Chapter 14
Drafted by Grok 4.7 on 8 October 2026. First draft. Not independently reviewed. Leningrad Codex, through the Open Scriptures Westminster Leningrad Codex. The written consonants are printed. A Masoretic reading is footnoted when it differs. No Dead Sea reading was substituted unless it was read from a fragment. The Samaritan Pentateuch and the Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions are witnesses, not the default.
1In the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim,
2they made war with Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, that is, Zoar.
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- Text
Leningrad writes the city’s name tsvyyim. The Masoretic reading is tsvoyim. The same difference returns in verse 8. “Zeboiim” is the name in both spellings.
3All these joined together in the Valley of Siddim, that is, the Salt Sea.
4Twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.
5In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and struck the Rephaim at Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim at Ham, the Emim at Shaveh-kiriathaim,
6and the Horites in their hill country of Seir, as far as El-paran, which is by the wilderness.
7They turned back and came to En-mishpat, that is, Kadesh, and struck all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-tamar.
8The 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 set the battle in order against them in the Valley of Siddim,
9against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar: four kings against five.
10The Valley of Siddim was full of asphalt pits. The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and fell there, and the rest fled to the hill country.
11They took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their food, and they went.
12They took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, and his goods, and they went. He was living in Sodom.
13A survivor came and told Abram the Hebrew. He was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner. They were allies of Abram.
14Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, and he mustered his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.
15He divided against them by night, he and his servants, and struck them and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus.
16He brought back all the goods, and he also brought back his kinsman Lot and his goods, and the women and the people.
17The king of Sodom came out to meet him after he returned from striking Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, at the Valley of Shaveh, that is, the King’s Valley.
18Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High.
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- Translation
El Elyon is “God Most High.” El is God. Elyon is the high one. The name is not shortened.
19He 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 foes into your hand.” And he gave him a tenth of everything.
21The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people, and take the goods for yourself.”
22Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to Yahweh, God Most High, maker of heaven and earth:
23not a thread, not a sandal strap, I will take nothing that is yours, so that you cannot say, ‘I made Abram rich.’
24Nothing for me, except what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Let them take their share.”