Genesis 19WEB
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Genesis19

World English Bible · Public Domain

1The two angels came to Sodom at evening. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them. He bowed himself with his face to the earth,

2and he said, “See now, my lords, please come into your servant’s house, stay all night, wash your feet, and you can rise up early, and go on your way.” They said, “No, but we will stay in the street all night.”

3He urged them greatly, and they came in with him, and entered into his house. He made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

4But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter.

5They called to Lot, and said to him, “Where are the men who came in to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them.”

6Lot went out to them through the door, and shut the door after himself.

7He said, “Please, my brothers, don’t act so wickedly.

8See now, I have two virgin daughters. Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them what seems good to you. Only don’t do anything to these men, because they have come under the shadow of my roof.”

9They said, “Stand back!” Then they said, “This one fellow came in to live as a foreigner, and he appoints himself a judge. Now we will deal worse with you than with them!” They pressed hard on the man Lot, and came near to break the door.

10But the men reached out their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door.

11They struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

12The men said to Lot, “Do you have anybody else here? Sons-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place:

13for we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown so great before Yahweh that Yahweh has sent us to destroy it.”

14Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters, and said, “Get up! Get out of this place, for Yahweh will destroy the city!” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be joking.

15When the morning came, then the angels hurried Lot, saying, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the iniquity of the city.”

16But he lingered; and the men grabbed his hand, his wife’s hand, and his two daughters’ hands, Yahweh being merciful to him; and they took him out, and set him outside of the city.

17It came to pass, when they had taken them out, that he said, “Escape for your life! Don’t look behind you, and don’t stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be consumed!”

18Lot said to them, “Oh, not so, my lord.

19See now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your loving kindness, which you have shown to me in saving my life. I can’t escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake me, and I die.

20See now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh let me escape there (isn’t it a little one?), and my soul will live.”

21He said to him, “Behold, I have granted your request concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.

22Hurry, escape there, for I can’t do anything until you get there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

23The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.

24Then Yahweh rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah sulfur and fire from Yahweh out of the sky.

25He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew on the ground.

26But Lot’s wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

27Abraham went up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before Yahweh.

28He looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and saw that the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace.

29When God destroyed the cities of the plain, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the middle of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.

30Lot went up out of Zoar, and lived in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to live in Zoar. He lived in a cave with his two daughters.

31The firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in to us in the way of all the earth.

32Come, let’s make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve our father’s family line.”

33They made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father. He didn’t know when she lay down, nor when she arose.

34It came to pass on the next day, that the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let’s make him drink wine again tonight. You go in, and lie with him, that we may preserve our father’s family line.”

35They made their father drink wine that night also. The younger went and lay with him. He didn’t know when she lay down, nor when she got up.

36Thus both of Lot’s daughters were with child by their father.

37The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day.

38The younger also bore a son, and called his name Ben Ammi. He is the father of the children of Ammon to this day.

Study Guide

Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Genesis 19.

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Chapter Summary

In this chapter: The destruction of Sodom, and the deliverance of Lot. (1–29). The sin and disgrace of Lot. (30–38).

vv1-29

Lot was good, but there was not one more of the same character in the city. All the people of Sodom were very wicked and vile. Care was therefore taken for saving Lot and his family. Lot lingered; he trifled. Thus many who are under convictions about their spiritual state, and the necessity of a change, defer that needful work. The salvation of the most righteous men is of God's mercy, not by their own merit. We are saved by grace. God's power also must be acknowledged in bringing souls out of a sinful state If God had not been merciful to us, our lingering had been our ruin. Lot must flee for his life. He must not hanker after Sodom. Such commands as these are given to those who, through grace, are delivered out of a sinful state and condition. Return not to sin and Satan. Rest not in self and the world. Reach toward Christ and heaven, for that is escaping to the mountain, short of which we must not stop. Concerning this destruction, observe that it is a revelation of the wrath of God against sin and sinners of all ages. Let us learn from hence the evil of sin, and its hurtful nature; it leads to ruin.

vv30-38

See the peril of security. Lot, who kept chaste in Sodom, and was a mourner for the wickedness of the place, and a witness against it, when in the mountain, alone, and, as he thought, out of the way of temptation, is shamefully overtaken. Let him that thinks he stands high, and stands firm, take heed lest he fall. See the peril of drunkenness; it is not only a great sin itself, but lets in many sins, which bring a lasting wound and dishonour. Many a man does that, when he is drunk, which, when he is sober, he could not think of without horror. See also the peril of temptation, even from relations and friends, whom we love and esteem, and expect kindness from. We must dread a snare, wherever we are, and be always upon our guard. No excuse can be made for the daughters, nor for Lot. Scarcely any account can be given of the affair but this, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? From the silence of the Scripture concerning Lot henceforward, learn that drunkenness, as it makes men forgetful, so it makes them to be forgotten.

