And Lot lifted up his eyes: this is an idiom that suggests that Lot thought about Abram’s proposal and then looked out toward the horizon. Good News Translation says “Lot looked around.” From the place where Abram and Lot were camped, between Bethel and Ai (verse 3), a vast stretch of the Jordan valley is visible on a clear day.
Saw that the Jordan valley was well watered everywhere: the Jordan valley refers to the area on either side of the Jordan river, which flows from the Sea of Galilee in the north to the Dead Sea in the south. See the map on page 18. The word translated valley is different from the one translated “plain” in 11.2 and has frequently caused confusion. The Hebrew word is kikkar and means “circle” in reference to a flat circular piece of bread or a coin. According to Speiser, it is the element of “flatness” and not “roundness” that the word calls attention to. Therefore valley is to be understood as a flat expanse of fertile land. See comments on 11.2. Well watered means “had lots of water.”
The narrator goes on to compare the Jordan valley to two familiar places having abundant water. Like the garden of the LORD refers to the garden in Eden, where a river flowed and divided (2.10-14). This expression may need to be made clearer, and so we may say, for example, “Like the garden in Eden that the LORD made.” Good News Translation and others have a footnote explaining the reference to the garden of Eden. The second comparison is like the land of Egypt. Egypt was principally known in terms of lower Egypt, which was watered abundantly in the fertile delta by the streams flowing from the Nile to the sea. Accordingly Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Bible en français courant translate “like the Nile valley,” and translators may wish to do likewise.
In the direction of Zoar belongs with the Jordan valley; that is, “the whole Jordan valley all the way to the town of Zoar.” Revised Standard Version follows the Hebrew clause order, which gives the impression that Zoar is connected with Egypt. Zoar was a town thought to be at the southern tip of the Dead Sea.
This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah has the appearance of a comment written to relate the time of these events to those of chapter 19. As in verse 7, Good News Translation again encloses this comment between parentheses. It may be necessary to adjust this sentence to make clear what this refers to; for example, “Lot chose the Jordan valley before the LORD destroyed….” Some translations place this comment after Zoar; for example, Bible en français courant says “Lot looked; he saw that all the region of the Jordan was well watered all the way to Zoar, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. It was like a paradise, like the valley of the Nile.”
Sodom and Gomorrah are the names of two towns famous for their wickedness (verse 13), which have traditionally been located at the southern end of the Dead Sea; but their location has never been proven. See 10.19.
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .