Genesis 14:8-10

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Genesis 14:8 tn Heb “against.”
2. Genesis 14:9 tn Or “Goyim.” See the note on the word “nations” in 14:1.
3. Genesis 14:9 tn The Hebrew text has simply “against.” The word “fought” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
4. 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).
5. 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).
6. Genesis 14:10 tn Heb “the rest.”
7. 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.