Genesis 19
19
Sodom’s Depravity
1Now #Gen. 18:2, 16, 22the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and #Gen. 18:1–5Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. 2And he said, “Here now, my lords, please #Gen. 24:31; (Heb. 13:2)turn in to your servant’s house and spend the night, and #Gen. 18:4; 24:32wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.”
And they said, #Luke 24:28“No, but we will spend the night in the open square.”
3But he insisted strongly; so they turned in to him and entered his house. #Gen. 18:6–8; Ex. 23:15; Num. 9:11; 28:17Then he made them a feast, and baked #Ex. 12:8unleavened bread, and they ate.
4Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. 5#Is. 3:9And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? #Judg. 19:22Bring them out to us that we #Gen. 4:1; Rom. 1:24, 27; Jude 7may know them carnally.”
6So #Judg. 19:23Lot went out to them through the doorway, shut the door behind him, 7and said, “Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly! 8#Judg. 19:24See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please, let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish; only do nothing to these men, #Gen. 18:5since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof.”
9And they said, “Stand back!” Then they said, “This one #2 Pet. 2:7, 8came in to stay here, #Ex. 2:14and he keeps acting as a judge; now we will deal worse with you than with them.” So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door. 10But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. 11And they #Gen. 20:17, 18struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door.
Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed
12Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city—#Gen. 7:1; 2 Pet. 2:7, 9take them out of this place! 13For we will destroy this place, because the #Gen. 18:20outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and #Lev. 26:30–33; Deut. 4:26; 28:45; 1 Chr. 21:15the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”
14So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, #Matt. 1:18who had married his daughters, and said, #Num. 16:21, 24, 26, 45; Rev. 18:4“Get up, get out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city!” #Ex. 9:21; Jer. 43:1, 2; Luke 17:28; 24:11But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.
15When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, #Ps. 37:2; Rev. 18:4“Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.” 16And while he lingered, the men #Deut. 5:15; 6:21; 7:8; 2 Pet. 2:7took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the #Ex. 34:7; Ps. 32:10; 33:18, 19; Luke 18:13Lord being merciful to him, #Ps. 34:22and they brought him out and set him outside the city. 17So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, #1 Kin. 19:3; Jer. 48:6“Escape for your life! #Gen. 19:26; Matt. 24:16–18; Luke 9:62; Phil. 3:13, 14Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape #Gen. 14:10to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.”
18Then Lot said to them, “Please, #Acts 10:14no, my lords! 19Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die. 20See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one; please let me escape there (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.”
21And he said to him, “See, #Job 42:8, 9; Ps. 145:19I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken. 22Hurry, escape there. For #Ex. 32:10; Deut. 9:14I cannot do anything until you arrive there.”
Therefore #Gen. 13:10; 14:2the name of the city was called Zoar.
23The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar. 24Then the Lord rained #Deut. 29:23; Ps. 11:6; Is. 13:19; Jer. 20:16; 23:14; 49:18; 50:40; Ezek. 16:49, 50; Hos. 11:8; Amos 4:11; Zeph. 2:9; Matt. 10:15; Mark 6:11; Luke 17:29; Rom. 9:29; 2 Pet. 2:6; Jude 7; Rev. 11:8brimstone and #Lev. 10:2fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. 25So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and #Ps. 107:34what grew on the ground.
26But his wife looked back behind him, and she became #Gen. 19:17; Luke 17:32a pillar of salt.
27And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where #Gen. 18:22he had stood before the Lord. 28Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain; and he saw, and behold, #Rev. 9:2; 18:9the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace. 29And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God #Gen. 8:1; 18:23; Deut. 7:8; 9:5, 27remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt.
The Descendants of Lot
30Then Lot went up out of Zoar and #Gen. 19:17, 19dwelt in the mountains, and his two daughters were with him; for he was afraid to dwell in Zoar. And he and his two daughters dwelt in a cave. 31Now the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man on the earth #Gen. 16:2, 4; 38:8, 9; Deut. 25:5to come in to us as is the custom of all the earth. 32Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we #(Mark 12:19)may preserve the lineage of our father.” 33So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
34It happened on the next day that the firstborn said to the younger, “Indeed I lay with my father last night; let us make him drink wine tonight also, and you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve the lineage of our father.” 35Then they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
36Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. 37The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab; #Num. 25:1; Deut. 2:9he is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38And the younger, she also bore a son and called his name Ben-Ammi; #Num. 21:24; Deut. 2:19he is the father of the people of Ammon to this day.
Currently Selected:
Genesis 19: NKJV
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Genesis 19
19
Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.#The story takes place in one day (counting a day from the previous evening): evening (v. 1), dawn (v. 15), and sunrise (v. 23). The passage resembles Jgs 19:15–25, which suggests dependence of one story on the other. 1The two angels reached Sodom in the evening, as Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he got up to greet them; and bowing down with his face to the ground, 2he said, “Please, my lords,#My lords: Lot does not yet know that the men are God’s messengers; cf. 18:3. come aside into your servant’s house for the night, and bathe your feet; you can get up early to continue your journey.” But they replied, “No, we will pass the night in the town square.”#Heb 13:1–2. 3He urged them so strongly, however, that they turned aside to his place and entered his house. He prepared a banquet for them, baking unleavened bread, and they dined.
