Genesis 19
19
The Wickedness of Sodom
1That evening, the two angels came to Sodom # 19:1 Sodom means “scorched” or “burnt region.” while Lot was sitting at the city’s gateway. # 19:1 A city gateway usually consisted of towers, guardrooms, and a meeting area where people could sit. Often, the city leadership would conduct meetings there (see Ruth 4:1–12). Recent archeological discoveries at Tel-Dan revealed a stone bench that was fifteen feet long connected to the wall of one of its towers. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed with his face to the ground. 2He said, “Please, my lords, come to your servant’s house to spend the night and wash your feet; then you can rise early and go on your way.”
“No,” they answered. “We will be fine to spend the night in the town square.”
3But Lot was so insistent they finally agreed to go to his house. Lot had unleavened bread baked for them and prepared a feast, and they ate. 4But before they retired for the night, the men of the city, men young and old, from every part of the city of Sodom, to the last man, surrounded the house. 5They shouted out to Lot, “Where are the men who came to your house tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them!” # 19:5 Or “that we may know [yada’] them.” This word is used frequently for sexual relations. They surrounded the house, not simply to introduce themselves to the men, but to sexually abuse them. See Gen. 13:13; Lev. 18:22; 20:13; Deut. 23:18; Judg. 19:22; Rom. 1:18–32; 1 Cor. 6:9–10.
6Lot went outside, shutting the door behind him, 7and said to them, “No! My brothers, I beg you, don’t sink to such depravity! 8Look, I have two virgin daughters; I’ll bring them out to you, and you can do with them as you please. Only don’t do anything to these men, for they are guests in my house.” # 19:8 Or “they have come under the shadow of my roof.”
9“Get out of our way,” they replied. “This guy comes as a foreigner to live among us, and now he dares to judge us! We’ll inflict more harm on you than on them!” Just then they lunged at Lot and tried to break down the door, 10but the two angels reached out and pulled Lot safely back into the house and bolted the door. 11They struck the men outside the house, young and old, with one blazing flash of light # 19:11 The Hebrew word sanverim is found only here and in 2 Kings 6:18. The word indicates more than sightlessness (Hb. invaron), but a sudden immobilizing and dazzling flash of light. See the Aramaic Targums; Yoma 22b.; H. M. Orlinsky, Notes on the New Translation of the Torah (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1969), 93ff.; E. A. Speiser, “The ‘Elative’ in West-Semitic and Akkadian,” JCS 6 (1952): 81ff. so that they could not find the door!
12Then the visitors said to Lot, “Who else lives here? Do you have any other family here—sons or daughters, sons-in-law or daughters-in-law who live in Sodom? Get them all out of the city, 13because we are about to destroy this place. A tremendous outcry against the people has come before Yahweh, and he has sent us here to destroy it!”
14So Lot went out to find the two men who were pledged to marry his daughters and told them, “Hurry, leave the city, for Yahweh is about to destroy it!” But they thought he was only joking and paid him no attention.
15At dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Go! Take your wife and your two daughters and leave or you will be consumed in the judgment about to come to the city!” 16But Lot hesitated, so the angels grabbed his hands and the hands of his wife and daughters and brought them outside the city, because Yahweh was merciful to them. 17Once they were safely outside the city, the angels said to them, “Run for your lives! Don’t stop anywhere in the plain until you’ve reached the mountains. And don’t even look back, or you’ll die!”
18Lot replied, “Oh no, my lords. 19You’ve been so gracious to your servant, and you’ve been so kind to save our lives, but I can’t make it to the mountains. It’s so far from here; disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die! 20Look, over there is a village close enough to run to, and it’s a small one. # 19:20 Or “Zoar,” a wordplay in Hebrew. The word for “small” sounds like Zoar. Let me escape there instead. You can see that it’s such a small village. Let my life be spared!”
21“All right,” he replied. “I will grant this request too. # 19:21 Or “I have lifted up your face,” a figure of speech for showing favor. I will not destroy that village. 22Now, you must hurry. Run to that village, for I can’t do anything until you are there.” (That is why the village was called Zoar.)
