Genesis 19:1-16

Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed

1 The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.
2 “My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.” “No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”
3 But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate.
4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house.
5 They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”
6 Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him
7 and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing.
8 Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”
9 “Get out of our way,” they replied. “This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.
10 But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door.
11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.
12 The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here,
13 because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.”
14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry[a] his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the LORD is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.
15 With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.”
16 When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them.

Genesis 19:1-16 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 29

  • 1. S Genesis 18:2; Hebrews 13:2
  • 2. Genesis 18:22
  • 3. S Genesis 11:27
  • 4. S Genesis 18:1
  • 5. S Genesis 17:3; Genesis 48:12; Ruth 2:10; 1 Samuel 25:23; 2 Samuel 14:33; 2 Kings 2:15
  • 6. S Genesis 18:4; Luke 7:44
  • 7. Judges 19:15,20
  • 8. Genesis 33:11
  • 9. Job 31:32
  • 10. Exodus 12:39
  • 11. S Genesis 18:6
  • 12. S Genesis 13:13
  • 13. S Genesis 13:13; Leviticus 18:22; Deuteronomy 23:18; Judges 19:22; Isaiah 3:9; Romans 1:24-27
  • 14. Judges 19:23
  • 15. Judges 19:24; 2 Peter 2:7-8
  • 16. Genesis 23:4
  • 17. S Genesis 13:8; Exodus 2:14; Acts 7:27
  • 18. S Genesis 18:2
  • 19. Deuteronomy 28:28-29; 2 Kings 6:18; Acts 13:11
  • 20. S Genesis 6:18; Genesis 7:1
  • 21. Exodus 12:29; 2 Samuel 24:16; 2 Kings 19:35; 1 Chronicles 21:12; 2 Chronicles 32:21
  • 22. Genesis 18:20
  • 23. 1 Chronicles 21:15; Psalms 78:49; Jeremiah 21:12; Jeremiah 25:18; Jeremiah 44:22; Jeremiah 51:45
  • 24. Numbers 16:21; Revelation 18:4
  • 25. Exodus 9:21; 1 Kings 13:18; Jeremiah 5:12; Jeremiah 43:2; Luke 17:28
  • 26. Numbers 16:26; Job 21:18; Psalms 58:9; Psalms 73:19; Psalms 90:5
  • 27. Revelation 18:4
  • 28. 2 Peter 2:7
  • 29. Exodus 34:6; Psalms 33:18-19

Footnotes 1

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