar-'ohalim (sheep-cattle-tents); notably, the Greek text has no equivalent for 'ohalim ("tents", H0168G), replacing the concept of tents with a third livestock term. The Vulgate follows the Hebrew more closely, listing "greges ovium" (flocks of sheep), "armenta" (herds), and "tabernacula" (tents), preserving all three original categories including the tents that the LXX omits.