Genesis 19:17-29

17 When they had brought them outside, one said, "1Escape for your life! 2Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the 3valley; escape to 4the mountains, or you will be swept away."
18 But Lot said to them, "Oh no, my lords!
19 "Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your lovingkindness, which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot * escape to the mountains, for the disaster will overtake me and I will die;
20 now behold, this town is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please, let me escape there (is it not small?) that my life may be saved."
21 He said to him, "Behold, I grant you this request also, not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken.
22 "Hurry, escape there, for I cannot * do anything until you arrive there." Therefore * the name of the town was called 5Zoar.
23 The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar.
24 Then the LORD 6rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven,
25 and 7He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.
26 But his wife, from behind him, 8looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
27 Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to 9the place where * he had stood before the LORD;
28 and he looked down toward * Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward * all the land of the valley, and he saw, and behold, 10the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace.
29 Thus it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, that 11God remembered Abraham, and 12sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.

Genesis 19:17-29 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 12

  • 1. Jeremiah 48:6
  • 2. Genesis 19:26
  • 3. Genesis 13:10
  • 4. Genesis 14:10
  • 5. Genesis 13:10; Genesis 14:2
  • 6. Deuteronomy 29:23; Psalms 11:6; Isaiah 13:19; Ezekiel 16:49, 50; Luke 17:29; Jude 7
  • 7. Deuteronomy 29:23; Psalms 107:34; Isaiah 13:19; Lamentations 4:6; 2 Peter 2:6
  • 8. Genesis 19:17; Luke 17:32
  • 9. Genesis 18:22
  • 10. Revelation 9:2; Revelation 18:9
  • 11. Deuteronomy 7:8; Deuteronomy 9:5, 27
  • 12. 2 Peter 2:7

Footnotes 11

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