Genesis 19:21

21 And he said to him, Behold, I have had respect to thee also about this thing, that I should not overthrow the city about which thou hast spoken.

Genesis 19:21 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 19:21

And he said unto him, see, I have accepted thee concerning
this thing also
Accepted thy prayer and granted thy request, as well as in other things; shown grace and mercy to thee: or, "have lifted up thy face" F5; alluding to the custom of the eastern countries, where persons, when they come into the presence of their superiors, used to prostrate their faces to the ground; when, as a token of their acceptance of them, and good will to them, they used to order them to be lifted up, or them to lift up their faces, and stand before them:

that I will not overthrow this city for the which thou hast spoken;
for, though he had not in express words petitioned that the city might be spared, yet he had tacitly done it, insomuch as he had requested he might flee unto it, where he could not have been safe had it been destroyed.


FOOTNOTES:

F5 (Kynp ytavn) "suscepi faciem tuam", Pagninus, Moatanus, Vatablus, Drusius, Piscator.

Genesis 19:21 In-Context

19 since thy servant has found mercy before thee, and thou hast magnified thy righteousness, in what thou doest towards me that my soul may live, —but I shall not be able to escape to the mountain, lest perhaps the calamity overtake me and I die.
20 Behold this city is near for me to escape thither, which is a small one, and there shall I be preserved, is it not little? and my soul shall live because of thee.
21 And he said to him, Behold, I have had respect to thee also about this thing, that I should not overthrow the city about which thou hast spoken.
22 Hasten therefore to escape thither, for I shall not be able to do anything until thou art come thither; therefore he called the name of that city, Segor.
23 The sun was risen upon the earth, when Lot entered into Segor.

Footnotes 1

The Brenton translation of the Septuagint is in the public domain.