Genesis 19:1-38

The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

19:1 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening while Lot was sitting in the city’s gateway. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face toward the ground.

19:2 He said, “Here, my lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house. Stay the night and wash your feet. Then you can be on your way early in the morning.” “No,” they replied, “we’ll spend the night in the town square.”

19:3 But he urged them persistently, so they turned aside with him and entered his house. He prepared a feast for them, including bread baked without yeast, and they ate. 19:4 Before they could lie down to sleep, all the men – both young and old, from every part of the city of Sodom – surrounded the house. 19:5 They shouted to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so we can have sex 10  with them!”

19:6 Lot went outside to them, shutting the door behind him. 19:7 He said, “No, my brothers! Don’t act so wickedly! 11  19:8 Look, I have two daughters who have never had sexual relations with 12  a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do to them whatever you please. 13  Only don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection 14  of my roof.” 15 

19:9 “Out of our way!” 16  they cried, and “This man came to live here as a foreigner, 17  and now he dares to judge us! 18  We’ll do more harm 19  to you than to them!” They kept 20  pressing in on Lot until they were close enough 21  to break down the door.

19:10 So the men inside 22  reached out 23  and pulled Lot back into the house 24  as they shut the door. 19:11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, from the youngest to the oldest, 25  with blindness. The men outside 26  wore themselves out trying to find the door. 19:12 Then the two visitors 27  said to Lot, “Who else do you have here? 28  Do you have 29  any sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or other relatives in the city? 30  Get them out of this 31  place 19:13 because we are about to destroy 32  it. The outcry against this place 33  is so great before the Lord that he 34  has sent us to destroy it.”

19:14 Then Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were going to marry his daughters. 35  He said, “Quick, get out of this place because the Lord is about to destroy 36  the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was ridiculing them. 37 

19:15 At dawn 38  the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get going! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, 39  or else you will be destroyed when the city is judged!” 40  19:16 When Lot 41  hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters because the Lord had compassion on them. 42  They led them away and placed them 43  outside the city. 19:17 When they had brought them outside, they 44  said, “Run 45  for your lives! Don’t look 46  behind you or stop anywhere in the valley! 47  Escape to the mountains or you will be destroyed!”

19:18 But Lot said to them, “No, please, Lord! 48  19:19 Your 49  servant has found favor with you, 50  and you have shown me great 51  kindness 52  by sparing 53  my life. But I am not able to escape to the mountains because 54  this disaster will overtake 55  me and I’ll die. 56  19:20 Look, this town 57  over here is close enough to escape to, and it’s just a little one. 58  Let me go there. 59  It’s just a little place, isn’t it? 60  Then I’ll survive.” 61 

19:21 “Very well,” he replied, 62  “I will grant this request too 63  and will not overthrow 64  the town you mentioned. 19:22 Run there quickly, 65  for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” (This incident explains why the town was called Zoar.) 66 

19:23 The sun had just risen 67  over the land as Lot reached Zoar. 68  19:24 Then the Lord rained down 69  sulfur and fire 70  on Sodom and Gomorrah. It was sent down from the sky by the Lord. 71  19:25 So he overthrew those cities and all that region, 72  including all the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation that grew 73  from the ground. 19:26 But Lot’s 74  wife looked back longingly 75  and was turned into a pillar of salt.

19:27 Abraham got up early in the morning and went 76  to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 19:28 He looked out toward 77  Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of that region. 78  As he did so, he saw the smoke rising up from the land like smoke from a furnace. 79 

19:29 So when God destroyed 80  the cities of the region, 81  God honored 82  Abraham’s request. He removed Lot 83  from the midst of the destruction when he destroyed 84  the cities Lot had lived in.

19:30 Lot went up from Zoar with his two daughters and settled in the mountains because he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters. 19:31 Later the older daughter said 85  to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man anywhere nearby 86  to have sexual relations with us, 87  according to the way of all the world. 19:32 Come, let’s make our father drunk with wine 88  so we can have sexual relations 89  with him and preserve 90  our family line through our father.” 91 

19:33 So that night they made their father drunk with wine, 92  and the older daughter 93  came and had sexual relations with her father. 94  But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up. 95  19:34 So in the morning the older daughter 96  said to the younger, “Since I had sexual relations with my father last night, let’s make him drunk again tonight. 97  Then you go and have sexual relations with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” 98  19:35 So they made their father drunk 99  that night as well, and the younger one came and had sexual relations with him. 100  But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up. 101 

19:36 In this way both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. 19:37 The older daughter 102  gave birth to a son and named him Moab. 103  He is the ancestor of the Moabites of today. 19:38 The younger daughter also gave birth to a son and named him Ben-Ammi. 104  He is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today.

