One Year Pray for America Bible - Flipbook - Page 32
January 6
Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela
(also called Zoar) prepared for battle
in the valley of the Dead Sea.* 9 They
fought against King Kedorlaomer of
Elam, King Tidal of Goiim, King Amra
phel of Babylonia, and King Arioch of
Ellasar—four kings against five. 10 As it
happened, the valley of the Dead Sea
was filled with tar pits. And as the
army of the kings of Sodom and Go
morrah fled, some fell into the tar pits,
while the rest escaped into the mountains. 11 The victorious invaders then
plundered Sodom and Gomorrah and
headed for home, taking with them all
the spoils of war and the food supplies.
12 They also captured
Lot—
Abram’s
nephew who lived in Sodom—and carried off everything he owned.
13 But one of Lot’s men escaped
and reported everything to Abram the
Hebrew, who was living near the oak
grove belonging to Mamre the Amo
rite. Mamre and his relatives, Eshcol
and Aner, were Abram’s allies.
14 When Abram heard that his
nephew Lot had been captured, he
mobilized the 318 trained men who
had been born into his household.
Then he pursued Kedorlaomer’s army
until he caught up with them at Dan.
15 There he divided his men and attacked during the night. Kedorlao
mer’s army fled, but Abram chased
them as far as Hobah, north of Damas
cus. 16 Abram recovered all the goods
that had been taken, and he brought
back his nephew Lot with his possessions and all the women and other
captives.
17 After Abram returned from his
victory over Kedorlaomer and all his
allies, the king of Sodom went out to
meet him in the valley of Shaveh (that
is, the King’s Valley).
18 And Melchizedek, the king of Sa
lem and a priest of God Most High,*
brought Abram some bread and wine.
19 M elchizedek blessed Abram with
this blessing:
“Blessed be Abram by God Most
High,
Creator of heaven and earth.
22
20
And blessed be God Most High,
who has defeated your enemies
for you.”
Then Abram gave M
elchizedek a tenth
of all the goods he had recovered.
21 The king of Sodom said to Abram,
“Give back my people who were captured. But you may keep for yourself
all the goods you have recovered.”
22 Abram replied to the king of Sod
om, “I solemnly swear to the Lord,
God Most High, Creator of heaven and
earth, 23 that I will not take so much
as a single thread or sandal thong
from what belongs to you. Otherwise
you might say, ‘I am the one who
made Abram rich.’ 24 I will accept only
what my young warriors have already
eaten, and I request that you give a fair
share of the goods to my allies—Aner,
Eshcol, and Mamre.”
15:1 Some time later, the Lord spoke to
Abram in a vision and said to him, “Do
not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect
you, and your reward will be great.”
2 But Abram replied, “O Sovereign
Lord, what good are all your blessings when I don’t even have a son?
Since you’ve given me no children,
Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my
household, will inherit all my wealth.
3 You have given me no descendants of
my own, so one of my servants will be
my heir.”
4 Then the Lord said to him, “No,
your servant will not be your heir, for
you will have a son of your own who
will be your heir.” 5 Then the Lord
took Abram outside and said to him,
“Look up into the sky and count the
stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!”
6 And Abram believed the Lord, and
the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.
7 Then the Lord told him, “I am the
Lord who brought you out of Ur of
the Chaldeans to give you this land as
your possession.”
8 But Abram replied, “O Sovereign
Lord, how can I be sure that I will actually possess it?”
9 The Lord told him, “Bring me a
