Genesis 19
19
The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
1The two angels entered Sodom#Gn 18:2,22 in the evening as Lot was sitting in Sodom’s gateway. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them. He bowed with his face to the ground 2and said, “My lords, turn aside to your servant’s house, wash your feet, and spend the night. Then you can get up early and go on your way.”
“No,” they said. “We would rather spend the night in the square.” 3But he urged them so strongly that they followed him and went into his house. He prepared a feast and baked unleavened bread for them, and they ate.
4Before they went to bed, the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, the whole population, surrounded the house. 5They called out to Lot and said, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out to us so we can have sex with them!” #Lv 18:22; Jdg 19:22
6Lot went out to them at the entrance and shut the door behind him. 7He said, “Don’t do this evil, my brothers. 8Look, I’ve got two daughters who haven’t been intimate with a man.#Jdg 19:24 I’ll bring them out to you, and you can do whatever you want#19:8 Lit do what is good in your eyes to them. However, don’t do anything to these men, because they have come under the protection of my roof.”
9“Get out of the way!” they said, adding, “This one came here as an alien, but he’s acting like a judge!#Ex 2:14 Now we’ll do more harm to you than to them.” They put pressure on Lot and came up to break down the door. 10But the angels#19:10 Lit men, also in v. 12 reached out, brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. 11They struck the men who were at the entrance of the house, both young and old, with blindness#19:11 Or a blinding light so that they were unable to find the entrance.#Dt 28:28–29; 2Kg 6:18; Ac 13:11
12Then the angels said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here: a son-in-law, your sons and daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of this place, 13for we are about to destroy this place because the outcry against its people is so great before the Lord, that the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”#Gn 18:20–21; Ex 3:7; 22:23; 1Sm 9:16; Jb 27:9
14So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were going to marry his daughters. “Get up,” he said. “Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city!” #Nm 16:21,26,45; Jr 51:6; Rv 18:4 But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.
15At daybreak the angels urged Lot on: “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment#19:15 Or iniquity, or guilt of the city.” 16But he hesitated. Because of the Lord’s compassion for him, the men grabbed his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters. They brought him out and left him outside the city.
17As soon as the angels got them outside, one of them#19:17 LXX, Syr, Vg read outside, they said, “Run for your lives! Don’t look back and don’t stop anywhere on the plain! Run to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”
18But Lot said to them, “No, my lords#19:18 Or my Lord, or my lord — please. 19Your servant has indeed found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness by saving my life. But I can’t run to the mountains; the disaster will overtake me, and I will die. 20Look, this town is close enough for me to flee to. It is a small place. Please let me run to it — it’s only a small place, isn’t it? — so that I can survive.”
21And he said to him, “All right,#19:21 Or “Look! I’ll grant your request#19:21 Lit I will lift up your face about this matter too and will not demolish the town you mentioned. 22Hurry up! Run to it, for I cannot do anything until you get there.” Therefore the name of the city is Zoar.#19:22 In Hb, the name Zoar is related to “small” in v. 20; its previous name was “Bela”; Gn 14:2.#Gn 14:2
23The sun had risen over the land when Lot reached Zoar. 24Then out of the sky the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah burning sulfur from the Lord.#Dt 29:23; Ps 11:6; Is 13:19; Jr 20:16; Ezk 16:49–50; Lk 17:28–29; 2Pt 2:6–8; Jd 7 25He demolished these cities, the entire plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and whatever grew on the ground. 26But Lot’s wife looked back and became a pillar of salt.#Lk 17:32
27Early in the morning Abraham went to the place where he had stood before the Lord.#Gn 18:22 28He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw that smoke was going up from the land like the smoke of a furnace. 29So it was, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham and brought Lot out of the middle of the upheaval when he demolished the cities where Lot had lived.
The Origin of Moab and Ammon
30Lot departed from Zoar and lived in the mountains along with his two daughters, because he was afraid to live in Zoar. Instead, he and his two daughters lived in a cave. 31Then the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to sleep with us as is the custom of all the land. 32Come, let’s get our father to drink wine so that we can sleep with him and preserve our father’s line.” 33So they got their father to drink wine that night, and the firstborn came and slept with her father; he did not know when she lay down or when she got up.
34The next day the firstborn said to the younger, “Look, I slept with my father last night. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight so you can go sleep with him and we can preserve our father’s line.” 35That night they again got their father to drink wine, and the younger went and slept with him; he did not know when she lay down or when she got up.
36So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. 37The firstborn gave birth to a son and named him Moab.#19:37 = From My Father He is the father of the Moabites of today.#Dt 2:9 38The younger also gave birth to a son, and she named him Ben-ammi.#19:38 = Son of My People He is the father of the Ammonites of today.#Dt 2:19
© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
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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