Hebrews 7:4

7:4 But see how great he must be, if ¹  Abraham the patriarch gave him a tithe ²  of his plunder.

Genesis 14:19-20

14:19 He blessed Abram, saying,

“Blessed be Abram by ³  the Most High God,

Creator ⁴  of heaven and earth. ⁵ 

14:20 Worthy of praise is ⁶  the Most High God,

who delivered ⁷  your enemies into your hand.”

Abram gave Melchizedek ⁸  a tenth of everything.

[7:4]  ¹ tn Grk “to whom.”

[7:4]  ² tn Or “a tenth part.”

[14:19]  ³ tn The preposition לְ (lamed) introduces the agent after the passive participle.

[14:19]  ⁴ tn Some translate “possessor of heaven and earth” (cf. NASB). But cognate evidence from Ugaritic indicates that there were two homonymic roots ָקנָה (qanah), one meaning “to create” (as in Gen 4:1) and the other “to obtain, to acquire, to possess.” While “possessor” would fit here, “creator” is the more likely due to the collocation with “heaven and earth.”

[14:19]  ⁵ tn The terms translated “heaven” and “earth” are both objective genitives after the participle in construct.

[14:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “blessed be.” For God to be “blessed” means that is praised. His reputation is enriched in the world as his name is praised.

[14:20]  ⁷ sn Who delivered. The Hebrew verb מִגֵּן (miggen, “delivered”) foreshadows the statement by God to Abram in Gen 15:1, “I am your shield” (מָגֵן, magen). Melchizedek provided a theological interpretation of Abram’s military victory.

[14:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Melchizedek) has been specified in the translation for clarity.