Genesis 14–15

Abram Rescues Lot

14And it happened that in the days of Amraphel, the king of Shinar, Arioch, the king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer, the king of Elam, and Tidal, the king of Goiim, ²made war with Bera, the king of Sodom, and Birsha, the king of Gomorrah, Shinab, the king of Admah, and Shemeber, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). ³All these joined forces at the valley of Siddim (that is, the sea of the salt). ⁴Twelve years they had served Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled. ⁵In the fourteenth year Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-Karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-Kiriathaim, ⁶and the Horites in their hill country of Seir, as far as El-Paran, which is at the wilderness. ⁷Then^a they turned back and came to En-Mishpat (that is, Kadesh). And they defeated the whole territory of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who were living in Hazazon-Tamar. ⁸Then^b the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out, and they took up battle position^c in the Valley of Siddim ⁹with Kedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of Goiim, and Amraphel, king of Shinar, and Arioch, king of Ellasar, four kings against five. ¹⁰Now^d the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits.^e And the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and fell into them,^f but the rest fled to the mountains. ¹¹So^g they^h took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their provisions, and they left. ¹²And theyⁱ took Lot, the son of the brother of Abram, and his possessions, and left. (Now he had been living in Sodom.) ¹³Then^j one who escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew. And he was living at the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner. They were allies with Abram.^{k 14}When^l Abram heard that his relative^m was taken captive, he summoned his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen of them, and he went in pursuit up to Dan. ¹⁵And he divided his trained men against them at night, he and his servants. And he defeated them and pursued them to Hobah, which is north of Damascus. ¹⁶And he brought back all the possessions. And he also brought back Lot, his relative,ⁿ and his possessions, and the women and the people as well.

Abram Meets Melchizedek

¹⁷After his return from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the Valley of the King). ¹⁸And Melchizedek, the king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. (He was the priest of God Most High). ¹⁹And he blessed him and said,

“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,

Maker of heaven and earth.

²⁰And blessed be God Most High

who delivered your enemies into your hand.”

And he^o gave to him a tenth of everything. ²¹And the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people, but the possessions take for yourself.” ²²And Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to Yahweh, God Most High, Maker of heaven and earth, ²³that neither a thread nor^p a thong of a sandal would I take from all that belongs to you, that you might not say, ‘I made Abram rich.’ ²⁴Nothing besides what^q the servants have eaten and the share of the men who went out with me will I take. Let Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre take their share.”

Yahweh’s Covenant with Abram

15After these things the word of Yahweh came^a to Abram in a vision, saying: “Do not be afraid, Abram; I am your shield, and your reward shall be very great.” ²Then^b Abram said, “O Yahweh, my Lord, what will you give me? I continue to be^c childless, and my heir^d is Eliezer of Damascus.” ³And Abram said, “Look, you have not given me a descendant, and here, a member of my household^e is my heir.”^{f 4}And behold, the word of Yahweh came to him saying, “This person will not be your heir,^g but your own son will be your heir.”^{h 5}And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward the heavens and count the stars if you are able to count them.” And he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” ⁶And he believed in Yahweh, and he reckoned it to him as righteousness. ⁷And he said to him, “I am Yahweh, who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give this land to you, to possess it.” ⁸And he said, “O Yahweh God, how shall I know that I will possess it?” ⁹And he said to him, “Take for me a three-year-old heifer, and a three-year-old female goat, and a three-year-old ram, and a turtledove and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰And he took for him all these and cut them in pieces down the middle. And he put each piece opposite the other,ⁱ but the birds he did not cut. ¹¹And the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. ¹²And it happened, as the sun went down,^j then a deep sleep fell upon Abram and, behold, a great terrifying darkness fell upon him. ¹³And he said to Abram, “You must surely know^k that your descendants shall be as aliens in a land not their own.^l And they shall serve them^m and theyⁿ shall oppress them four hundred years. ¹⁴And also the nation that they^o serve I will judge. Then^p afterward they shall go out with great possessions. ¹⁵And as for you, you shall go to your ancestors^q in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. ¹⁶And the fourth generation shall return here, for the guilt of the Amorites is not yet complete.”^{r 17}And after the sun had gone down and it was dusk, behold, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passed between those half pieces. ¹⁸On that day Yahweh made^s a covenant with Abram saying, “To your offspring I will give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates river, ¹⁹the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, ²⁰the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, ²¹the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”