The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
23By mid-morning, # 19:23 Or “When the sun had risen upon the earth.” Lot arrived at the small village of Zoar, 24And Yahweh’s fire from heaven fell upon Sodom and Gomorrah. 25He completely destroyed the cities of the plain, and all their inhabitants and whatever grew in the valley. # 19:25 Jesus made it clear that if the miracles he did in Israel had been seen in Sodom, the people of Sodom would have repented. Therefore, it will be more tolerable for them in the Day of Judgment than for the cities of Galilee (see Matt. 11:20–24). Knowing that God will soon judge the corrupt world, it is vital that we live holy lives (see 2 Peter 3:11–15). 26But Lot’s wife turned and gazed longingly on the city and turned into a pillar of salt. # 19:26 See Luke 9:62; 17:32. Perhaps there really was a salt-pillar that resembled a human. In the book the Wisdom of Solomon 10:7, which was included in the Septuagint, it says, “A pillar of salt stands as a memorial to an unbelieving soul,” and Josephus claimed to have seen it in his day (Ant. 1.203).
27That morning, # 19:27 Or “The next morning.” It is unclear whether Abraham saw the moment of the destruction of the cities or if he viewed the smoke rising the next day. Abraham hurried back to the place where he had stood before Yahweh. # 19:27 See Gen. 18:22. The implication from Gen. 18:16 and 18:33 is that this high point may have been some distance from Abraham’s camp. 28Looking down toward all the land of the plain, he saw columns of smoke billowing up from Sodom and Gomorrah # 19:28 Gomorrah means “a ruined heap” or “to chastise.” —like the smoke of a furnace!
29So before God destroyed the cities of the plain where Lot had settled, he remembered his affection for Abraham # 19:29 That is, he honored Abraham’s request. God had not forgotten Abraham and then suddenly remembered him, but rather showed his affection for Abraham by fulfilling his request to spare the righteous. and spared Lot from all the destruction.
Lot and His Daughters
30Afraid to remain in Zoar, Lot left there and settled in the hill country and lived in a cave with his two daughters. 31One day, his firstborn suggested to the younger, “Our father is getting old, and there isn’t a man anywhere who could impregnate us in the normal way. 32Come, let’s get our father drunk with wine and have sex with him. That way we can at least have children through our father.”
33That night, they got their father drunk with wine, and the firstborn went in and slept with him. Lot was so drunk he didn’t have a clue about what had happened. # 19:33 Or “he did not know when she lay down and when she arose.” See v. 35. This chapter opens with Lot sitting at the gate of Sodom, the seat of authority, and ends with him drunk in a cave—from councilman to caveman! Lot could have returned to his uncle, Abraham, but instead he fled to a cave. 34The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, “I slept with my father last night. Tonight, it’s your turn. We’ll get him drunk with wine, and you can sleep with him and we can preserve our family line through our father.”
35So they got their father drunk the second time; and the younger went in and slept with him. He was once again so drunk he had no clue what had happened. 36As a result, both Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. 37The older daughter had a son named Moab, # 19:37 Or “from my father,” a wordplay which in Hebrew sounds like “[conceived] from my father.” who is the ancestor of the Moabites of today. # 19:37 Jewish tradition views these two daughters as righteous women whose motives were noble. Perhaps they presumed the entire world had been destroyed and that Zoar was spared only while they were there, leaving no other living male except their father. Regardless, one day a descendant of Moab, Ruth, would be included in the roots of the Jewish monarchy as David’s great-grandmother (see Ruth 4:17–22) and listed in the genealogy of Jesus Christ (see Matt. 1:5). There is no sin or evil that can hinder God’s grace from shining through even the darkest cloud of human failure. 38The younger also had a son named Ben-Ammi, # 19:38 Or “son of my relative,” a wordplay which in Hebrew sounds like “son of my [paternal] relative.” the ancestor of the Ammonites of today.
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Genesis 19: TPT
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Learn More About The Passion TranslationGenesis 19
19
Chapter 19
Lot leaves Sodom
1The two angels arrived at Sodom. It was evening and Lot was sitting near the city gate. When Lot saw the angels, he got up to meet them. He turned his face towards the ground to respect them. 2Lot said, ‘My lords, please come to stay in my house. You can wash your feet and stay the night there. Then you can continue your journey early in the morning.’ The angels replied, ‘No, we will stay the night here in this public place.’ 3But Lot continued to ask them to stay with him. So the angels went with Lot to his house. Lot prepared a big meal for them, with some bread that he had baked without yeast. The angels ate the food.
4After that, they were preparing to go to bed. Then all the men who lived in Sodom came to Lot's house. They were old men and young men, who came from every part of the city. They stood all round the house. 5The men shouted to Lot, ‘Where are the men who are staying with you tonight? Bring them out here to us. We want to have sex with them.’
6Lot went outside to talk to the men. He shut the door of his house behind him. 7He said, ‘No, my friends. Please do not do this evil thing. 8See here! I have two daughters. They have never had sex with a man. Let me bring them out to you. Then you can do whatever you want with them. But do not do anything to these men. They are my visitors and I cannot let anyone hurt them.’
