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ואנכי עפר ואפר. ראוי אני להיות עפר במלחמת ארבעה מלכים. ואפר באור כשדים לולי רחמיך אשר הצלתני: ואנכי עפר ואפר, “although I am only dust and ashes;” Avraham hints that he by rights should have become earth, i.e. killed, in the war against the four kings, or he should have become ashes already when he submitted to the fires in Nimrod’s furnace. If he had been saved, it was only because G–d had displayed His mercy for him.