Genesis 13:9

Summary

Abram poses a rhetorical question to Lot about the extent of the land available, then instructs him to separate from him, proposing a division: whichever direction Lot chooses, Abram will take the other.

Key words

• hipparéd ("separate", H6504) — niphal imperative, giving the verb a passive/reflexive nuance: Lot is told to "cause himself to be separated," not simply "go away."
• na' ("please", H4994) — interjection of entreaty, softening the imperative into a request rather than a bare command.
• ha...lo' ("¿...not", H9008/H3808) — the combination of interrogative particle and negation forms the rhetorical question "is not...?", implying an expected affirmative answer.
• 'im ("if", H0518A) — conditional particle used twice (in lines 14 and 20) to introduce the two parallel hypothetical branches of Lot's choice.
• paneicha ("before you", H6440G + H9021) — construct noun with pronominal suffix, literally "the face/front of you," giving the spatial sense "in front of you" / "at your disposal."

What the text says

The verse opens with a rhetorical question built from ha- and lo', a construction that in Hebrew presupposes a positive answer: "is not the whole land before you?" This is followed by the construct phrase khol-ha'aretz ("all the land") governed by lefaneicha ("before you"), placing the land visually and spatially in front of the addressee.

The core instruction uses the niphal imperative hipparéd, reinforced by the particle na', which marks the request as courteous rather than blunt. The niphal stem here conveys a reflexive/passive sense — Lot is asked to bring about his own separation — rather than a simple transitive "go."

The final two clauses are structured as a mirrored pair using 'im ("if") to introduce each hypothetical direction: hasse'mol ("the left") paired with 'eimínah ("I will go right"), and hayamin ("the right") paired with 'asme'ilah ("I will go left"). Both directional response verbs are hiphil forms, marking a causative or intentional nuance of self-directed movement ("I will cause myself to go"). The symmetry of the two conditional clauses in the Hebrew text visually mirrors the reciprocal nature of the proposed division: whatever direction Lot selects, Abram states he will take the opposite.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the conditional structure more simply, using εἰ ("if") with prepositional phrases (εἰς ἀριστερά / εἰς δεξιά, "to the left / to the right") rather than reproducing the paired hiphil verb forms found in the Hebrew. The Vulgate expands the phrasing with verbs of motion (ieris, "you will go"; tenebo, "I will hold/take"; elegeris, "you will choose"; pergam, "I will proceed"), introducing verbs of choice and possession not explicitly present as separate lexical items in the Hebrew text, which instead uses the same hiphil root pair for both speakers' movements.