Genesis 19:30-38

Lot Is Debased

30 Lot went up from Zoar, and ¹stayed in the mountains, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to stay in Zoar; and he stayed in a cave, he and his two daughters.

31 Then the firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to ²come in to us after the manner of the earth.

32 "Come, ³let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him that we may preserve our family through our father."

33 So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.

34 On the following day, the firstborn said to the younger, "Behold, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine tonight also; then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve our family through our father."

35 So they made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger arose and lay with him; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.

36 Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father.

37 The firstborn bore a son, and called his name ⁴Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day.

38 As for the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi; he is the father of the sons of ⁵Ammon to this day.

Genesis 19:30-38 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

• 1. Genesis 19:17, 19
• 2. Genesis 16:2, 4; Genesis 38:8; Deuteronomy 25:5
• 3. Luke 21:34
• 4. Deuteronomy 2:9
• 5. Deuteronomy 2:19

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "dwelt"
• [b]. Lit "mountain"
• [c]. Lit "dwell"
• [d]. Lit "dwelt"
• [e]. Or "in the land"
• [f]. Lit "seed from our father"
• [g]. Lit "seed from our father"
• [h]. Heb "Bene-Ammon"