Genesis 14:11–23

¹¹The four kings seized all the goods^h of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food; then they went away. ¹²They also carried off Abram’s nephew Lotⁱ and his possessions, since he was living in Sodom.

¹³A man who had escaped came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew.^j Now Abram was living near the great trees of Mamre^k the Amorite, a brother^b of Eshkol^l and Aner, all of whom were allied with Abram. ¹⁴When Abram heard that his relative^m had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trainedⁿ men born in his household^o and went in pursuit as far as Dan.^{p 15}During the night Abram divided his men^q to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus.^{r 16}He recovered^s all the goods^t and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people.

¹⁷After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer^u and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom^v came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).^w

¹⁸Then Melchizedek^x king of Salem^y brought out bread^z and wine.^a He was priest of God Most High,^{b 19}and he blessed Abram,^c saying,

“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,^d

Creator of heaven and earth.^e

²⁰And praise be to God Most High,^f

who delivered your enemies into your hand.”

Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.^g

²¹The king of Sodom^h said to Abram, “Give me the people and keep the goodsⁱ for yourself.”

²²But Abram said to the king of Sodom,^j “With raised hand^k I have sworn an oath to the Lord, God Most High,^l Creator of heaven and earth,^{m 23}that I will accept nothing belonging to you,ⁿ not even a thread or the strap of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’