Genesis 19:21

21 He said to him, "Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have 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 behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life; but I cannot flee to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me, and I die.
20 Behold, yonder city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there--is it not a little one? --and my life will be saved!"
21 He said to him, "Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.
22 Make haste, escape there; for I can do nothing till you arrive there." Therefore the name of the city was called Zo'ar.
23 The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zo'ar.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.