Genesis 14

₁At that time, there were 4 kings who were friends. Amraphel was the king of Shinar and Arioch was the king of Ellasar. Kedorlaomer was the king of Elam and Tidal was the king of Goyim. ₂Those 4 kings came with their soldiers and they started fighting against 5 other kings and started a war. Those 5 kings were Bera, the king of the city of Sodom, Birsha, the king of Gomorrah, Shinab, the king of Admah, Shemeber, the king of Zeboim, and the king of Bela. Bela's other name was Zoar.

_3-4King Kedorlaomer was one of the 4 kings. He and his friends had ruled over the 5 kings for 12 years. But now the 5 kings did not want to be ruled by the 4 kings anymore. They rebelled and decided to fight against them. The 5 kings and their soldiers came to the Siddim Valley near the Dead Sea.

₅The next year Kedorlaomer and the 3 other kings with him came and they defeated the Rephaite people in Ashteroth-Karnaim, the Zuzite people in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh-Kiriathaim ₆and the Horite people in the mountains of Seir. They went as far as El-Paran near the desert.

₇Then the 4 kings went back to the town of En-Mishpat. The other name for En-Mishpat was Kadesh. They took all the land of the Amalekite people and they defeated the Amorites, who were living in the town of Hazezon-Tamar.

_8-9Then the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim and Bela came with their armies to the Siddim Valley. They were ready to fight against Kedorlaomer, king of Elam, Tidal, king of Goyim, Amraphel, king of Shinar and Arioch, king of Ellasar. There were 4 kings against 5 kings. ₁₀In the Siddim Valley there were many holes in the ground that were filled with tar. The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and their armies ran away but many of their soldiers fell into these holes and the other soldiers ran away to the mountains. ₁₁The 4 kings and their soldiers won the war and they took all the food in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and all the things they had, and they went away.

₁₂Lot was the son of Abram's brother. He was living in the city of Sodom. When the 4 kings took everything from these cities, they also took Lot with them and everything that Lot had.

₁₃The 4 kings also took away all the people, but one man escaped and he went to Abram, the Hebrew, and he told Abram what had happened. Abram lived in his tent near the trees of Mamre, the Amorite. Mamre was the brother of Eshkol and Aner. They were all friends of Abram.

₁₄When they told Abram that the 4 kings had taken Lot away, he called 318 of his servants who could fight and they followed the 4 kings and found them at the town of Dan.

₁₅That night Abram separated his soldiers into groups and they started to fight against the soldiers of the 4 kings. They defeated the 4 kings and the soldiers of the 4 kings ran away to the town of Hobah, north of the city of Damascus.

₁₆Abram and his soldiers followed the 4 kings and they took back everything that the 4 kings had taken with them. Abram also took Lot, the son of his brother, back with everything that he had, and all the women and all the other people.

₁₇Abram defeated King Kedorlaomer and the other kings and he came back. Then the king of Sodom came to meet Abram at the Shaveh Valley. The other name for this valley was the Kings Valley.

₁₈King Melchizedek, from the town of Salem, was a priest of the Most High God. Melchizedek took bread and wine and he gave it to Abram. ₁₉Melchizedek said to Abram:

Abram gave Melchizedek one 10th of everything that he had taken from the 4 kings.

₂₁The king of Sodom said to Abram: ‘You can keep everything that belonged to me that you took back from the 4 kings. You must just give me back all my people.’

₂₂But Abram said to the king of Sodom: ‘I made a promise to the Lord, the Most High God, who made heaven and earth. ₂₃I told Him that I would not keep anything that belonged to you. I will not keep a shoe or a piece of thread. I do not want you to say that you have made me rich. ₂₄I have taken only the food that my men have eaten. There are 3 men who went with me. They are Aner, Eshkol and Mamre. You can give them what you want to give.’