Genesis 19
19
The Rescue of Lot from Sodom
1And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening. And Lot was sitting in the gateway of Sodom. Then Lot saw them and stood up to meet them. And he bowed down with his face to the ground. 2And he said, “Behold, my lords, please turn aside into the house of your servant and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you can rise early and go on your way.” And they said, “No, but we will spend the night in the square.” 3But he urged them strongly,#Literally “he pressed upon them very” and they turned aside with him and came into his house. And he made a meal for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. 4Before they laid down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man,#Literally “from the end” surrounded the house. 5And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we may know#Hebrew idiom for sexual intercourse (cp. Gen 4:1) them.” 6But Lot went out to them at the entrance, and he shut the door behind him. 7And he said, “No, my brothers, please do not do such a wrong thing. 8Behold, I have two daughters who have not known#Hebrew idiom for sexual intercourse (cp. Gen 4:1) a man. Please, let me bring them out to you; then do to them as it seems good in your eyes. Only to these men do not do this thing, since they came under my roof#Literally “my beam” for protection.” 9But they said, “Step aside!” Then they said, “This fellow#Literally “the one” came to dwell as a foreigner and he acts as a judge! Now we shall do worse to you than them!” And they pressed very hard against the man, against Lot, and they drew near to break the door. 10Then the men reached out with their hands and brought Lot in to them, into the house, and they shut the door. 11And the men who were at the entrance of the house they struck with blindness, both small and great, and they were unable to find the entrance. 12Then the men said to Lot, “Who is here with you? Bring out from the place your sons-in-law, and your sons and your daughters, and all who are with you in the city. 13For we are about to destroy this place, because their cry has become great before Yahweh. Yahweh sent us to destroy it.” 14Then Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were taking#That is, marrying his daughters and said, “Get up! Go out from this place, because Yahweh is going to destroy the city!” But it seemed like a joke#Literally “it was as one making fun” in the eyes of his sons-in-law. 15And as the dawn came up the angels urged Lot saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are staying with you,#Literally “who are found” lest you be destroyed with the punishment of the city.” 16But when he lingered, the men seized him by his hand and his wife’s hand, and his two daughters by hand, on account of the mercy of Yahweh upon him. And they brought him out and set him outside of the city. 17And after bringing them outside one said, “Flee for your life; do not look behind you, and do not stand anywhere in the plain. Flee to the mountains lest you be destroyed.” 18And Lot said to them, “No, please, my lords. 19Behold, your servant has found favor in your eyes and you have shown me great kindness#Literally “your kindness which you have done to me you have made great” in saving my life. But I cannot flee to the mountains, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. 20Behold, this city is near enough to flee there, and it is a little one. Please, let me flee there. Is it not a little one? Then my life shall be saved.” 21And he said to him, “Behold, I will grant this favor as well;#Literally “I am lifting up your face also concerning this thing” that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. 22Escape there quickly, for I cannot do this thing until you get there.” Therefore, there name of the city was called Zoar.
The Destruction of Sodom
23After the sun had risen#Literally “had gone out” upon the earth and Lot had entered Zoar, 24Yahweh rained down from heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yahweh. 25And he overthrew those cities and the whole plain, and the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation of the ground. 26But his#That is, Lot’s wife looked back,#Literally “behind him” and she became a pillar of salt. 27And Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before Yahweh. 28And he looked down upon the surface of Sodom and Gomorrah, and upon the whole surface of the land, the plain. And he saw that,#Or “and” behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a smelting furnace. 29So it was, when God destroyed the cities of the plain that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out from the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.
Lot and His Daughters
30And Lot went out from Zoar and settled in the hill country#Or “mountain” with his two daughters, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. So he lived in a cave, he and his two daughters. 31And the firstborn daughter said to the younger one, “Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to come in to us according to the manner of all the land. 32Come, let us give our father wine to drink and let us lie with him#Idiom for “have sexual intercourse with him” that we may secure descendants through our father.”#Literally “that we might preserve offspring from our father” 33And they gave their father wine to drink that night, and the firstborn went and lay with her father, but he did not know when she lay down or when she got up. 34And it happened that, the next day the firstborn said to the younger one, “Look, I laid with my father last night. Let us give him wine to drink also tonight, then go and lie with him that we may secure descendants through our father.”#Literally “that we might preserve offspring from our father” 35And they gave their father wine to drink again that night, and the younger got up and lay with him, but he did not know when she lay down or when she got up. 36And the two daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. 37The firstborn gave birth to a son, and she called his name Moab. He is the father of Moab until this day. 38And the younger, she also gave birth to a son, and she called his name Ben-Ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites#Literally “sons/children of Ammon” until this day.
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Genesis 19: LEB
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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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