Genesis 4:18

4:18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father 105  of Mehujael. Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.

Leviticus 26:15-46

26:15 if you reject my statutes and abhor my regulations so that you do not keep 106  all my commandments and you break my covenant – 26:16 I for my part 107  will do this to you: I will inflict horror on you, consumption and fever, which diminish eyesight and drain away the vitality of life. 108  You will sow your seed in vain because 109  your enemies will eat it. 110  26:17 I will set my face against you. You will be struck down before your enemies, those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when there is no one pursuing you.

26:18 “‘If, in spite of all these things, 111  you do not obey me, I will discipline you seven times more on account of your sins. 112  26:19 I will break your strong pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze. 26:20 Your strength will be used up in vain, your land will not give its yield, and the trees of the land 113  will not produce their fruit.

26:21 “‘If you walk in hostility against me 114  and are not willing to obey me, I will increase your affliction 115  seven times according to your sins. 26:22 I will send the wild animals 116  against you and they will bereave you of your children, 117  annihilate your cattle, and diminish your population 118  so that your roads will become deserted.

26:23 “‘If in spite of these things 119  you do not allow yourselves to be disciplined and you walk in hostility against me, 120  26:24 I myself will also walk in hostility against you and strike you 121  seven times on account of your sins. 26:25 I will bring on you an avenging sword, a covenant vengeance. 122  Although 123  you will gather together into your cities, I will send pestilence among you and you will be given into enemy hands. 124  26:26 When I break off your supply of bread, 125  ten women will bake your bread in one oven; they will ration your bread by weight, 126  and you will eat and not be satisfied.

26:27 “‘If in spite of this 127  you do not obey me but walk in hostility against me, 128  26:28 I will walk in hostile rage against you 129  and I myself will also discipline you seven times on account of your sins. 26:29 You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters. 130  26:30 I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars, 131  and I will stack your dead bodies on top of the lifeless bodies of your idols. 132  I will abhor you. 133  26:31 I will lay your cities waste 134  and make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will refuse to smell your soothing aromas. 26:32 I myself will make the land desolate and your enemies who live in it will be appalled. 26:33 I will scatter you among the nations and unsheathe the sword 135  after you, so your land will become desolate and your cities will become a waste.

26:34 “‘Then the land will make up for 136  its Sabbaths all the days it lies desolate while you are in the land of your enemies; then the land will rest and make up its Sabbaths. 26:35 All the days of the desolation it will have the rest it did not have 137  on your Sabbaths when you lived on it.

26:36 “‘As for 138  the ones who remain among you, I will bring despair into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a blowing leaf will pursue them, and they will flee as one who flees the sword and fall down even though there is no pursuer. 26:37 They will stumble over each other as those who flee before a sword, though 139  there is no pursuer, and there will be no one to take a stand 140  for you before your enemies. 26:38 You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will consume you.

Restoration through Confession and Repentance

26:39 “‘As for the ones who remain among you, they will rot away because of 141  their iniquity in the lands of your enemies, and they will also rot away because of their ancestors’ 142  iniquities which are with them. 26:40 However, when 143  they confess their iniquity and their ancestors’ iniquity which they committed by trespassing against me, 144  by which they also walked 145  in hostility against me 146  26:41 (and I myself will walk in hostility against them and bring them into the land of their enemies), and 147  then their uncircumcised hearts become humbled and they make up for 148  their iniquity, 26:42 I will remember my covenant with Jacob and also my covenant with Isaac and also my covenant with Abraham, 149  and I will remember the land. 26:43 The land will be abandoned by them 150  in order that it may make up for 151  its Sabbaths while it is made desolate 152  without them, 153  and they will make up for their iniquity because 154  they have rejected my regulations and have abhorred 155  my statutes. 26:44 In spite of this, however, when they are in the land of their enemies I will not reject them and abhor them to make a complete end of them, to break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God. 26:45 I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors 156  whom I brought out from the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord.’”

