Genesis 14:1-12

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Genesis 14:1 tn The sentence begins with the temporal indicator וַיְהִי (vay^ehi) followed by “in the days of.”
2. Genesis 14:1 sn Shinar (also in v. 9) is the region of Babylonia.
3. Genesis 14:1 tn Or “king of Goyim.” The Hebrew term גּוֹיִם (goyim) means “nations,” but a number of modern translations merely transliterate the Hebrew (cf. NEB “Goyim”; NIV, NRSV “Goiim”).
4. Genesis 14:2 tn Heb “made war.”sn Went to war. The conflict here reflects international warfare in the Early and Middle Bronze periods. The countries operated with overlords and vassals. Kings ruled over city states, or sometimes a number of city states (i.e., nations). Due to their treaties, when one went to war, those confederate with him joined him in battle. It appears here that it is Kedorlaomer’s war, because the western city states have rebelled against him (meaning they did not send products as tribute to keep him from invading them).
5. Genesis 14:2 sn On the geographical background of vv. 1-2 see J. P. Harland, “Sodom and Gomorrah,” The Biblical Archaeologist Reader, 1:41-75; and D. N. Freedman, “The Real Story of the Ebla Tablets, Ebla and the Cities of the Plain,” BA 41 (1978): 143-64.
6. Genesis 14:3 tn Heb “all these,” referring only to the last five kings named. The referent has been specified as “these last five kings” in the translation for clarity.
7. Genesis 14:3 tn The Hebrew verb used here means “to join together; to unite; to be allied.” It stresses close associations, especially of friendships, marriages, or treaties.
8. Genesis 14:3 sn The Salt Sea is the older name for the Dead Sea.
9. Genesis 14:4 tn The sentence simply begins with “twelve years”; it serves as an adverbial accusative giving the duration of their bondage.
10. Genesis 14:4 tn This is another adverbial accusative of time.
11. Genesis 14:4 sn The story serves as a foreshadowing of the plight of the kingdom of Israel later. Eastern powers came and forced the western kingdoms into submission. Each year, then, they would send tribute east—to keep them away. Here, in the thirteenth year, they refused to send the tribute (just as later Hezekiah rebelled against Assyria). And so in the fourteenth year the eastern powers came to put them down again. This account from Abram’s life taught future generations that God can give victory over such threats—that people did not have to live in servitude to tyrants from the east.
12. Genesis 14:5 tn The Hebrew verb נָכָה (nakhah) means “to attack, to strike, to smite.” In this context it appears that the strike was successful, and so a translation of “defeated” is preferable.
13. Genesis 14:6 sn The line of attack ran down the eastern side of the Jordan Valley into the desert, and then turned and came up the valley to the cities of the plain.
14. Genesis 14:7 tn Heb “they returned and came to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh).” The two verbs together form a verbal hendiadys, the first serving as the adverb: “they returned and came” means “they came again.” Most English translations do not treat this as a hendiadys, but translate “they turned back” or something similar. Since in the context, however, “came again to” does not simply refer to travel but an assault against the place, the present translation expresses this as “attacked…again.”
15. Genesis 14:8 tn Heb “against.”
16. Genesis 14:9 tn Or “Goyim.” See the note on the word “nations” in 14:1.
17. Genesis 14:9 tn The Hebrew text has simply “against.” The word “fought” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
18. Genesis 14:10 tn Heb “Now the Valley of Siddim [was] pits, pits of tar.” This parenthetical disjunctive clause emphasizes the abundance of tar pits in the area through repetition of the noun “pits.”sn The word for “tar” (or “bitumen”) occurs earlier in the story of the building of the tower in Babylon (see Gen 11:3).
19. Genesis 14:10 tn Or “they were defeated there.” After a verb of motion the Hebrew particle שָׁם (sham) with the directional he (שָׁמָּה, shammah) can mean “into it, therein” (BDB 1027 s.v. שָׁם).
20. Genesis 14:10 tn Heb “the rest.”
21. Genesis 14:10 sn The reference to the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah must mean the kings along with their armies. Most of them were defeated in the valley, but some of them escaped to the hills.
22. Genesis 14:11 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the four victorious kings, see v. 9) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
23. Genesis 14:12 tn Heb “Lot the son of his brother.”
24. Genesis 14:12 tn Heb “and.”
25. Genesis 14:12 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Lot) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
26. Genesis 14:12 tn This disjunctive clause is circumstantial/causal, explaining that Lot was captured because he was living in Sodom at the time.