Now the valley of Siddim was full of tar pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and some fell there. Those who remained fled to the hills.
Parallel Translations
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Now the valley of Siddim was full of tar pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and some fell there. Those who remained fled to the hills.
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And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain.
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Now the vale of Siddim was full of slime pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell there, and they that remained fled to the mountain.
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to Genesis 14:10 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 19:17 It came to pass, when they had taken them out, that he said, “Escape for your life! Don’t look behind you, and don’t stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be consumed!”
- Genesis 11:3 They said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar.
- Genesis 19:30 Lot went up out of Zoar, and lived in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to live in Zoar. He lived in a cave with his two daughters.
- Isaiah 24:18 It will happen that he who flees from the noise of the fear will fall into the pit; and he who comes up out of the middle of the pit will be taken in the snare; for the windows on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble.
- Jeremiah 48:44 “He who flees from the terror will fall into the pit; and he who gets up out of the pit will be taken in the snare: for I will bring on him, even on Moab, the year of their visitation,” says Yahweh.
- Joshua 8:24 When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness in which they pursued them, and they had all fallen by the edge of the sword until they were consumed, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword.
- Psalms 83:10 who perished at Endor, who became as dung for the earth.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 10. And the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled.…
10. And the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled. Some expound that they had fallen into pits: but this is not probable, since they were by no means ignorant of the neighboring places: such an event would rather have happened to foreign enemies. Others say, that they went down into them for the sake of preserving their lives. I, however, understand them to have exchanged one kind of death for another, as is common in the moment of desperation; as if Moses had said, the swords of the enemy were so formidable to them, that, without hesitation, they threw themselves headlong into the pits. For he immediately afterwards subjoins, that they who escaped fled to the mountains. Whence we infer, that they who had rushed into the pits had perished. Only let us know, that they fell, not so much deceived through ignorance of the place, as disheartened by fear.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Or, were discomfited.
Or, were discomfited.
And afterward was overwhelmed with water, and so was called the salt sea.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 14:10 And the vale of Siddim [was full…
Gen 14:10 And the vale of Siddim [was full of] slimepits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain.
Ver. 10. And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits.] Chosen therefore on purpose by the five kings, who fled and fell there; or (as some understand the text) made haste to fall down there; {a} skulking and scouting, {b} till their enemies should pursue them, and so perish in those pits. But their cunning failed them; for as they had travailed with iniquity and conceived mischief, so they brought forth a lie. They "made a pit and digged it, but fell into the ditch that themselves had made". {Psa 7:15} The way of this world, saith one, is like the vale of Siddim, slimy and slippery, full of slime pits and pitfalls, springs and stumbling-blocks, laid by Satan to maim or mischieve us, to procure our ruin or ruth. To defeat him therefore (as these four kings did the five), let us tread gingerly, step warily, lift not up one foot till we find sure footing for the other: let us look ere we leap. Alioqui saliens antequam videat, casurus est antequam debeat , as St Bernard hath it. {c}
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{a} Celeriter se deiecerunt . - Piscat.
{b} Eo consilio ut hostes ignari locorum ,& c. - Idem.
{c} Bern. De Bon. Deser.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The vale of Siddim was chosen by those five…
The vale of Siddim was chosen by those five kings for the place of battle, that their adversaries being ignorant of the place might unawares fall into those pits, which they by their knowledge of it thought to escape.
Kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, i.e. their armies; a figurative speech, frequent in Scripture and other authors; for their persons escaped: see Gen 14:17. They either,
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1. Fell into the pits which they designed for others; or rather,
2. Were slain, as this word is oft used, as Jos 8:24-25; Jdg 8:10; 12:6; and here too; for those that fell are here opposed to those that remained.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits,....…
And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits,.... Or "wells" or "fountains of slime" or bitumen (s); a liquid of a pitchy nature, cast out of fountains, and which was used for a cement in buildings; such fountains were near Babylon; see Gill on Gen 11:3; so that this place was naturally prepared for what it was designed to be, a bituminous lake; and hence, when turned into one, it was called the lake Asphaltites, from this slime or bitumen, called by the Greeks "asphaltos". Brocardus (t) says, these pits or wells of bitumen are at this day on the shore of the lake, each of them having pyramids erect, which he saw with his own eyes; and such pits casting out bitumen, as fountains do water, have been found in other countries, as in Greece (u). Now this vale being full of such pits, the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah chose it to fight in, and here drew up in a line of battle, hoping that the enemy, being ignorant of them, would fall into them and perish, and their ranks be broke and fall into confusion; but as it often is, that the pit men dig and contrive for others they fall into themselves, so it was in this case:
and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled: the battle going hard against them, and they not able to stand before their enemies:
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and fell there, or "into them" (w); the slimepits, or fountains of bitumen, into which they precipitately fell, and many perished; or of their own accord they threw themselves into them for their own safety, as some think; though the sense may be this, that there was a great slaughter of them made there, as the word is frequently used, see Sa1 4:10; this is to be understood not of the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah; for it is certain that they were preserved alive, at least the king of Sodom, for we hear of him afterwards, Gen 14:17; but of their soldiers:
and they that remained fled to the mountain: or mountains hard by, where Lot after went when Sodom was destroyed, Gen 19:30; hither such fled that escaped the sword of the enemy, or perished not in the slimepits, judging it more safe to be there, than to be in their cities, which would fall into the hands of their enemies, and be plundered by them, and where they would be in danger of losing their lives.
