“Abram, the Highest God, creator of Heaven and earth, and all that is in between, hereby blesses you. 20 And we hereby bless the Highest God, for he is the one who gave you the spectacular victory over your enemies.”Abram then gave Melchizedek one tenth -- a tithe -- of the recovered loot.
21 Then the king of Sodom, wanting to get in on the action, said to Abram, “Let me keep the captured people and you can keep their possessions for yourself.”
22 But Abram, working hard to keep his distance from the king of Sodom, responded, “I’ve promised the Lord, the High God who created heaven and earth, and all that is in between, 23 that I wouldn’t accept anything from you -- not even a shoelace. I don’t want you parading around saying, ‘I’m the one who made Abram rich.’ 24 However, it would be good if the young men in my fighting force were allowed to keep any food they captured. And my allies—Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre—should be allowed to keep full shares of the loot.”
