Genesis 19:17-27

17 After they brought them out of the city, one of the men said, "Run for your lives! Don't look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Run to the mountains, or you will be destroyed."

18 But Lot said to one of them, "Sir, please don't force me to go so far!

19 You have been merciful and kind to me and have saved my life. But I can't run to the mountains. The disaster will catch me, and I will die.

20 Look, that little town over there is not too far away. Let me run there. It's really just a little town, and I'll be safe there."

21 The angel said to Lot, "Very well, I will allow you to do this also. I will not destroy that town.

22 But run there fast, because I cannot destroy Sodom until you are safely in that town." (That town is named Zoar, because it is little.)

23 The sun had already come up when Lot entered Zoar.

24 The Lord sent a rain of burning sulfur down from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah

25 and destroyed those cities. He also destroyed the whole Jordan Valley, everyone living in the cities, and even all the plants.

26 At that point Lot's wife looked back. When she did, she became a pillar of salt.

27 Early the next morning, Abraham got up and went to the place where he had stood before 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.