Genesis 19:17

17 When they had them outside, Lot was told, "Now run for your life! Don't look back! Don't stop anywhere on the plain - run for the hills or you'll be swept away."

Genesis 19:17 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 19:17

And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad,
&c.] Into the fields of Sodom, or the suburbs of it: that he said, escape for thy life;
not one of the two men or angels that had been with him all the night past, for they had now left him, and were gone back to the city: but Jehovah the Son of God, who had been communing with Abraham, and now came to Sodom, and appeared to Lot, just at the time the two angels left him, and bid him escape with all haste, if he had any regard for his life, and that of those with him: look not behind thee;
as showing any concern for his goods and substance he had left behind him, or for his sons-in-law, who refused to come with him, and much less for the wicked inhabitants of the city; and this command was not given to Lot only, but to his wife and daughters, as appears by the sequel: neither stay thou in all the plain:
in the plain of Jordan, for the whole plain, and the cities in it, were to be destroyed: escape to the mountain, lest thou be destroyed, lest thou be consumed;
the same mountain the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, and they that were with them after the battle of the kings, fled to, ( Genesis 14:10 ) ; here only he and his could be safe from the conflagration of the plain.

Genesis 19:17 In-Context

15 At break of day, the angels pushed Lot to get going, "Hurry. Get your wife and two daughters out of here before it's too late and you're caught in the punishment of the city."
16 Lot was dragging his feet. The men grabbed Lot's arm, and the arms of his wife and daughters - God was so merciful to them! - and dragged them to safety outside the city.
17 When they had them outside, Lot was told, "Now run for your life! Don't look back! Don't stop anywhere on the plain - run for the hills or you'll be swept away."
18 But Lot protested, "No, masters, you can't mean it!
19 I know that you've taken a liking to me and have done me an immense favor in saving my life, but I can't run for the mountains - who knows what terrible thing might happen to me in the mountains and leave me for dead.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.