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77 MU NE IB RU UM KI BA HUL YEAR (in which) SHEPHERDING PLACE (of) IB-RU-UM DESTROYED ———__ MU NE IB RU KI UM northward, the invaders now faced the combined forces of what the Bible called “five sinning cities.” It was there, the Bible reports, that the four kings fought and defeated the five kings. Looting the cities and taking captives with them, the invaders marched back, this time on the western side of the Jordan. The biblical focus on those battles might have ended with that turning back were it not for the fact that Abram’s nephew Lot, who resided in Sodom, was among the captives. When a refugee from Sodom told Abram what had happened, “he armed his trained men, three hundred and eighteen of them, and gave chase.” His cavalry caught up with the invaders all the way north, near Damascus (see Fig. 32), where Lot was freed and the booty recovered. The Bible records the feat as the “smiting of Khedorla’omer and the kings who were with him” by Abram. The historical records suggest that as audacious and far- flung that War of the Kings had been, it failed to suppress the Marduk-Nabu surge. Amar-Sin, we know, died in 2039 B.C.E.—felled not by an enemy lance, but by a scorpion’s bite. He was replaced in 2038 B.c.E. by his brother Shu-Sin. The Countdown to Doomsday BA HUL FIGURE 33