Summary Colophon

26:46 These are the statutes, regulations, and instructions which the Lord established 157  between himself and the Israelites at Mount Sinai through 158  Moses.

Numbers 32:23

32:23 “But if you do not do this, then look, you will have sinned 159  against the Lord. And know that your sin will find you out.

Deuteronomy 28:15-68

Curses as Reversal of Blessings

28:15 “But if you ignore 160  the Lord your God and are not careful to keep all his commandments and statutes I am giving you today, then all these curses will come upon you in full force: 161  28:16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the field. 28:17 Your basket and your mixing bowl will be cursed. 28:18 Your children 162  will be cursed, as well as the produce of your soil, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks. 28:19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out. 163 

Curses by Disease and Drought

28:20 “The Lord will send on you a curse, confusing you and opposing you 164  in everything you undertake 165  until you are destroyed and quickly perish because of the evil of your deeds, in that you have forsaken me. 166  28:21 The Lord will plague you with deadly diseases 167  until he has completely removed you from the land you are about to possess. 28:22 He 168  will afflict you with weakness, 169  fever, inflammation, infection, 170  sword, 171  blight, and mildew; these will attack you until you perish. 28:23 The 172  sky 173  above your heads will be bronze and the earth beneath you iron. 28:24 The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust; it will come down on you from the sky until you are destroyed.

Curses by Defeat and Deportation

28:25 “The Lord will allow you to be struck down before your enemies; you will attack them from one direction but flee from them in seven directions and will become an object of terror 174  to all the kingdoms of the earth. 28:26 Your carcasses will be food for every bird of the sky and wild animal of the earth, and there will be no one to chase them off. 28:27 The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, eczema, and scabies, all of which cannot be healed. 28:28 The Lord will also subject you to madness, blindness, and confusion of mind. 175  28:29 You will feel your way along at noon like the blind person does in darkness and you will not succeed in anything you do; 176  you will be constantly oppressed and continually robbed, with no one to save you. 28:30 You will be engaged to a woman and another man will rape 177  her. You will build a house but not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but not even begin to use it. 28:31 Your ox will be slaughtered before your very eyes but you will not eat of it. Your donkey will be stolen from you as you watch and will not be returned to you. Your flock of sheep will be given to your enemies and there will be no one to save you. 28:32 Your sons and daughters will be given to another people while you look on in vain all day, and you will be powerless to do anything about it. 178  28:33 As for the produce of your land and all your labor, a people you do not know will consume it, and you will be nothing but oppressed and crushed for the rest of your lives. 28:34 You will go insane from seeing all this. 28:35 The Lord will afflict you in your knees and on your legs with painful, incurable boils – from the soles of your feet to the top of your head. 28:36 The Lord will force you and your king 179  whom you will appoint over you to go away to a people whom you and your ancestors have not known, and you will serve other gods of wood and stone there. 28:37 You will become an occasion of horror, a proverb, and an object of ridicule to all the peoples to whom the Lord will drive you.

The Curse of Reversed Status

28:38 “You will take much seed to the field but gather little harvest, because locusts will consume it. 28:39 You will plant vineyards and cultivate them, but you will not drink wine or gather in grapes, because worms will eat them. 28:40 You will have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourself with olive oil, because the olives will drop off the trees while still unripe. 180  28:41 You will bear sons and daughters but not keep them, because they will be taken into captivity. 28:42 Whirring locusts 181  will take over every tree and all the produce of your soil. 28:43 The foreigners 182  who reside among you will become higher and higher over you and you will become lower and lower. 28:44 They will lend to you but you will not lend to them; they will become the head and you will become the tail!

