Genesis 19:21

21 And he said to him: Behold also in this, I have heard thy prayers, not to destroy the city for which thou hast spoken.

Genesis 19:21 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 19:21

And he said unto him, see, I have accepted thee concerning
this thing also
Accepted thy prayer and granted thy request, as well as in other things; shown grace and mercy to thee: or, "have lifted up thy face" F5; alluding to the custom of the eastern countries, where persons, when they come into the presence of their superiors, used to prostrate their faces to the ground; when, as a token of their acceptance of them, and good will to them, they used to order them to be lifted up, or them to lift up their faces, and stand before them:

that I will not overthrow this city for the which thou hast spoken;
for, though he had not in express words petitioned that the city might be spared, yet he had tacitly done it, insomuch as he had requested he might flee unto it, where he could not have been safe had it been destroyed.


FOOTNOTES:

F5 (Kynp ytavn) "suscepi faciem tuam", Pagninus, Moatanus, Vatablus, Drusius, Piscator.

Genesis 19:21 In-Context

19 Because thy servant hath found grace before thee, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewn to me, in saving my life, and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil seize me, and I die.
20 There is this city here at hand, to which I may flee, it is a little one, and I shall be saved in it: is it not a little one, and my soul shall live?
21 And he said to him: Behold also in this, I have heard thy prayers, not to destroy the city for which thou hast spoken.
22 Make haste, and be saved there: because I cannot do any thing till thou go in thither. Therefore the name of that city was called Segor.
23 The sun was risen upon the earth, and Lot entered into Segor.
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