Abram and Melchizedek
13 At that time, Abram, the Hebrew man, was living near the special oak trees of Mamre. Mamre was an Amorite. He was the brother of Eshcol and Aner. These men had agreed to be Abram's friends.
A man ran away from Sodom. He told Abram everything that had happened. 14 Abram understood that the kings had caught his nephew. So he called 318 men to come together. These men had been born in Abram's camp and they knew how to fight. Abram took his men with him. They went to attack the men who had caught Lot. They went as far as Dan.
15 During the night, Abram separated his men into two groups. Then they attacked Kedorlaomer and his men who had taken Lot. Those men ran away and Abram followed them as far as Hobah. Hobah is north of Damascus. 16 Abram took back everything that those men had taken from Sodom. He also brought back his nephew Lot, together with the women and the other people.
17 In that way, Abram won against Kedorlaomer and the kings with him. As Abram was returning home, the king of Sodom came out to meet him. They met in the Valley of Shaveh, which people call the King's Valley.
18 Melchizedek was the king of Salem, and he was a priest of the Most High God. He brought out bread and wine for Abram. 19 He blessed Abram. He said, ‘I pray that the Most High God who made heaven and earth will bless Abram. 20 Praise the Most High God! He has given you power over your enemies.’
After that, Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth part of everything.
14:20Abram gave Melchizedek a 10th part of everything that he had taken in the fight. This was a king's part.
21 Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, ‘Give back to me all my people. Take everything else for yourself.’ 22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, ‘I have made a strong promise to the Lord, the Most High God who made heaven and earth. 23 I promised that I would not take anything that belonged to you. I will not take the smallest thing, not even a piece of string, or part of a shoe. Then you will never be able to say, “I made Abram become rich.” 24 I myself will accept only the food that my young men have eaten. But Aner, Eshcol and Mamre went with me to help me to fight. They should take their part of the things that we brought back with us.’
14:24In those days, the people who won a war took things from their enemies. Their leader gave these things to the men who had helped him to fight.