SLIME, Heb. חֵמָר, H2819, appears in Genesis 11:3; 14:10 and Exodus 2:3, and is cognate to Egyptian and Coptic terms, meaning “pitch,” “bitumen.” It was a trade item in the Near E from 2500 b.c. onward. Naturally occurrences of this bituminous native asphalt in and around the area of Syria-Pal. were utilized for calking and mastic. The Gr. tr. in the LXX is ἄσφαλτος. This substance was considered in the destruction of Sodom. Greek authors frequently describe the Dead Sea as, “λιμνή ἀσφάλτιτις,” esp. Diodorus Siculus 19, 98; and Strabo 7, 5, 8. See Bitumen; Pitch.