Genesis 19:21

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

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 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.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.