9The men from the city said, ‘Do not try to stop us! You are a stranger here in this city. You cannot tell us what to do! Be careful or we will do even worse things to you.’ They pushed against Lot and tried to reach the door of his house. They wanted to break the door and go in to the house. 10The two visitors who were inside the house opened the door. They pulled Lot back into his house and they shut the door quickly. 11Then they caused all the men outside to become blind. The young men of the city and the old men all became blind. As a result, they could not find the door of the house, even though they tried for some time.
12The two visitors asked Lot, ‘Do you have any of your family here in the city? Do you have any sons or daughters, or husbands for your daughters? If you have any family, you must take them away from here. 13We will soon destroy this city. Everybody knows how bad the people who live here are. As a result, the Lord has sent us to destroy this place.’
14So Lot went out of his house. He spoke to the men who would marry his daughters. He said to them, ‘Hurry! Leave this city now, because the Lord has decided to destroy it.’ But the men did not believe Lot. They thought he was not being serious.
15At dawn, the two angels told Lot he must leave quickly. They said to him, ‘Hurry! Take your wife and take your two daughters who are here. If you do not go quickly, you will all die when the Lord destroys the city.’ 16But Lot did not move. #19:16 Lot and his family did not want to leave Sodom. They would be leaving everything that they had. So the angels took hold of Lot's hand, as well as the hands of his wife and his two daughters. The Lord was very kind to Lot and his family and the angels led them away from the city.
17When they had reached a place outside the city, one of the angels said, ‘Now run! Your lives are in danger. Do not look behind you! Do not stop anywhere in this valley. Run up into the mountains or you will die.’ 18But Lot said, ‘No! Please, my lords, I cannot do that! 19I am your humble servant and you have been very kind to me. You have saved my life. But I cannot run away into the mountains. If I try to do that, this punishment will catch me before I reach there. Then I will surely die. 20Look! See that town over there. It is near and I can run to it safely. And it is a small town. So please let me run there. You can see that it is only a small place. If I go there, I will stay alive.’
21The angel said to Lot, ‘OK, I will let you do what you have asked. I will not destroy that town. 22But run there quickly. I cannot do anything until you arrive in the town.’ (The name of the town became ‘Zoar’, because it was small.)
23Lot reached Zoar at the time when the sun was rising that morning.
24Then the Lord poured sulphur that was on fire down on Sodom and Gomorrah. It fell from the sky like rain. #19:24 God used hot sulphur to destroy the cities. Sulphur is yellow. It burns quickly with a lot of heat. But when it gets cold, it becomes like stone. Hot sulphur covered the cities and the people in them. It burnt them. It became like stone over everything in the city. 25In that way God destroyed those cities and everything in the valley. He killed all the people who lived in those cities. And he killed all the plants that grew on the land.
26But as they ran away, Lot's wife looked back at the city. When she did that, she became a large piece of salt, like a pillar. #19:26 The angel had told Lot and his family not to look back. See Genesis 19:17. Lot's wife wanted to go back to the city because she liked living there.
27Early in the morning, Abraham returned to the place where he had spoken with the Lord. 28He looked towards Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole valley. He saw thick dark smoke that was rising from the land. It was the smoke from a big fire.
29When God destroyed the cities of the valley, he saved Lot from that punishment. God remembered what Abraham had asked him. He took Lot away from the cities where he had lived. Then God destroyed those cities.
Lot and his daughters
30Lot was afraid to live in Zoar. So he took his two daughters and they went up into the mountains. They lived together in a cave. 31One day, the older daughter said to her sister, ‘Our father is now old. There are no men who live near here, so there is nobody to marry us. We cannot have sex like everyone on the earth wants to do. 32So we should give our father much wine to drink. When he becomes drunk, we will have sex with him. Then our father's family will continue to have descendants.’
33That night they caused their father to become drunk with wine. The older daughter had sex with him. Lot was very drunk. He did not know when she came to him. And he did not know when she left him. 34The next day the older daughter said to her younger sister, ‘Last night I had sex with my father. We should make him drunk with wine again tonight. Then you can have sex with him. As a result, our father's family will continue.’
35So that night, they caused their father to become drunk again. The younger daughter had sex with her father. He did not know when she came to him. And he did not know when she left him.
36In that way, Lot caused both of his daughters to become pregnant. 37The older daughter gave birth to a son. She called him Moab. He became the ancestor of the Moabites. 38The younger daughter also gave birth to a son. She called him Ben-Ammi. He became the ancestor of the Ammonites.
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