(s) "putei, putei bituminis", Vatablus, Piscator, Cartwright, Drusius, Schmidt; so Jarchi. (t) Apud Adricom. Theatrum Terrae Sanct. p. 44. (u) Aelian. Var. Hist. l. 13. c. 16. (w) "in eos", Cocceius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 10. Slime-pits] Places where asphaltus or bitumen sprang…
Verse 10. Slime-pits] Places where asphaltus or bitumen sprang out of the ground; this substance abounded in that country.
Fell there] It either signifies they were defeated on this spot, and many of them slain, or that multitudes of them had perished in the bitumen-pits which abounded there; that the place was full of pits we learn from the Hebrew, which reads here בארת בארת beeroth beeroth, pits, pits, i.e., multitudes of pits. A bad place to maintain a fight on, or to be obliged to run through in order to escape.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Of slime. Bituminis. This was a kind of pitch,…
Of slime. Bituminis. This was a kind of pitch, which served for mortar in the building of Babel, Genesis xi. 3, and was used by Noe in pitching the ark. (Challoner) --- Moses does not make this remark without reason. This bitumen would easily take fire, and contribute to the conflagration of Sodom. (Calmet) --- Overthrown, not all slain, for the king of Sodom escaped, ver. 17.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 10. Full of slimepits — Sept., φρεατα ασφαλτου, pits…
10. Full of slimepits — Sept., φρεατα ασφαλτου, pits of asphaltum; Vulg., puteos multos bituminis, many pits of bitumen. The Hebrew may be rendered: The vale of Siddim was pits, pits of mineral pitch; that is, such bituminous pits abounded there; and this abundance of asphalt has given the Dead Sea the name Asphaltic Lake. These pits served as so many snares to the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, who, with their forces, were defeated, and fled, and fell there. These two kings seem to have taken the lead in the battle, and so are mentioned as representing all the rest. From Gen_14:17; Gen_14:21 we infer that the king of Sodom himself escaped capture, probably by fleeing to the mountains.
They that remained — That is, those who were neither killed in battle nor taken prisoners.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 10. full of slime pits] i.e. bitumen pits. Bitumen,…
10. full of slime pits] i.e. bitumen pits. Bitumen, or asphalt, is found in the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea. Josephus speaks of the bitumen floating upon the surface of its waters. Here we are to suppose that the bitumen came out of large holes or pits in the earth, into which the confederates fell in their flight.
“Full of slime pits.” The Hebrew idiom gives be’erôth be’erôth ḥêmar, “pits, pits of bitumen” = “all bitumen pits.” Cf. 2Ki_3:16, “trenches, trenches” = “nothing but trenches.”
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The narrative is so fragmentary, or condensed, that only the rout is recorded.
they fell] Referring to the fugitive troops generally. The king of Sodom appears again in Gen_14:17. It is implied that those who fell into the pits were lost.
to the mountain] i.e. to the mountains of Moab, the chain of hills on the east side of the Dead Sea.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (10) The vale of Siddim was full of slimepits.—That…
(10) The vale of Siddim was full of slimepits.—That is, of holes whence bitumen had been excavated. Layers of this natural asphalte, well known both to the Greeks and Romans as pia Judaica, Judean pitch, still exist on the western side of the Dead Sea; and the places whence it had been dug out, and which are often very deep, formed dangerous impediments in the way of the defeated side.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And the vale of Siddim was full of slime-pits.…
And the vale of Siddim was full of slime-pits. Literally, was pits, pits (cf. 2Ki_3:16; Eze_42:12 for examples of repeated nouns) of slime, bitumen or asphalte, and therefore unfavorable for flight. "Some of the wells near the Dead Sea are 116 feet deep, with a stratum of bitumen fifteen feet in depth, and as black as jet" (Inglis). And the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and fell there. Stumbled into the pits and perished (Keil, Lange, Murphy), though if the king of Sodom escaped (Ver. 17), the language may only mean that they were overthrown there (Knobel, Rosenm Bush, "Speaker"s Commentary"). And they that remained fled to the mountain, of Moab, with its numerous defiles.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 This word introduces background information about the valley of…
Now
This word introduces background information about the valley of Siddim. Your language may have another way of introducing background information. (See: Background Information)
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was full of tar pits
"had many tar pits." These were holes in the ground that had tar in them.
tar
a thick, sticky, black liquid that comes up from the ground. See how this is translated in Genesis 11:3.
the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah
Here the kings represent themselves and their armies. AT: the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and their armies" (See: Synecdoche)
they fell in there
Possible meanings are 1) some of their soldiers fell in the tar pits or 2) the kings themselves fell in the tar pits. Since Genesis 14:17 says that the king of Sodom went to meet Abram, the first meaning is more likely correct. (See: Metonymy)
Those who were left
"Those who did not die in battle and did not fall in the pits"
the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah
The words "Sodom" and "Gomorrah" are metonyms for the people who lived in those cities. AT: "the wealth of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah" or "the property of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah" (See: Metonymy)
their provisions
"their food and drink"
went their way
"they went away"
they also took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who was living in Sodom, along with all his possessions
The phrases "Abram's brother's son" and "who was living in Sodom" remind the reader of things that were written earlier about Lot. AT: "they also took Lot, along with all his possessions. Lot was Abram's brother's son and was living in Sodom at that time" (See: Distinguishing versus Informing or Reminding)
translationWords
king
Sodom
Gomorrah
Lot
Abraham
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.