"Bedtime Bible Stories"

From the Book of Genesis
Chapter II, Verses 10-32; Chaptersl2-13

Shem, one of the sons of Noah had many
descendants in the land of Babylon. One
of them was a man named Abram. One
day, the Lord God Jehovah spoke to
Abram. "Abram," the Lord said, "I want
you to take your people to a new land. If you do as I ask, I
will make you the father of a great nation. I will bless you
and all the world will be blessed because of you."
The people of Babylon had forgotten many of the
Lords commands. Abram and his nephew Lot had not.
They still loved and obeyed the Lord. They did as the
Lord had asked them. They took everything they owned
and traveled to a faraway land called Canaan. Near a city
named Moreh, Abram set up his tent and built an alter in
honor of the Lord God Jehovah. When he did this, the
Lord appeared to Abram and told him, "I am going to
give this land to you and your children."
Over the next few years, Abram and Lot became
very rich. Back in those days people were not considered
rich if they had money, but if they had large flocks of
sheep. Abram and Lot both had many, many sheep and
many, many men who helped them take care of them.
Even though the land was large, there wasn't enough grass
for both Abram's and Lot's flocks of sheep. Their men
started to fight with each other trying to claim the best
places to graze.

So Abram and Lot made an agreement. Abram
would stay in Canaan while Lot would move near the city
of Sodom. This way, Abram and Lot remained friends
and would remain united, even though they lived far
apart. They had to stay friends because they might need
help defending each other from the wicked people who
lived in the land of Canaan and in the city of Sodom.
There were other cities near Sodom. They were
called Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and Zoar. A great war
broke out among these cities and Lot was taken prisoner.
When Abram learned about this he ordered many of the
men who worked for him to form an army. With the Lord
God Jehovah on his side. Abram's army conquered the
king of the cities and rescued Lot.

In those days, whomever won a war got to keep
everything the losers owned. But Abram did not want to
become rich by taking the belongings of others. Instead,
he only took enough for his own men to eat and gave the
rest to the people who had helped him win the war.
After all of this had happened, Abram built another
alter and worshipped God once again. God was very
happy with Abram and told him, "Look up into the sky
and count the stars. You will have as many descendants
as there are stars in the sky."