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Tidal

King living at the time of the Patriarchs

Tidal, king of Goiim, was one of the four kings allied with Chedorlaomer in the battle against the five kings of the plain.

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Tidal, described as king of Goiim, is mentioned in Gen.14.1 and Gen.14.9 as one of the four kings who joined forces with Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, in a battle against the five kings of the cities of the plain, including Sodom and Gomorrah. The name "Tidal" is of uncertain origin, and "Goiim" may refer to a region or a group of people. In the biblical account, Tidal and his allies engaged in a military campaign in Canaan, ultimately defeating the five kings and taking captives, including Abraham's nephew Lot. In response, Abraham and his 318 trained men pursued the victorious kings, defeated them, and rescued Lot and the other captives (Gen.14.14-16). No other details are provided about Tidal's background, the extent of his kingdom, or his fate after the battle. His participation in the alliance with Chedorlaomer suggests a significant political and military role in the ancient Near East, but the exact historical and geographical context remains uncertain.

Bible dictionary

Tidal Easton Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897)

(in the LXX. called “Thorgal”), styled the “king of nations” (Gen. 14:1-9). Mentioned as Tudkhula on Arioch’s brick (see facing page 139). Goyyim, translated “nations,” is the country called Gutium, east of Tigris and north of Elam.

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Tidal Smith Smith’s Bible Dictionary (1863)

(great son) is mentioned only in (Genesis 14:1,9) (B.C. about 1900.) He is called “king of nations,” from which we may conclude that he was a chief over various nomadic tribes who inhabited different portions of Mesopotamia at different seasons of the year, as do the Arabs at the present day.

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Tidal Hitchcock Hitchcock’s Bible Names Dictionary (1869)

that breaks the yoke; knowledge of elevation

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Tidal Hastings Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible (1898)

TI'DAL (great son), a king who joined Chedorlaomer. Gen 14:1-9.

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Tidal Schaff Schaff’s Dictionary of the Bible

TI'DAL (great son), a king who joined Chedorlaomer. Gen 14:1-9.

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Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.

Where Tidal appears

2 verses in 1 book · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H8413

Genesis2

Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.