Bible Strands
Genesis 13:7
And there was discord between the herdsmen of Abram and the herdsmen of Lot. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were also living in the land.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records a dispute between Abram’s and Lot’s herdsmen after the land proved unable to sustain their combined flocks. The account notes this conflict occurs while the Canaanites and Perizzites continue to inhabit the region.
The words — The Hebrew word רִיב (riv) means quarrel or contention, and רֹעֵי (ro'e) designates the herdsmen tending the livestock. These terms identify the immediate agents of the friction that precedes the family’s separation.
The thread — Livestock disputes recur in Genesis 26:20 when Gerar’s herdsmen fight Isaac’s men, and the mention of Canaanites and Perizzites echoes the land note in Genesis 12:6. James 3:16 later connects such quarrels to jealousy and selfish ambition.
Why it lands — The text states a factual conflict that makes cohabitation impossible and necessitates a boundary. It requires the reader to acknowledge that practical friction between shared resources demands deliberate separation to preserve relationships and prevent escalation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Genesis 26:20 But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen and said, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek, because they contended with him.
- Genesis 12:6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the Oak of Moreh at Shechem. And at that time the Canaanites were in the land.
- James 3:16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every evil practice.
- Genesis 34:30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble upon me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people of this land. We are few in number; if they unite against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.”
- Galatians 5:20 idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions,
- James 4:1 What causes conflicts and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from the passions at war within you?
- 1 Peter 2:12 Conduct yourselves with such honor among the Gentiles that, though they slander you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.
- Genesis 21:25 But when Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well that Abimelech’s servants had seized,
- Exodus 2:17 And when some shepherds came along and drove them away, Moses rose up to help them and watered their flock.
- Nehemiah 5:9 So I continued, “What you are doing is not right. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our foreign enemies?