28:45 All these curses will fall on you, pursuing and overtaking you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the Lord your God by keeping his commandments and statutes that he has given 183  you. 28:46 These curses 184  will be a perpetual sign and wonder with reference to you and your descendants. 185 

The Curse of Military Siege

28:47 “Because you have not served the Lord your God joyfully and wholeheartedly with the abundance of everything you have, 28:48 instead in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and poverty 186  you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you. They 187  will place an iron yoke on your neck until they have destroyed you. 28:49 The Lord will raise up a distant nation against you, one from the other side of the earth 188  as the eagle flies, 189  a nation whose language you will not understand, 28:50 a nation of stern appearance that will have no regard for the elderly or pity for the young. 28:51 They 190  will devour the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your soil until you are destroyed. They will not leave you with any grain, new wine, olive oil, calves of your herds, 191  or lambs of your flocks 192  until they have destroyed you. 28:52 They will besiege all of your villages 193  until all of your high and fortified walls collapse – those in which you put your confidence throughout the land. They will besiege all your villages throughout the land the Lord your God has given you. 28:53 You will then eat your own offspring, 194  the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you, because of the severity of the siege 195  by which your enemies will constrict you. 28:54 The man among you who is by nature tender and sensitive will turn against his brother, his beloved wife, and his remaining children. 28:55 He will withhold from all of them his children’s flesh that he is eating (since there is nothing else left), because of the severity of the siege by which your enemy will constrict 196  you in your villages. 28:56 Likewise, the most 197  tender and delicate of your women, who would never think of putting even the sole of her foot on the ground because of her daintiness, 198  will turn against her beloved husband, her sons and daughters, 28:57 and will secretly eat her afterbirth 199  and her newborn children 200  (since she has nothing else), 201  because of the severity of the siege by which your enemy will constrict you in your villages.

The Curse of Covenant Termination

28:58 “If you refuse to obey 202  all the words of this law, the things written in this scroll, and refuse to fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God, 28:59 then the Lord will increase your punishments and those of your descendants – great and long-lasting afflictions and severe, enduring illnesses. 28:60 He will infect you with all the diseases of Egypt 203  that you dreaded, and they will persistently afflict you. 204  28:61 Moreover, the Lord will bring upon you every kind of sickness and plague not mentioned in this scroll of commandments, 205  until you have perished. 28:62 There will be very few of you left, though at one time you were as numerous as the stars in the sky, 206  because you will have disobeyed 207  the Lord your God. 28:63 This is what will happen: Just as the Lord delighted to do good for you and make you numerous, he 208  will take delight in destroying and decimating you. You will be uprooted from the land you are about to possess. 28:64 The Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods of wood and stone. 28:65 Among those nations you will have no rest nor will there be a place of peaceful rest for the soles of your feet, for there the Lord will give you an anxious heart, failing eyesight, and a spirit of despair. 28:66 Your life will hang in doubt before you; you will be terrified by night and day and will have no certainty of surviving from one day to the next. 209  28:67 In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ And in the evening you will say, ‘I wish it were morning!’ because of the things you will fear and the things you will see. 28:68 Then the Lord will make you return to Egypt by ship, over a route I said to you that you would never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”

Job 4:8

4:8 Even as I have seen, 210  those who plow 211  iniquity 212 

and those who sow trouble reap the same. 213 

Isaiah 1:4

1:4 214 The sinful nation is as good as dead, 215 

the people weighed down by evil deeds.

They are offspring who do wrong,

children 216  who do wicked things.

They have abandoned the Lord,

and rejected the Holy One of Israel. 217 

They are alienated from him. 218 

Hosea 13:9

Israel’s King Unable to Deliver the Nation

13:9 I will destroy you, 219  O Israel!

Who 220  is there to help you?


tn The disjunctive clause is temporal here, indicating what Lot was doing at the time of their arrival.

tn Heb “sitting in the gate of Sodom.” The phrase “the gate of Sodom” has been translated “the city’s gateway” for stylistic reasons.

tn The imperatives have the force of invitation.

tn These two verbs form a verbal hendiadys: “you can rise up early and go” means “you can go early.”

sn The town square refers to the wide street area at the gate complex of the city.

tn The Hebrew verb פָּצַר (patsar, “to press, to insist”) ironically foreshadows the hostile actions of the men of the city (see v. 9, where the verb also appears). The repetition of the word serves to contrast Lot to his world.

tn The verb שָׁכַב (shakhav) means “to lie down, to recline,” that is, “to go to bed.” Here what appears to be an imperfect is a preterite after the adverb טֶרֶם (terem). The nuance of potential (perfect) fits well.

tn Heb “and the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, from the young to the old, all the people from the end [of the city].” The repetition of the phrase “men of” stresses all kinds of men.

tn The Hebrew text adds “and said to him.” This is redundant in English and has not been translated for stylistic reasons.

