Genesis 19:15-23

15 With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.”

16 When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them.

17 As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”

18 But Lot said to them, “No, my lords,^[a] please!

19 Your^[b] servant has found favor in your^[c] eyes, and you^[d] have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die.

20 Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it—it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.”

21 He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of.

22 But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar.^[e] )

23 By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land.

Genesis 19:15-23 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.

Cross References

• 1. Numbers 16:26; Job 21:18; Psalms 58:9; Psalms 73:19; Psalms 90:5
• 2. Revelation 18:4
• 3. 2 Peter 2:7
• 4. Exodus 34:6; Psalms 33:18-19
• 5. 1 Kings 19:3; Jeremiah 48:6
• 6. ver 26
• 7. S Genesis 13:12
• 8. S ver 19; S Genesis 14:10; Matthew 24:16
• 9. S Genesis 6:8; S Genesis 18:3
• 10. Genesis 24:12; Genesis 39:21; Genesis 40:14; Genesis 47:29; Ruth 1:8; Ruth 2:20; Ruth 3:10
• 11. S ver 17,30
• 12. 1 Samuel 25:35; 2 Samuel 14:8; Job 42:9
• 13. S Genesis 13:10
• 14. S Genesis 13:10

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "No, Lord" ; or "No, my lord"
• [b]. The Hebrew is singular.
• [c]. The Hebrew is singular.
• [d]. The Hebrew is singular.
• [e]. "Zoar" means "small."