Discovery BoxGenesis 14:8-11 
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 14:9 Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of nations, 2 Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar. Four kings fought against 3 five. 14:10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits. 4 When the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into them, 5 but some survivors 6 fled to the hills. 7 14:11 The four victorious kings 8 took all the possessions and food of Sodom and Gomorrah and left.
1 tn Heb “against.”
2 tn Or “Goyim.” See the note on the word “nations” in 14:1.
3 tn The Hebrew text has simply “against.” The word “fought” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
4 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).
5 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).
6 tn Heb “the rest.”
7 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.
8 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the four victorious kings, see v. 9) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