10 tn The Hebrew verb יָדַע (yada’, “to know”) is used here in the sense of “to lie with” or “to have sex with” (as in Gen 4:1). That this is indeed the meaning is clear from Lot’s warning that they not do so wickedly, and his willingness to give them his daughters instead.

11 tn Heb “may my brothers not act wickedly.”

12 tn Heb “who have not known.” Here this expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

13 tn Heb “according to what is good in your eyes.”

14 tn Heb “shadow.”

15 sn This chapter portrays Lot as a hypocrite. He is well aware of the way the men live in his city and is apparently comfortable in the midst of it. But when confronted by the angels, he finally draws the line. But he is nevertheless willing to sacrifice his daughters’ virginity to protect his guests. His opposition to the crowds leads to his rejection as a foreigner by those with whom he had chosen to live. The one who attempted to rescue his visitors ends up having to be rescued by them.

16 tn Heb “approach out there” which could be rendered “Get out of the way, stand back!”

17 tn Heb “to live as a resident alien.”

18 tn Heb “and he has judged, judging.” The infinitive absolute follows the finite verbal form for emphasis. This emphasis is reflected in the translation by the phrase “dares to judge.”

19 tn The verb “to do wickedly” is repeated here (see v. 7). It appears that whatever “wickedness” the men of Sodom had intended to do to Lot’s visitors – probably nothing short of homosexual rape – they were now ready to inflict on Lot.

20 tn Heb “and they pressed against the man, against Lot, exceedingly.”

21 tn Heb “and they drew near.”

22 tn Heb “the men,” referring to the angels inside Lot’s house. The word “inside” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

23 tn The Hebrew text adds “their hand.” These words have not been translated for stylistic reasons.

24 tn Heb “to them into the house.”

25 tn Heb “from the least to the greatest.”

26 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the men of Sodom outside the door) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

27 tn Heb “the men,” referring to the angels inside Lot’s house. The word “visitors” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

28 tn Heb “Yet who [is there] to you here?”

29 tn The words “Do you have” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

30 tn Heb “a son-in-law and your sons and your daughters and anyone who (is) to you in the city.”

31 tn Heb “the place.” The Hebrew article serves here as a demonstrative.

32 tn The Hebrew participle expresses an imminent action here.

33 tn Heb “for their outcry.” The words “about this place” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

34 tn Heb “the Lord.” The repetition of the divine name has been replaced in the translation by the pronoun “he” for stylistic reasons.

35 sn The language has to be interpreted in the light of the context and the social customs. The men are called “sons-in-law” (literally “the takers of his daughters”), but the daughters had not yet had sex with a man. It is better to translate the phrase “who were going to marry his daughters.” Since formal marriage contracts were binding, the husbands-to-be could already be called sons-in-law.

36 tn The Hebrew active participle expresses an imminent action.

37 tn Heb “and he was like one taunting in the eyes of his sons-in-law.” These men mistakenly thought Lot was ridiculing them and their lifestyle. Their response illustrates how morally insensitive they had become.

38 tn Heb “When dawn came up.”

39 tn Heb “who are found.” The wording might imply he had other daughters living in the city, but the text does not explicitly state this.

40 tn Or “with the iniquity [i.e., punishment] of the city” (cf. NASB, NRSV).

41 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Lot) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

42 tn Heb “in the compassion of the Lord to them.”

43 tn Heb “brought him out and placed him.” The third masculine singular suffixes refer specifically to Lot, though his wife and daughters accompanied him (see v. 17). For stylistic reasons these have been translated as plural pronouns (“them”).

44 tn Or “one of them”; Heb “he.” Several ancient versions (LXX, Vulgate, Syriac) read the plural “they.” See also the note on “your” in v. 19.

45 tn Heb “escape.”

46 tn The Hebrew verb translated “look” signifies an intense gaze, not a passing glance. This same verb is used later in v. 26 to describe Lot’s wife’s self-destructive look back at the city.

47 tn Or “in the plain”; Heb “in the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.

48 tn Or “my lords.” See the following note on the problem of identifying the addressee here. The Hebrew term is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

49 tn The second person pronominal suffixes are singular in this verse (note “your eyes,” “you have made great,” and “you have acted”). Verse 18a seems to indicate that Lot is addressing the angels, but the use of the singular and the appearance of the divine title “Lord” (אֲדֹנָי, ’adonay) in v. 18b suggests he is speaking to God.

