Kejadian 14:15

14:15 Then, during the night, ¹  Abram ²  divided his forces ³  against them and defeated them. He chased them as far as Hobah, which is north ⁴  of Damascus.

Kejadian 14:1

The Blessing of Victory for God’s People

14:1 At that time ⁵  Amraphel king of Shinar, ⁶  Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations ⁷ 

Kisah Para Rasul 11:24

11:24 because he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a significant number of people ⁸  were brought to the Lord.

Yesaya 7:8

7:8 For Syria’s leader is Damascus,

and the leader of Damascus is Rezin.

Within sixty-five years Ephraim will no longer exist as a nation. ⁹ 

[14:15]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text simply has “night” as an adverbial accusative.

[14:15]  ² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:15]  ³ tn Heb “he divided himself…he and his servants.”

[14:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “left.” Directions in ancient Israel were given in relation to the east rather than the north.

[14:1]  ⁵ tn The sentence begins with the temporal indicator וַיְהִי (vayÿhi) followed by “in the days of.”

[14:1]  ⁶ sn Shinar (also in v. 9) is the region of Babylonia.

[14:1]  ⁷ tn Or “king of Goyim.” The Hebrew term גּוֹיִם (goyim) means “nations,” but a number of modern translations merely transliterate the Hebrew (cf. NEB “Goyim”; NIV, NRSV “Goiim”).

[11:24]  ⁸ tn Grk “a significant crowd.”

[7:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “Ephraim will be too shattered to be a nation”; NIV “to be a people.”

[7:8]  sn This statement is problematic for several reasons. It seems to intrude stylistically, interrupting the symmetry of the immediately preceding and following lines. Furthermore, such a long range prophecy lacks punch in the midst of the immediate crisis. After all, even if Israel were destroyed sometime within the next 65 years, a lot could still happen during that time, including the conquest of Judah and the demise of the Davidic family. Finally the significance of the time frame is uncertain. Israel became an Assyrian province within the next 15 years and ceased to exist as a nation. For these reasons many regard the statement as a later insertion, but why a later editor would include the reference to “65 years” remains a mystery. Some try to relate the prophecy to the events alluded to in Ezra 4:2, 10, which refers to how the Assyrian kings Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal settled foreigners in former Israelite territory, perhaps around 670 b.c. However, even if the statement is referring to these events, it lacks rhetorical punch in its immediate context and has the earmarks of a later commentary that has been merged with the text in the process of transmission.