Discovery BoxGenesis 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 1
Genesis 14:10
Context14:10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits. 2 When the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into them, 3 but some survivors 4 fled to the hills. 5
Genesis 19:17
Context19:17 When they had brought them outside, they 6 said, “Run 7 for your lives! Don’t look 8 behind you or stop anywhere in the valley! 9 Escape to the mountains or you will be destroyed!”
Genesis 37:14
Context37:14 So Jacob 10 said to him, “Go now and check on 11 the welfare 12 of your brothers and of the flocks, and bring me word.” So Jacob 13 sent him from the valley of Hebron.
1 tn Heb “against.”
2 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).
3 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).
4 tn Heb “the rest.”
5 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.
6 tn Or “one of them”; Heb “he.” Several ancient versions (LXX, Vulgate, Syriac) read the plural “they.” See also the note on “your” in v. 19.
7 tn Heb “escape.”
8 tn The Hebrew verb translated “look” signifies an intense gaze, not a passing glance. This same verb is used later in v. 26 to describe Lot’s wife’s self-destructive look back at the city.
9 tn Or “in the plain”; Heb “in the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.
10 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11 tn Heb “see.”
12 tn Heb “peace.”
13 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
