Bible Strands
Genesis 14:10
Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some men fell into the pits, but the survivors fled to the hill country.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the tactical outcome of a battle between five local kings and four invading monarchs. The moment occurs as the defeated rulers of Sodom and Gomorrah attempt to escape the valley floor.
The words — The text notes `חֵמָר` (chemar), meaning bitumen or tar, which filled the Valley of Siddim. This substance created deep pits that trapped soldiers as the kings fled.
The thread — The verse first states that the valley contained bitumen pits that caught fleeing men. This physical detail echoes the builders of Babel who used bitumen for mortar (Genesis 11:3) and anticipates the later destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:17, Genesis 19:30).
Why it lands — The text plainly describes how terrain dictated the escape routes and casualties of the fleeing kings. It requires the reader to observe that natural conditions can become instruments of judgment, demanding sober attention to how geography intersects with divine action.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Genesis 19:17 As soon as the men had brought them out, one of them said, “Run for your lives! Do not look back, and do not stop anywhere on the plain! Flee to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”
- Genesis 11:3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” So they used brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar.
- Genesis 19:30 Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains—for he was afraid to stay in Zoar—where they lived in a cave.
- Isaiah 24:18 Whoever flees the sound of panic will fall into the pit, and whoever climbs from the pit will be caught in the snare. For the windows of heaven are open, and the foundations of the earth are shaken.
- Jeremiah 48:44 “Whoever flees the panic will fall into the pit, and whoever climbs from the pit will be caught in the snare. For I will bring upon Moab the year of their punishment,” declares the LORD.
- Joshua 8:24 When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai who had pursued them into the field and wilderness, and when every last one of them had fallen by the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and put it to the sword as well.
- Psalms 83:10 who perished at Endor and became like dung on the ground.