Genesis 14:1

Summary

Genesis 14:1 opens a new narrative unit with the formulaic va-yehi ("and it was") and introduces four kings by name and by the territories they rule, setting the temporal and political frame for the events that follow.

Key words

• va-yehi ("and it was", H1961) — narrative vav prefixed to a qal verb, the standard formula opening a new episode in the story, roughly "and it came to pass."
• bi-mei ("in the days of", H3117G) — construct plural of "days," linking the temporal marker directly to the proper name that follows, meaning "during the time of."
• melekh ("king of", H4428G) — masculine singular construct, repeated four times, each time binding the title to a place name ("king of X"); this construct chain structure is what creates the list of rulers.
• Goyim ("Goyim", H1471B) — here grammatically a proper name (place), parallel to Shin'ar, Ellasar, and Eilam in the same list.
• ve ("and", H9002) — the conjunction attached to Tid'al, marking him as the final item in the list of four kings, distinguishing the syntactic joining of the last name from the simple juxtaposition used for the earlier ones.

What the text says

The verse is built entirely on construct chains: melekh ("king of") is repeated four times, each time governing a place name (Shin'ar, Ellasar, Eilam, Goyim). This produces a paratactic list — "Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goyim" — where each king is defined solely by the territory he rules, without any verb of ruling being used; the noun-construct structure itself expresses possession/rulership. The four names are joined without repeated conjunctions except before the final item, ve-Tid'al ("and Tidal"), which the conjunction ve (H9002) marks as closing the enumeration.

The opening va-yehi bi-mei ("and it was in the days of," H1961 + H3117G) is a standard Hebrew narrative opening that anchors the coming events to a specific historical moment defined by the reign of the first-named king, Amraphel. The construct form bi-mei ties "days" directly to the proper name, so the phrase functions as a temporal heading for the whole chapter rather than a simple statement of fact.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew treats Goyim (H1471B) as a proper place name, parallel to Shin'ar, Ellasar, and Eilam. The LXX instead renders it as ἐθνῶν ("of nations"), translating it as a common noun meaning "nations" rather than transliterating it as a place. The Vulgate follows this same interpretive approach with "gentium" ("of nations/gentiles"). Additionally, where the Hebrew has Ellasar as the kingdom of Arioch, the Vulgate reads "Ponti" ("of Pontus"), a divergence in the place name itself. The LXX also opens with "in the kingdom of Amarphal" (ἐν τῇ βασιλείᳳ) rather than the Hebrew's "in the days of Amraphel" (bi-mei Amrafel), shifting the temporal marker from "days" to "kingdom/reign."