of Çeboyîm, and the king of Bela'; and they set the battle in array against them in the vale of Siddim;

9 Against Kedorla'ômer king of 'Êlâm, and Tide'âl king of the Gôyîm, and Amrâphel king of Shine'âr, and Ariôch king of Ellâsâr; four kings against the five.

10 Now the vale of Siddîm was full of bitumen pits; and the kings of Sedôm and 'Amôrâh fled, and they fell there, and they that remained fled to the mountain.

11 And they took all the goods of Sedôm and 'Amôrâh, and all their victuals, and went away.

12 And they took Lôt, Abrâm's brother's son, who dwelt in Sedôm, and his goods, and departed.

13 And there came one that had escaped, and told Abrâm the 'Ebry: now he dwelt by the terebinths of Mamrê the 'Amôry, brother of Eshkôl, and brother of 'Anêr and these were confederate with Abrâm.

14 And when Abrâm heard that his brother was taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued as far as Dân ;

15 And he divided himself against them by night, he and his servants, and smote them, and pursued them unto 'Hôbâh, which is on the left hand of Dammâseq.

16 And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lôt, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

17 And the king of Sedôm went out to meet him, after his return from the slaughter of Kedorlâ❜ômer and the kings that were with him, at the vale of Shâvêh.

18 And Malki'çedeq, king of Shâlêm, brought forth bread and wine: and he was priest of Êl-'Eliôn.

19 And he blessed him and said, Blessed be Abrâm of Êl-'Eliôn, possessor of heaven and earth :

20 And blessed be Êl-'Eliôn, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him a tenth of all.

21 And the king of Sedôm said unto Abrâm, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.

22 And Abrâm said to the king of Sedôm, I have lift up mine hand unto Yahveh, God Most High (Êl-'Eliôn), possessor of heaven and earth,

23 That I will not take a thread nor a shoelatchet nor aught that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abrâm rich :

24 Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me; 'Anêr, Eshkôl, and Mamrê, let them take their portion.

XIV.

COVENANT BETWEEN YAHVEH AND ABRÂHÂM.

XV. 1 After these things the word of Yahveh came unto Abrâm in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abrâm: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.

2 And Abrâm said: O my lord, Yahveh, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and he that shall be possessor of my house is from Dammeseq, Eli'ezer?

3 And Abrâm said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.

4 And, behold, the word of Yahveh came unto him, saying, This man shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.

5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to tell them and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 6 And he believed in Yahveh; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

7 And he said unto him, I am Yahveh that brought thee out of Ûr of the Kasdim, to give thee this land to

inherit it.

8 And he said, My lord, Yahveh, whereby shall I know that I inherit it?

9 And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.

10 And he took him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each half over against the other: but the birds divided he not.

11 And the birds of prey came down upon the carcases, and Abrâm drove them away.

12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abrâm; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.

13 And he said unto Abrâm, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

14 And also that nation, whom they serve, will I

judge and afterward they shall come out with great substance.

15 But thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.

16 And in the fourth generation they shall come hither again for the iniquity of the 'Amôry is not yet full.

17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces.

18 In that day Yahveh made a covenant with Abrâm, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the torrent of Miçrâîm unto the great river, the river Phrâth:

19. The Qêny, and the Qenizzy, and the Qadmôny, 20 And the 'Hitty, and the Perizzy, and the Rephaim,

21 And the 'Amôry, and the Kena'any, and the Girgâshy, and the Yebûsy.1

1 It is probable that the Jehovist related the change of Abrâm's name into Abrâhâm, and that of his wife's name Sâray into Sârâh, in this place. The verses in which Yahveh commanded this change must have been omitted by the latest reviser as being a reduplication of those in which the same events are narrated in the Elohistic document, and which he has placed a little further on in chap. xvii. of the present text. It would thus be this latest reviser who replaced the names Abrâm and Sâray instead of Abrâhâm and Sârâh in the narrative which follows the one just read, so as to evade mentioning the latter names until after the time when he mentions their adoption.

XV.

BIRTH OF YISHMÂ'ÊL.

XVI. 1 Now Sâray Abrâm's wife bare him no children and she had a female slave, a native of Miçrâîm, whose name was Hâgâr.

:

2 And Sâray said unto Abrâm, Behold now, Yahveh hath restrained me from bearing; go in, I pray thee, unto my slave; it may be that I shall obtain children. by her. And Abrâm hearkened unto the voice of

Saray.

4 And he went in unto Hâgâr, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.

5 And Saray said unto Abrâm, My wrong be upon thee: I gave my handmaid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: Yahveh judge between me and thee.

6 But Abrâm said unto Sâray, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her that which is good in thine eyes. And Sâray dealt hardly with her, and she fled from her face.

7 And the angel of Yahveh found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring in the way to Shûr.

8 And he said, Hâgâr, Sâray's handmaid, whence comest thou? and whither goest thou? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sâray.

9 And the angel of Yahveh said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.