Genesis 19:17-27

17 Then one of the angels said, "Run for your lives! Don't look back and don't stop in the valley. Run to the hills, so that you won't be killed."

18 But Lot answered, "No, please don't make us do that, sir.

19 You have done me a great favor and saved my life. But the hills are too far away; the disaster will overtake me, and I will die before I get there.

20 Do you see that little town? It is near enough. Let me go over there - you can see it is just a small place - and I will be safe."

21 He answered, "All right, I agree. I won't destroy that town.

22 Hurry! Run! I can't do anything until you get there." Because Lot called it small, the town was named Zoar.

23 The sun was rising when Lot reached Zoar.

24 Suddenly the Lord rained burning sulfur on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah ¹

25 and destroyed them and the whole valley, along with all the people there and everything that grew on the land.

26 But Lot's wife looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt. ²

27 Early the next morning Abraham hurried to the place where he had stood in the presence of the Lord.

Genesis 19:17-27 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. 19.24, 25Matthew 10.15; 11.23, 24;Luke 10.12; 17.29; 2 P 2.6+2Jude 7.
• 2. 19.26 +2Wisdom 10.7; +1Luke 17.32.

Footnotes

• [a]. zoar: [This name sounds like the Hebrew for "small."]