Genesis 19:28

28 And he looked down upon the surface of Sodom and Gomorrah, and upon the whole surface of the land, the plain. And he saw that, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a smelting furnace.

Genesis 19:28 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 19:28

And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the
land of the plain
To see how it fared with them: very probably the Lord had hinted it to him, that the destruction would be that morning, and therefore he rose early, got to the place bearly, and being on an eminence, looked wistly to see if he could observe any sign of it:

and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of
a furnace;
after the fiery shower was over, and the cities burnt down, the smoke ascended toward heaven, as the smoke of mystical Babylon will do, ( Revelation 19:3 ) ; like the reek of a boiling cauldron; or, as Jarchi, like the smoke of a lime kiln always burning.

Genesis 19:28 In-Context

26 But his wife looked {back}, and she became a pillar of salt.

27 And Abraham arose early in the morning [and went] to the place where he had stood before Yahweh.

28 And he looked down upon the surface of Sodom and Gomorrah, and upon the whole surface of the land, the plain. And he saw that, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a smelting furnace.

29 So 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.

30 And Lot went out from Zoar and settled in the hill country with his two daughters, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. So he lived in a cave, he and his two daughters.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "and"