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and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” Abram gave him a tenth of all.
Genesis 14:20 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.
  • BSB and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything.
  • 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 28:22then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, will be God’s house. Of all that you will give me I will surely give a tenth to you.”
  • Neh 13:12Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain, the new wine, and the oil to the treasuries.
  • Heb 7:4–9Now consider how great this man was, to whom even Abraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth out of the best plunder.
  • Deut 14:28At the end of every three years you shall bring all the tithe of your increase in the same year, and shall store it within your gates.
  • Mal 3:10Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this,” says Yahweh of Armies, “if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there will not be room enough for.
  • Deut 14:23You shall eat before Yahweh your God, in the place which he chooses, to cause his name to dwell there, the tithe of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock; that you may learn to fear Yahweh your God always.
  • Gen 24:27He said, “Blessed be Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his loving kindness and his truth toward my master. As for me, Yahweh has led me on the way to the house of my master’s relatives.”
  • Deut 12:17You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain, or of your new wine, or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, nor any of your vows which you vow, nor your freewill offerings, nor the wave offering of your hand;
  • Num 28:26“‘Also in the day of the first fruits, when you offer a new meal offering to Yahweh in your feast of weeks, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work;
  • Josh 10:42Joshua took all these kings and their land at one time, because Yahweh, the God of Israel, fought for Israel.
  • Lev 27:30–32“‘All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is Yahweh’s. It is holy to Yahweh.
  • Ps 44:3For they didn’t get the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but your right hand, and your arm, and the light of your face, because you were favorable to them.
  • Amos 4:4“Go to Bethel, and sin; to Gilgal, and sin more. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days,
  • Mal 3:8Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In tithes and offerings.
  • Neh 10:37and that we should bring the first fruits of our dough, our wave offerings, the fruit of all kinds of trees, and the new wine and the oil, to the priests, to the rooms of the house of our God; and the tithes of our ground to the Levites; for they, the Levites, take the tithes in all the cities of our tillage.
  • Rom 15:16that I should be a servant of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, serving as a priest of the Good News of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be made acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
  • Ps 72:17–19His name endures forever. His name continues as long as the sun. Men shall be blessed by him. All nations will call him blessed.
  • 2 Chr 31:12They brought in the offerings, the tithes, and the dedicated things faithfully. Conaniah the Levite was ruler over them, and Shimei his brother was second.
  • Ps 144:1By David. Blessed be Yahweh, my rock, who teaches my hands to war, and my fingers to battle:
  • Eph 1:3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ;
  • Luke 18:12I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get.’
  • 2 Chr 31:5–6As soon as the commandment went out, the children of Israel gave in abundance the first fruits of grain, new wine, oil, honey, and of all the increase of the field; and they brought in the tithe of all things abundantly.
  • Ps 68:19Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burdens, even the God who is our salvation. Selah.
  • Gen 9:26He said, “Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Shem. Let Canaan be his servant.
  • 1 Pet 1:3–4Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (7)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Genesis videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Genesis 14:20YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on GenesisMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.