Cross References

Genesis 19
v72 Peter 2:7thematic

Peter explicitly identifies Lot as a 'righteous man' vexed by the filthy conversation of the wicked.

Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, JFB

v26Luke 17:32allusion

Jesus directly warns his disciples regarding judgment by commanding them to 'Remember Lot's wife' looking back.

Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB

v2Hebrews 13:2thematic

Alludes to Lot and Abraham entertaining angels unawares through hospitable reception of strangers.

Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole

v5Judges 19:22allusion

A striking moral parallel where wicked men surround a house demanding to carnally 'know' a male guest.

Supported by Matthew Poole

v292 Peter 2:7thematic

New Testament verification that God delivered 'just Lot,' vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked.

Supported by JFB

v29Genesis 18:22-33thematic

God explicitly remembered His covenant-friend Abraham's intercession by rescuing Lot from the impending destruction.

Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB

v5Romans 1:26thematic

Paul's theological description of the unnatural, shameful lusts that characterized Sodom's sin.

Supported by Matthew Poole

v5Isaiah 3:9thematic

Isaiah describes Israel's open, impudent boasting of their sin, declaring it 'as Sodom'.

Supported by Matthew Poole

v8Judges 19:23thematic

Parallel moral compromise offering daughters to protect male guests under the shadow of the roof.

Supported by Matthew Poole, John Calvin

Classical Old Testament summary of the standard covenant curse depicting the brimstone and burning of Sodom.

Supported by JFB

v24Jude 1:7thematic

Sodom and Gomorrah are set forth as an eternal warning, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB

v24Luke 17:29allusion

Jesus cites the historical reality of the day when fire and brimstone rained from heaven.

Supported by JFB

v8Romans 3:8contrast

Contrasts with Lot's compromise, showing the biblical principle that we must not do evil for good.

Supported by Matthew Poole

v112 Kings 6:18thematic

Another historical event where God smote an attacking force with blindness to deliver His servants.

Supported by Matthew Poole, John Calvin

v142 Peter 3:4thematic

Parallels the sons-in-law's mocking disbelief with end-time scoffers who mock warnings of judgment.

Supported by JFB

v14Luke 17:28thematic

Jesus highlights the worldly complacency and sudden ruin of Sodom as a pattern of His coming.

Supported by Matthew Henry

v37Deuteronomy 2:9thematic

God commands Israel not to distress Moab, because He gave Ar to the descendants of Lot.

Supported by Matthew Poole

v38Deuteronomy 2:19thematic

God commands Israel not to distress Ammon, because their territory was given to the children of Lot.

Supported by Matthew Poole

v1Genesis 18:22thematic

Connects back to the two angels departing from Mamre to head down toward Sodom.

Supported by Matthew Poole

v2Genesis 18:4thematic

Lot's identical offer of hospitality (washing feet, resting) mirrors Abraham's earlier welcome.

Supported by Matthew Poole

v15Numbers 16:26thematic

Moses warns the congregation to depart from the wicked tents lest they be consumed in their sins.

Supported by Matthew Henry

v17Genesis 19:26thematic

The tragic outcome of disobeying the command 'look not behind thee' in this immediate context.

Supported by JFB

v21Job 42:8thematic

Illustrates God 'accepting' a mediator's prayer, parallel to accepting Lot's request for Zoar's sparing.

Supported by Matthew Poole

v24Job 1:16thematic

Parallels the volcanic/atmospheric imagery of 'the fire of God fallen from heaven' burning up victims.

Supported by JFB

v32Genesis 9:21thematic

Parallels the tragic vulnerability of godly patriarchs falling into shameful sin through excessive wine.

Supported by Matthew Henry

v24Isaiah 13:19thematic

Prophetic allusion comparing the total overthrow of Babylon to God's historic destruction of Sodom.

Supported by JFB

v26Genesis 19:17thematic

Lot's wife explicitly violated the angel's strict command given in verse 17: 'look not behind thee.'

Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB

v30Genesis 19:20thematic

Lot fled Zoar for the mountain, fearing to stay in the city he previously begged to save.

Supported by Matthew Poole

v37Deuteronomy 23:3thematic

The tragic legacy: Moabites and Ammonites are excluded from entering the congregation of the Lord.

Supported by Matthew Poole