Genesis 14:8

14:8 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

14:10 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 14:22

14:22 But Abram replied to the king of Sodom, “I raise my hand ⁶  to the Lord, the Most High God, Creator of heaven and earth, and vow ⁷ 

Genesis 20:2

20:2 Abraham said about his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent for Sarah and took her.

Genesis 26:1

Isaac and Abimelech

26:1 There was a famine in the land, subsequent to the earlier famine that occurred ⁸  in the days of Abraham. ⁹  Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.

Genesis 41:46

41:46 Now Joseph was 30 years old ¹⁰  when he began serving ¹¹  Pharaoh king of Egypt. Joseph was commissioned by ¹²  Pharaoh and was in charge of ¹³  all the land of Egypt.

[14:8]  ¹ tn Heb “against.”

[14:10]  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.”

[14:10]  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).

[14:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “the rest.”

[14:10]  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.

[14:22]  ³ tn Abram takes an oath, raising his hand as a solemn gesture. The translation understands the perfect tense as having an instantaneous nuance: “Here and now I raise my hand.”

[14:22]  ⁴ tn The words “and vow” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[26:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “in addition to the first famine which was.”

[26:1]  ⁵ sn This account is parallel to two similar stories about Abraham (see Gen 12:10-20; 20:1-18). Many scholars do not believe there were three similar incidents, only one that got borrowed and duplicated. Many regard the account about Isaac as the original, which then was attached to the more important person, Abraham, with supernatural elements being added. For a critique of such an approach, see R. Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative, 47-62. It is more likely that the story illustrates the proverb “like father, like son” (see T. W. Mann, The Book of the Torah, 53). In typical human fashion the son follows his father’s example of lying to avoid problems. The appearance of similar events reported in a similar way underscores the fact that the blessing has now passed to Isaac, even if he fails as his father did.

[41:46]  ⁵ tn Heb “a son of thirty years.”

[41:46]  ⁶ tn Heb “when he stood before.”

[41:46]  ⁷ tn Heb “went out from before.”

[41:46]  ⁸ tn Heb “and he passed through all the land of Egypt”; this phrase is interpreted by JPS to mean that Joseph “emerged in charge of the whole land.”