Discovery BoxGenesis 10:19 
Context10:19 and the borders of Canaan extended 1 from Sidon 2 all the way to 3 Gerar as far as Gaza, and all the way to 4 Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.
Genesis 14:8
Context14:8 Then the 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 prepared for battle. In the Valley of Siddim they met 5
Genesis 14:10
Context14:10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits. 6 When the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into them, 7 but some survivors 8 fled to the hills. 9
Genesis 19:28
Context19:28 He looked out toward 10 Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of that region. 11 As he did so, he saw the smoke rising up from the land like smoke from a furnace. 12
1 tn Heb “were.”
2 map For location see Map1 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.
3 tn Heb “as you go.”
4 tn Heb “as you go.”
5 tn Heb “against.”
6 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).
7 tn Or “they were defeated there.” After a verb of motion the Hebrew particle שָׁם (sham) with the directional heh (שָׁמָּה, shammah) can mean “into it, therein” (BDB 1027 s.v. שָׁם).
8 tn Heb “the rest.”
9 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.
10 tn Heb “upon the face of.”
11 tn Or “all the land of the plain”; Heb “and all the face of the land of the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.
12 tn Heb “And he saw, and look, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.”
sn It is hard to imagine what was going on in Abraham’s mind, but this brief section in the narrative enables the reader to think about the human response to the judgment. Abraham had family in that area. He had rescued those people from the invasion. That was why he interceded. Yet he surely knew how wicked they were. That was why he got the number down to ten when he negotiated with God to save the city. But now he must have wondered, “What was the point?”