4#Jgs 19:22–25; Jude 7. Before they went to bed, the townsmen of Sodom, both young and old—all the people to the last man—surrounded the house. 5They called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to your house tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have sexual relations with them.” 6Lot went out to meet them at the entrance. When he had shut the door behind him, 7he said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not do this wicked thing! 8I have two daughters who have never had sexual relations with men. Let me bring them out to you,#Let me bring them out to you: the authority of a patriarch within his house was virtually absolute. Lot’s extreme response of offering his daughters to a violent mob seems to be motivated by the obligation of hospitality. and you may do to them as you please. But do not do anything to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” 9They replied, “Stand back! This man,” they said, “came here as a resident alien, and now he dares to give orders! We will treat you worse than them!” With that, they pressed hard against Lot, moving in closer to break down the door.#Gn 13:12; 2 Pt 2:7–8. 10But his guests put out their hands, pulled Lot inside with them, and closed the door; 11they struck the men at the entrance of the house, small and great, with such a blinding light#Blinding light: an extraordinary flash that temporarily dazed the wicked men and revealed to Lot the true nature of his guests. that they were utterly unable to find the doorway.
12Then the guests said to Lot: “Who else belongs to you here? Sons-in-law, your sons, your daughters, all who belong to you in the city—take them away from this place!#2 Pt 2:7–9. 13We are about to destroy this place, for the outcry reaching the Lord against those here is so great that the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”#Is 1:7, 9; Ez 16:49–50; Zep 2:9. 14So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had contracted marriage with his daughters.#It is uncertain whether Lot’s sons-in-law were fully married to his daughters or only “engaged” to them (Israelite “engagement” was the first part of the marriage ceremony), or even whether the daughters involved were the same as, or different from, the two daughters who were still in their father’s house. “Come on, leave this place,” he told them; “the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.
15As dawn was breaking, the angels urged Lot on, saying, “Come on! Take your wife with you and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.” 16When he hesitated, the men, because of the Lord’s compassion for him, seized his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters and led them to safety outside the city. 17As soon as they had brought them outside, they said: “Flee for your life! Do not look back or stop anywhere on the Plain. Flee to the hills at once, or you will be swept away.”#Wis 10:6. 18“Oh, no, my lords!” Lot replied to them. 19“You have already shown favor to your servant, doing me the great kindness of saving my life. But I cannot flee to the hills, or the disaster will overtake and kill me. 20Look, this town ahead is near enough to escape to. It is only a small place.#A small place: the Hebrew word misar, lit., “a little thing,” has the same root consonants as the name of the town Zoar in v. 22. Let me flee there—is it not a small place?—to save my life.” 21“Well, then,” he replied, “I grant you this favor too. I will not overthrow the town you have mentioned. 22Hurry, escape there! I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” That is why the town is called Zoar.#Wis 10:6.
23The sun had risen over the earth when Lot arrived in Zoar, 24and the Lord rained down sulfur upon Sodom and Gomorrah, fire from the Lord out of heaven.#Ps 9:6; 11:6; 107:34; Wis 10:7; Sir 16:8; Is 1:9; Lk 17:29; 2 Pt 2:6. 25He overthrew#Overthrew: this term, lit., “turned upside down,” is used consistently to describe the destruction of the cities of the Plain. The imagery of earthquake and subsequent fire fits the geology of this region. those cities and the whole Plain, together with the inhabitants of the cities and the produce of the soil.#Dt 29:22; Is 13:19; Jer 50:40; Lam 4:6; Am 4:11. 26But Lot’s wife looked back, and she was turned into a pillar of salt.#Wis 10:7; Lk 17:32.
27The next morning Abraham hurried to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 28As he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole region of the Plain,#In a deft narrative detail, Abraham looks down from the height east of Hebron, from which he could easily see the region at the southern end of the Dead Sea, where the cities of the Plain were probably located. he saw smoke over the land rising like the smoke from a kiln.#Rev 9:2; 14:10–11.
29When God destroyed the cities of the Plain, he remembered Abraham and sent Lot away from the upheaval that occurred when God overthrew the cities where Lot had been living.
Moabites and Ammonites.#This Israelite tale about the origin of Israel’s neighbors east of the Jordan and the Dead Sea was told partly to ridicule these ethnically related but rival nations and partly to give popular etymologies for their names. The stylized nature of the story is seen in the names of the daughters (“the firstborn” and “the younger”), the ease with which they fool their father, and the identical descriptions of the encounters. 30Since Lot was afraid to stay in Zoar, he and his two daughters went up from Zoar and settled in the hill country, where he lived with his two daughters in a cave. 31The firstborn said to the younger: “Our father is getting old, and there is not a man in the land to have intercourse with us as is the custom everywhere. 32Come, let us ply our father with wine and then lie with him, that we may ensure posterity by our father.” 33So that night they plied their father with wine, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father; but he was not aware of her lying down or getting up. 34The next day the firstborn said to the younger: “Last night I lay with my father. Let us ply him with wine again tonight, and then you go in and lie with him, that we may ensure posterity by our father.” 35So that night, too, they plied their father with wine, and then the younger one went in and lay with him; but he was not aware of her lying down or getting up.
36Thus the two daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. 37The firstborn gave birth to a son whom she named Moab, saying, “From my father.”#From my father: in Hebrew, me’abi, similar in sound to the name “Moab.” He is the ancestor of the Moabites of today.#Dt 2:9. 38The younger one, too, gave birth to a son, and she named him Ammon, saying, “The son of my kin.”#The son of my kin: in Hebrew, ben-ammi, similar in sound to the name “Ammonites.” He is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today.#Dt 2:19.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc