and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything.
Parallel translations
- WEB and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” Abram gave him a tenth of all.
- KJV And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.
- NKJV And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tithe of all.
- NASB And blessed be God Most High, Who has handed over your enemies to you.” And he gave him a tenth of everything.
- NLT And blessed be God Most High, who has defeated your enemies for you.” Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the goods he had recovered.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Melchizedek blessed God for the victory, and Abram gave him a tenth of everything. Abram's tithe acknowledges that God, through His priest, is supreme.
Overview
The blessing turns Godward, crediting the Lord with delivering Abram's enemies, so the triumph is His gift, not merely human valor. Abram's voluntary tithe honors Melchizedek's priestly office and confesses dependence on God Most High. Hebrews 7 stresses that even Abraham paid tithes, showing Melchizedek's, and thus Christ's, priesthood surpasses Levi, who was still in Abraham's loins.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 25
- Gen 28:22And this stone I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give You a tenth.”
- Neh 13:12and all Judah brought a tenth of the grain, new wine, and oil into the storerooms.
- Heb 7:4–9Consider how great Melchizedek was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder.
- Deut 14:28At the end of every three years, bring a tenth of all your produce for that year and lay it up within your gates.
- Mal 3:10Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the LORD of Hosts. “See if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing without measure.
- Deut 14:23And you are to eat a tenth of your grain, new wine, and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks, in the presence of the LORD your God at the place He will choose as a dwelling for His Name, so that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.
- Gen 24:27saying, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not withheld His kindness and faithfulness from my master. As for me, the LORD has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives.”
- Deut 12:17Within your gates you must not eat the tithe of your grain or new wine or oil, the firstborn of your herds or flocks, any of the offerings that you have vowed to give, or your freewill offerings or special gifts.
- Num 28:26On the day of firstfruits, when you present an offering of new grain to the LORD during the Feast of Weeks, you are to hold a sacred assembly; you must not do any regular work.
- Josh 10:42And because the LORD, the God of Israel, fought for Israel, Joshua captured all these kings and their land in one campaign.
- Lev 27:30–32Thus any tithe from the land, whether from the seed of the land or the fruit of the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD.
- Ps 44:3For it was not by their sword that they took the land; their arm did not bring them victory. It was by Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your face, because You favored them.
- Amos 4:4“Go to Bethel and transgress; rebel even more at Gilgal! Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days.
- Mal 3:8Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you ask, ‘How do we rob You?’ In tithes and offerings.
- Neh 10:37Moreover, we will bring to the priests at the storerooms of the house of our God the firstfruits of our dough, of our grain offerings, of the fruit of all our trees, and of our new wine and oil. A tenth of our produce belongs to the Levites, so that they shall receive tithes in all the towns where we labor.
- Rom 15:16to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
- Ps 72:17–19May his name endure forever; may his name continue as long as the sun shines. In him may all nations be blessed; may they call him blessed.
- 2 Chr 31:12And they faithfully brought in the contributions, tithes, and dedicated gifts. Conaniah the Levite was the officer in charge of them, and his brother Shimei was second.
- Ps 144:1Of David. Blessed be the LORD, my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.
- Eph 1:3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.
- Luke 18:12I fast twice a week and pay tithes of all that I acquire.’
- 2 Chr 31:5–6As soon as the order went out, the Israelites generously provided the firstfruits of the grain, new wine, oil, and honey, and of all the produce of the field, and they brought in an abundance—a tithe of everything.
- Ps 68:19Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, the God of our salvation. Selah
- Gen 9:26He also declared: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the servant of Shem.
- 1 Pet 1:3–4Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 14:20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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