Genesis 19:1-29

The Doom of Sodom

1 Now the ¹two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When ²Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.

2 And he said, "Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant's house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way." They said however, "No, but we shall spend the night in the square."

3 Yet he urged them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; ³and he prepared a feast for them, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

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

5 and they called to Lot and said to him, "⁵Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them."

6 But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him,

7 and said, "Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly.

8 "Now behold, ⁶I have two daughters who have not had relations with man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them whatever * you like *; only do nothing * to these men, inasmuch * * as they have come under the shelter of my roof."

9 But they said, "Stand aside." Furthermore, they said, "This one came in as an alien, and already ⁷he is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them." So they pressed hard against Lot and came near to break the door.

10 But ⁸the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door.

11 ⁹They struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway.

12 Then the two men said to Lot, "Whom else have you here? A son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whomever * you have in the city, bring them out of the place;

13 for we are about to destroy this place, because ¹⁰their outcry has become so great before the LORD that ¹¹the LORD has sent us to destroy it."

14 Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, and said, "Up, ¹²get out of this place, for the LORD will destroy the city." ¹³But he appeared * to his sons-in-law to be jesting.

15 When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city."

16 But he hesitated. So the men ¹⁴seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, for ¹⁵the compassion of the LORD was upon him; and they brought him out, and put him outside * the city.

17 When they had brought them outside, one said, "¹⁶Escape for your life! ¹⁷Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the ¹⁸valley; escape to ¹⁹the mountains, or you will be swept away."

18 But Lot said to them, "Oh no, my lords!

19 "Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your lovingkindness, which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot * escape to the mountains, for the disaster will overtake me and I will die;

20 now behold, this town is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please, let me escape there (is it not small?) that my life may be saved."

21 He said to him, "Behold, I grant you this request also, not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken.

22 "Hurry, escape there, for I cannot * do anything until you arrive there." Therefore * the name of the town was called ²⁰Zoar.

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

24 Then the LORD ²¹rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven,

25 and ²²He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.

26 But his wife, from behind him, ²³looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

27 Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to ²⁴the place where * he had stood before the LORD;

28 and he looked down toward * Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward * all the land of the valley, and he saw, and behold, ²⁵the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace.

29 Thus it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, that ²⁶God remembered Abraham, and ²⁷sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.

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Genesis 19:1-29 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 19

The contents of this chapter are Lot's entertainment of two angels that came to Sodom, Ge 19:1-3; the rude behaviour of the men of Sodom towards them, who for it were smote with blindness, Ge 19:4-11; the deliverance of Lot, his wife and two daughters, by means of the angels he entertained, Ge 19:12-17; the sparing of the city of Zoar at the entreaty of Lot, to which he was allowed to flee, Ge 19:18-22; the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah, Ge 19:23-25; Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt for looking back, Ge 19:26; Abraham's view of the conflagration of the cities, Ge 19:28,29; Lot's betaking himself to a mountain, and dwelling in a cave with his two daughters, by whom he had two sons, the one called Moab, and the other Benammi, Ge 19:30-38.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 27

1. Genesis 18:2, 22
2. Genesis 18:2-5
3. Genesis 18:6-8
4. Genesis 13:13; Genesis 18:20
5. Leviticus 18:22; Judges 19:22
6. Judges 19:24
7. Exodus 2:14
8. Genesis 19:1
9. Deuteronomy 28:28, 29; 2 Kings 6:18; Acts 13:11
10. Genesis 18:20
11. Leviticus 26:30-33; Deuteronomy 4:26; Deuteronomy 28:45; 1 Chronicles 21:15
12. Numbers 16:21, 45; Revelation 18:4
13. Jeremiah 43:1, 2
14. Deuteronomy 5:15; Deuteronomy 6:21; Deuteronomy 7:8; 2 Peter 2:7
15. Exodus 34:7; Psalms 32:10; Psalms 33:18, 19
16. Jeremiah 48:6
17. Genesis 19:26
18. Genesis 13:10
19. Genesis 14:10
20. Genesis 13:10; Genesis 14:2
21. Deuteronomy 29:23; Psalms 11:6; Isaiah 13:19; Ezekiel 16:49, 50; Luke 17:29; Jude 7
22. Deuteronomy 29:23; Psalms 107:34; Isaiah 13:19; Lamentations 4:6; 2 Peter 2:6
23. Genesis 19:17; Luke 17:32
24. Genesis 18:22
25. Revelation 9:2; Revelation 18:9
26. Deuteronomy 7:8; Deuteronomy 9:5, 27
27. 2 Peter 2:7

Footnotes 26

[a]. Lit "bowed himself"
[b]. Or "without exception;" lit "from every end"
[c]. I.e. have intercourse
[d]. I.e. had intercourse
[e]. Lit "as is good in your sight"
[f]. Lit "shadow"
[g]. Lit "to sojourn"
[h]. Lit "the man, against Lot"
[i]. Lit "hand"
[j]. Lit "to"
[k]. Lit "smote"
[l]. Or "had married;" lit "were taking"
[m]. Lit "like one who was jesting"
[n]. Or "iniquity"
[o]. Lit "hand"
[p]. Lit "he"
[q]. Lit "in all the circle"
[r]. Lit "mountain"
[s]. Lit "mountain"
[t]. Lit "and my soul will live"
[u]. Lit "thing"
[v]. I.e. small
[w]. Lit "circle"
[x]. Lit "circle"
[y]. Lit "kiln"
[z]. Lit "circle"