Genesis 14:3

All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
together	חָֽבְר֔וּ cha.ve.Ru	H2266	to join (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
vale	עֵ֖מֶק 'E.mek	H6010	a vale (i.e. broad depression) · noun, common masculine singular construct
Siddim	הַשִּׂדִּ֑ים ha.si.Dim	H7708	Siddim · definite article + proper noun, a place name
which	ה֖וּא hu'	H1931	he (she or it) · personal pronoun, 3rd person masculine singular
salt	הַמֶּֽלַח ha.Me.lach	H4417	properly · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
sea	יָ֥ם yam	H3220	a sea (as breaking in noisy surf) or large body of water · noun, common masculine singular construct

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Numbers 34:12 And the border shall go down to Jordan, and the goings out of it shall be at the salt sea: this shall be your land with the coasts thereof r…
Deuteronomy 3:17 The plain also, and Jordan, and the coast thereof, from Chinnereth even unto the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, under Ashdoth-pisgah e…
Joshua 3:16 That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those tha…
Genesis 19:24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;
Psalms 107:34 A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 14:1-12

We have here an account of the first war that ever we read of in scripture, which (though the wars of the nations make the greatest figure in history) we should not have had the history of if Abram and Lot had not been concerned in it. Now, concerning this war, we may observe, I. The parties engaged in it. The invaders were four kings, two of them no less than kings of Shinar and Elam (that is, Chaldea and Persia), yet probably not the sovereign princes of those great kingdoms in their own persons, but either officers under them, or rather the heads and leaders of some colonies which came out of those great nations, and settled themselves near Sodom, but retained the names of the countries f…

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Adam Clarke on Genesis 14:2

These made war with Bera, etc. - It appears, from Gen 14:4, that these five Canaanitish kings had been subdued by Chedorlaomer, and were obliged to pay him tribute; and that, having been enslaved by him twelve years, wishing to recover their liberty, they revolted in the thirteenth; in consequence of which Chedorlaomer, the following year, summoned to his assistance three of his vassals, invaded Canaan, fought with and discomfited the kings of the Pentapolis or five cities - Sodom, Gomorrah, Zeboiim, Zoar, and Admab, which were situated in the fruitful plain of Siddim, having previously overrun the whole land.

John Gill on Genesis 14:3

All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim,.... Or "of fields", or "ploughed lands" (b), a fruitful vale abounding with corn; or of gardens or paradises, as the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem, being full of gardens and orchards, and was as the garden of the Lord, even as Eden, see Genesis 13:10; though Aben Ezra thinks it had its name from the slime or bitumen, of which there was great plenty in it, see Genesis 14:10. Now the above five kings, as they all dwelt in the plain, they entered into a confederacy, met together, and joined their forces in this vale, to oppose the four kings that were come to make war with them, as being an advantageous place, as they judged, perhaps on…

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The Church Fathers

(Chapter 14, Verse 3) And the king of Bale, which is Segor. All these agreed in the valley of Salsam, which is the Dead Sea. Bale in the Hebrew language is called κατάποσις, which means swallowing. Therefore, the Hebrews report that in another place in the Scriptures it is called Salisa, and again it is said to be μόσχον τριετίζουσαν, which means a three-year-old calf, because it was indeed swallowed up by the third movement of the earth (1 Samuel 9:4; Isaiah 15:5). And from that time, since Sodom and Gomorrah, Adama and Seboim were destroyed by divine fire, it is called that little one. Indeed, Segor is transferred to a small place called Zoara in the Syriac language. The Valley of Salt, as it is written in this same book, in which there were previously pits of bitumen, after the wrath of God and the rain of sulfur, was turned into the Dead Sea, which is called by the Greeks λίμνη Ἀσφαλτῖτις, that is, the lake of bitumen.
— Jerome, Hebrew Questions on Genesis

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Amraphel — King of Shinar, southern Chaldea, one of the confederates of Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, in a war against Sodom and cities of the plain (Gen. 14:1, 4). It is now found that Amraphel (or Ammirapaltu)…
Dead Sea — The name given by Greek writers of the second century to that inland sea called in Scripture the “salt sea” (Gen. 14:3; Num. 34:12), the “sea of the plain” (Deut. 3:17), the “east sea” (Ezek. 47:18;…
Gomorrah — Submersion, one of the five cities of the plain of Siddim (q.v.) which were destroyed by fire (Gen. 10:19; 13:10; 19:24, 28). These cities probably stood close together, and were near the northern…
Lot — (Heb. goral, a “pebble”), a small stone used in casting lots (Num. 33:54; Jonah 1:7). The lot was always resorted to by the Hebrews with strictest reference to the interposition of God, and as a…
Sea, The — (Heb. yam), signifies (1) “the gathering together of the waters,” the ocean (Gen. 1:10); (2) a river, as the Nile (Isa. 19:5), the Euphrates (Isa. 21:1; Jer. 51:36); (3) the Red Sea (Ex. 14:16, 27;…
Sea, The Salt — the usual and perhaps the most ancient name for the remarkable lake which to the western world is now generally known as the Dead Sea. I. Names.— (1) The Salt Sea, (Genesis 14:3) (2) Sea of the…
Siddim — (field, plain), The vale of, a place named only in one passage of Genesis— (Genesis 14:3,8,10) It was one of that class of valleys which the Hebrews designated by the word emek . This term appears to…
Siddim, Vale of — Valley of the broad plains, “which is the salt sea” (Gen. 14:3, 8, 10), between Engedi and the cities of the plain, at the south end of the Dead Sea. It was “full of slime-pits” (R.V., “bitumen…
Sodom — Burning; the walled, a city in the vale of Siddim (Gen. 13:10; 14:1-16). The wickedness of its inhabitants brought down upon it fire from heaven, by which it was destroyed (18:16-33; 19:1-29; Deut.…
Tidal — (in the LXX. called “Thorgal”), styled the “king of nations” (Gen. 14:1-9). Mentioned as Tudkhula on Arioch’s brick (see facing page 139). Goyyim, translated “nations,” is the country called Gutium,…

Genesis 14:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 14:1-12

Adam Clarke on Genesis 14:2

John Gill on Genesis 14:3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Genesis 14:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 14:1-12

Adam Clarke on Genesis 14:2

John Gill on Genesis 14:3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Genesis 14:1-9

Keil & Delitzsch on Genesis 14:1-12

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Genesis 14:1-16

Rashi on Genesis 14:3