Genesi 19:19

19 ecco, il tuo servo ha trovato grazia agli occhi tuoi, e tu hai mostrato la grandezza della tua bontà verso di me conservandomi in vita; ma io non posso salvarmi al monte prima che il disastro mi sopraggiunga, ed io perisca.

Genesi 19:19 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 19:19

Behold, now thy servant hath found grace in thy sight
In sending two of his angels to him, to inform him of the approaching destruction of Sodom; to pluck him out of it as a brand out of the burning, and to place him without the city, and in directing and encouraging him to escape for his life: and thou hast magnified thy mercy which thou hast showed unto me in
saving my life;
he owns it was owing to the mercy of this illustrious Person, whom he knew and acknowledges, by what he says, to be a divine one, that his life was saved; and that this appeared exceeding great in it, that he should spare him and his family, when such multitudes of souls would perish; and he might have perished with the rest, if he had not had timely notice in such a gracious manner: and I cannot,
or, "but now ^F24, I cannot" escape to the mountain;
it is too far for me; he signifies that his strength would not hold out through the fatigues of the night past, and want of sleep and rest; but this was owing more to the infirmity of his mind than of his body, for he could go to this same mountain afterwards: lest some evil take me, and I die;
or "that evil" ^F25, the burning of Sodom, and the cities of the plain, lest that should overtake him before he got to the mountain: thus he began to distrust the power of God to strengthen him to go thither, who had appeared so wonderfully for him in his present deliverance; and he might have assured himself, that he that brought him out of Sodom would never suffer him to perish in the destruction of it.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F24 (ykna) "jam vero ego non-potero", Schmidt.
F25 (herh) "malum hoc", Tigurine version; some in Drusius, Piscator, Schmidt.

Genesi 19:19 In-Context

17 E avvenne che quando li ebbero fatti uscire, uno di quegli uomini disse: "Sàlvati la vita! non guardare indietro, e non ti fermare in alcun luogo della pianura; sàlvati al monte, che tu non abbia a perire!"

18 E Lot rispose loro: "No, mio signore!

19 ecco, il tuo servo ha trovato grazia agli occhi tuoi, e tu hai mostrato la grandezza della tua bontà verso di me conservandomi in vita; ma io non posso salvarmi al monte prima che il disastro mi sopraggiunga, ed io perisca.

20 Ecco, questa città è vicina da potermici rifugiare, ed è piccola. Deh, lascia ch’io scampi quivi non è essa piccola? e vivrà l’anima mia!"

21 E quegli a lui: "Ecco, anche questa grazia io ti concedo: di non distruggere la città, della quale hai parlato.