It happened in the days of Amraphel, king of Shinar, Arioch,
king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of Goiim,
that they made war with Bera, king of Sodom, and with Birsha,
king of Gomorrah, Shinab, king of Admah, and Shemeber, king of Zeboiim,
and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar).
All these joined
together in the valley of Siddim (the same is the Salt Sea).
Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year, they
rebelled.
In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer came, and the
kings who were with him, and struck the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim,
and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim,
and the
Horites in their Mount Seir, to Elparan, which is by the wilderness.
They returned, and came to En-mishpat (the same is Kadesh), and
struck all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that
lived in Hazazon Tamar.
There went out the king of Sodom, and
the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim,
and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar); and they set the battle in
array against them in the valley of Siddim;
against Chedorlaomer
king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and
Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings against the five.
Now the
valley of Siddim was full of tar pits; and the kings of Sodom and
Gomorrah fled, and they fell there, and those who remained fled to the
mountain.
They took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and
all their victuals, and went their way.
They took Lot, Abram's
brother's son, who lived in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.
One who had escaped came and told Abram, the Hebrew. Now he
lived by the oaks of Mamre, the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother
of Aner; and these were allies of Abram.
When Abram heard that
his relative was taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in
his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued as far as Dan.
He divided himself against them by night, he and his servants,
and struck them, and pursued them to Hobah, which is on the left hand
of Damascus.
He brought back all the goods, and also brought
back his relative, Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the
people.
The king of Sodom went out to meet him, after his return
from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, at
the valley of Shaveh (the same is the King's Valley).
Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was
priest of God Most High.
He blessed him, and said, "Blessed be
Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth:
and
blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your
hand."
Abram gave him a tenth of all.
The king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the people, and
take the goods to yourself."
Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have lifted up my hand
to Yahweh, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth,
that I
will not take a thread nor a shoe-latchet nor anything that is yours,
lest you should say, 'I have made Abram rich.'
Except only that
which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went
with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre: let them take their portion."