Genesis 13:4

Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the LORD.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
place	מְקוֹם֙ me.kOm	H4725	properly · noun, common masculine singular construct
altar	הַמִּזְבֵּ֔חַ ha.miz.Be.ach	H4196	an altar · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
made	עָ֥שָׂה 'A.sah	H6213	to do or make · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
first	בָּרִאשֹׁנָ֑ה ba.ri.sho.Nah	H7223	first · preposition with the article + ordinal number, feminine singular absolute
Abram	אַבְרָ֖ם 'av.Ram	H87	Abram · proper noun, a man's name
called	וַיִּקְרָ֥א vai.yik.Ra'	H7121	to call out to (i.e. properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
name	בְּשֵׁ֥ם be.Shem	H8034	an appellation · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD	יְהוָֽה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Jeremiah 29:12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
Genesis 12:7-8 And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared u…
Isaiah 58:9 Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the y…
Ephesians 6:18-19 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
Psalms 65:1-2 Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed.
Psalms 116:2 Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.
Zephaniah 3:9 For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent.
Psalms 42:1-2 As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 13:1-4

I. Here is Abram's return out of Egypt, Gen 13:1. He came himself and brought all his with him back again to Canaan. Note, Though there may be occasion to go sometimes into places of temptation, yet we must hasten out of them as soon as possible. See Rut 1:6. II. His wealth: He was very rich, Rut 1:2. He was very heavy, so the Hebrew word signifies; for riches are a burden, and those that will be rich do but load themselves with thick clay, Hab 2:6. There is a burden of care in getting them, fear in keeping them, temptation in using them, guilt in abusing them, sorrow in losing them, and a burden of account, at last, to be given up concerning them. Great possessions do but make men heavy and…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 13:4

there Abram called on the name of the Lord--He felt a strong desire to reanimate his faith and piety on the scene of his former worship: it might be to express humility and penitence for his misconduct in Egypt or thankfulness for deliverance from perils--to embrace the first opportunity on returning to Canaan of leading his family to renew allegiance to God and offer the typical sacrifices which pointed to the blessings of the promise.

Adam Clarke on Genesis 13:3

Beth-el - See Genesis 8.

John Gill on Genesis 13:4

Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first,.... When he first came to that place, and before he went down to Egypt: it is not said he came to the altar, but "to the place", where it had stood, for it seems now to have been demolished, either having fallen of itself, being made of earth, or had been destroyed by the Canaanites, since Abram left it; or perhaps it might be pulled down by Abram himself before he went from thence, that it might not be used and polluted by the idolatrous Canaanites. And there Abram called on the name of the Lord; prayed unto him, and gave him thanks for the preservation of him and his wife in Egypt; for the support of himself and his family…

The Church Fathers

(Chapter 13, Verse 4) And Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the wilderness. Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. And he went on his journey from the South as far as Bethel. It is said that Abram went up from Egypt in a splendid manner. But there is a contradiction to this idea in what follows: how could he have become very rich upon leaving Egypt? This is explained by the Hebrew word used, which means Abram was heavily burdened, that is, βαρύς σφόδρα: for he was burdened by the weight of Egypt. And although they may seem to be riches of cattle, gold, and silver, yet if they are of Egypt, they are burdensome to a holy man. Finally, not as we read in the Septuagint, 'He went back from where he came into the desert unto Bethel,' but as it is written in Hebrew, 'He went on his journey by way of the south unto Bethel.' Therefore, he departed from Egypt not to enter the desert that he had left in Egypt, but to come by way of the south, which is opposite to the north, to the house of God, where his tabernacle had been in the midst of Bethel and Ai (also called Gai).
— Jerome, Hebrew Questions on Genesis

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Altar — (Heb. mizbe’ah, from a word meaning “to slay”), any structure of earth (Ex. 20:24) or unwrought stone (20:25) on which sacrifices were offered. Altars were generally erected in conspicuous places…
Bethel — House of God. (1.) A place in Central Palestine, about 10 miles north of Jerusalem, at the head of the pass of Michmash and Ai. It was originally the royal Canaanite city of Luz (Gen. 28:19). The…
Lot — (Heb. goral, a “pebble”), a small stone used in casting lots (Num. 33:54; Jonah 1:7). The lot was always resorted to by the Hebrews with strictest reference to the interposition of God, and as a…
Meekness — A calm temper of mind, not easily provoked (James 3:13). Peculiar promises are made to the meek (Matt. 5:5; Isa. 66:2). The cultivation of this spirit is enjoined (Col. 3:12; 1 Tim. 6:11; Zeph. 2:3),…
Sacrifice — The offering up of sacrifices is to be regarded as a divine institution. It did not originate with man. God himself appointed it as the mode in which acceptable worship was to be offered to him by…
Beth-El · .Abraham estblishes an altar at — .Abraham estblishes an altar at
Worship · Of Abraham — Of Abraham

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Genesis 13:4

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 13:1-4

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 13:4

Adam Clarke on Genesis 13:3

John Gill on Genesis 13:4

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Genesis 13:4

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 13:1-4

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 13:4

Adam Clarke on Genesis 13:3

John Gill on Genesis 13:4

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Genesis 13:3-4

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Genesis 13:2

Rashi on Genesis 13:4