One Year Pray for the Persecuted Bible - Flipbook - Page 38
January 6
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 Amraphel
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 Amorite. 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. Kedorlaom
er’s army fled, but
Abram chased them as far as Hobah, north of
Damascus. 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 Salem and
a priest of God Most High,* brought Abram
some bread and wine. 19 Melchizedek blessed
Abram with this blessing:
20
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Creator of heaven and earth.
And blessed be God Most High,
who has defeated your enemies for you.”
Then Abram gave Melchizedek 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 Sodom, “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
18
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 d
on’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 C
haldeans
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 t hree-year-
old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a
three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young
resented all these to
pigeon.” 10 So Abram p
him and killed them. Then he cut each animal
down the middle and laid the halves side by
side; he did not, however, cut the birds in half.
11 Some vultures swooped down to eat the carcasses, but Abram chased them away.
12 As the sun was going down, Abram fell
into a deep sleep, and a terrifying darkness
came down over him. 13 Then the Lord said to
Abram, “You can be sure that your descendants
will be strangers in a foreign land, where they
will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. 14 But
I will punish the nation that enslaves them,
and in the end they will come away with great
wealth. 15 (As for you, you will die in peace and
be buried at a ripe old age.) 16 After four generations your descendants will return here to
this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not
yet warrant their destruction.”
17 After the sun went down and darkness
fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses. 18 So the Lord made a covenant with
Abram that day and said, “I have given this
