1 Kings 20:16

20:16 They marched out at noon, while Ben Hadad and the thirty-two kings allied with him were drinking heavily ¹  in their quarters. ² 

1 Kings 20:24

20:24 So do this: Dismiss the kings from their command, and replace them with military commanders.

Genesis 14:1-5

The Blessing of Victory for God’s People

14:1 At that time ³  Amraphel king of Shinar, ⁴  Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations ⁵  14:2 went to war ⁶  against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). ⁷  14:3 These last five kings ⁸  joined forces ⁹  in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea). ¹⁰  14:4 For twelve years ¹¹  they had served Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year ¹²  they rebelled. ¹³  14:5 In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings who were his allies came and defeated ¹⁴  the Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim,

Jude 1:7

1:7 So also ¹⁵  Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns, ¹⁶  since they indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire ¹⁷  in a way similar to ¹⁸  these angels, ¹⁹  are now displayed as an example by suffering the punishment of eternal fire.

Ezra 7:12

7:12 ²⁰ “Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, a scribe of the perfect law of the God of heaven:

Isaiah 10:8

10:8 Indeed, ²¹  he says:

“Are not my officials all kings?

Ezekiel 26:7

26:7 “For this is what the sovereign Lord says: Take note that ²²  I am about to bring King Nebuchadrezzar ²³  of Babylon, king of kings, against Tyre from the north, with horses, chariots, and horsemen, an army and hordes of people.

Daniel 2:37

Daniel Interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

2:37 “You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has granted you sovereignty, power, strength, and honor.

[20:16]  ¹ tn Heb “drinking and drunken.”

[20:16]  ² tn Heb “in the temporary shelters.” This is probably referring to tents.

[14:1]  ³ tn The sentence begins with the temporal indicator וַיְהִי (vayÿhi) followed by “in the days of.”

[14:1]  ⁴ sn Shinar (also in v. 9) is the region of Babylonia.

[14:1]  ⁵ tn Or “king of Goyim.” The Hebrew term גּוֹיִם (goyim) means “nations,” but a number of modern translations merely transliterate the Hebrew (cf. NEB “Goyim”; NIV, NRSV “Goiim”).

[14:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “made war.”

[14:2]  ⁷ sn On the geographical background of vv. 1-2 see J. P. Harland, “Sodom and Gomorrah,” The Biblical Archaeologist Reader, 1:41-75; and D. N. Freedman, “The Real Story of the Ebla Tablets, Ebla and the Cities of the Plain,” BA 41 (1978): 143-64.

[14:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “all these,” referring only to the last five kings named. The referent has been specified as “these last five kings” in the translation for clarity.

[14:3]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew verb used here means “to join together; to unite; to be allied.” It stresses close associations, especially of friendships, marriages, or treaties.

[14:3]  ¹⁰ sn The Salt Sea is the older name for the Dead Sea.

[14:4]  ¹¹ tn The sentence simply begins with “twelve years”; it serves as an adverbial accusative giving the duration of their bondage.

[14:4]  ¹² tn This is another adverbial accusative of time.

[14:4]  ¹³ sn The story serves as a foreshadowing of the plight of the kingdom of Israel later. Eastern powers came and forced the western kingdoms into submission. Each year, then, they would send tribute east – to keep them away. Here, in the thirteenth year, they refused to send the tribute (just as later Hezekiah rebelled against Assyria). And so in the fourteenth year the eastern powers came to put them down again. This account from Abram’s life taught future generations that God can give victory over such threats – that people did not have to live in servitude to tyrants from the east.

[14:5]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew verb נָכָה (nakhah) means “to attack, to strike, to smite.” In this context it appears that the strike was successful, and so a translation of “defeated” is preferable.

[1:7]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “as.”

[1:7]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “the towns [or cities] surrounding them.”

[1:7]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “strange flesh.” This phrase has been variously interpreted. It could refer to flesh of another species (such as angels lusting after human flesh). This would aptly describe the sin of the angels, but not easily explain the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. It could refer to the homosexual practices of the Sodomites, but a difficulty arises from the use of ἕτερος ({etero"; “strange,” “other”). When this is to be distinguished from ἄλλος (allos, “another”) it suggests “another of a different kind.” If so, would that properly describe homosexual behavior? In response, the language could easily be compact: “pursued flesh other than what was normally pursued.” However, would this find an analogy in the lust of angels (such would imply that angels normally had sexual relations of some sort, but cf. Matt 22:30)? Another alternative is that the focus of the parallel is on the activity of the surrounding cities and the activity of the angels. This is especially plausible since the participles ἐκπορνεύσασαι (ekporneusasai, “having indulged in sexual immorality”) and ἀπελθοῦσαι (apelqousai, “having pursued”) have concord with “cities” (πόλεις, poleis), a feminine plural noun, rather than with Sodom and Gomorrah (both masculine nouns). If so, then their sin would not necessarily have to be homosexuality. However, most likely the feminine participles are used because of constructio ad sensum (construction according to sense). That is, since both Sodom and Gomorrah are cities, the feminine is used to imply that all the cities are involved. The connection with angels thus seems to be somewhat loose: Both angels and Sodom and Gomorrah indulged in heinous sexual immorality. Thus, whether the false teachers indulge in homosexual activity is not the point; mere sexual immorality is enough to condemn them.

[1:7]  ¹⁸ tn Or “in the same way as.”

[1:7]  ¹⁹ tn “Angels” is not in the Greek text; but the masculine demonstrative pronoun most likely refers back to the angels of v. 6.

[7:12]  ²⁰ sn Ezra 7:12-26 is written in Aramaic rather than Hebrew.

[10:8]  ²¹ tn Or “For” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[26:7]  ²² tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) draws attention to something.

[26:7]  ²³ tn Heb “Nebuchadrezzar” is a variant and more correct spelling of Nebuchadnezzar, as the Babylonian name Nabu-kudurri-usur has an an “r” rather than an “n.”