50 tn Heb “in your eyes.”

51 tn Heb “you made great your kindness.”

52 sn The Hebrew word חֶסֶד (khesed) can refer to “faithful love” or to “kindness,” depending on the context. The precise nuance here is uncertain.

53 tn The infinitive construct explains how God has shown Lot kindness.

54 tn Heb “lest.”

55 tn The Hebrew verb דָּבַק (davaq) normally means “to stick to, to cleave, to join.” Lot is afraid he cannot outrun the coming calamity.

56 tn The perfect verb form with vav consecutive carries the nuance of the imperfect verbal form before it.

57 tn The Hebrew word עִיר (’ir) can refer to either a city or a town, depending on the size of the place. Given that this place was described by Lot later in this verse as a “little place,” the translation uses “town.”

58 tn Heb “Look, this town is near to flee to there. And it is little.”

59 tn Heb “Let me escape to there.” The cohortative here expresses Lot’s request.

60 tn Heb “Is it not little?”

61 tn Heb “my soul will live.” After the cohortative the jussive with vav conjunctive here indicates purpose/result.

62 tn Heb “And he said, ‘Look, I will grant.’” The order of the clauses has been rearranged for stylistic reasons. The referent of the speaker (“he”) is somewhat ambiguous: It could be taken as the angel to whom Lot has been speaking (so NLT; note the singular references in vv. 18-19), or it could be that Lot is speaking directly to the Lord here. Most English translations leave the referent of the pronoun unspecified and maintain the ambiguity.

63 tn Heb “I have lifted up your face [i.e., shown you favor] also concerning this matter.”

64 tn The negated infinitive construct indicates either the consequence of God’s granting the request (“I have granted this request, so that I will not”) or the manner in which he will grant it (“I have granted your request by not destroying”).

65 tn Heb “Be quick! Escape to there!” The two imperatives form a verbal hendiadys, the first becoming adverbial.

66 tn Heb “Therefore the name of the city is called Zoar.” The name of the place, צוֹעַר (tsoar) apparently means “Little Place,” in light of the wordplay with the term “little” (מִצְעָר, mitsar) used twice by Lot to describe the town (v. 20).

67 sn The sun had just risen. There was very little time for Lot to escape between dawn (v. 15) and sunrise (here).

68 tn The juxtaposition of the two disjunctive clauses indicates synchronic action. The first action (the sun’s rising) occurred as the second (Lot’s entering Zoar) took place. The disjunctive clauses also signal closure for the preceding scene.

69 tn The disjunctive clause signals the beginning of the next scene and highlights God’s action.

70 tn Or “burning sulfur” (the traditional “fire and brimstone”).

71 tn Heb “from the Lord from the heavens.” The words “It was sent down” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

72 tn Or “and all the plain”; Heb “and all the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.

73 tn Heb “and the vegetation of the ground.”

74 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Lot) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

75 tn The Hebrew verb means “to look intently; to gaze” (see 15:5).

76 tn The words “and went” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

77 tn Heb “upon the face of.”

78 tn Or “all the land of the plain”; Heb “and all the face of the land of the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.

79 tn Heb “And he saw, and look, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.”

80 tn The construction is a temporal clause comprised of the temporal indicator, an infinitive construct with a preposition, and the subjective genitive.

81 tn Or “of the plain”; Heb “of the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.

82 tn Heb “remembered,” but this means more than mental recollection here. Abraham’s request (Gen 18:23-32) was that the Lord not destroy the righteous with the wicked. While the requisite minimum number of righteous people (ten, v. 32) needed for God to spare the cities was not found, God nevertheless rescued the righteous before destroying the wicked.

83 sn God’s removal of Lot before the judgment is paradigmatic. He typically delivers the godly before destroying their world.

84 tn Heb “the overthrow when [he] overthrew.”

85 tn Heb “and the firstborn said.”

86 tn Or perhaps “on earth,” in which case the statement would be hyperbolic; presumably there had been some men living in the town of Zoar to which Lot and his daughters had initially fled.

87 tn Heb “to enter upon us.” This is a euphemism for sexual relations.

88 tn Heb “drink wine.”

89 tn Heb “and we will lie down.” The cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive is subordinated to the preceding cohortative and indicates purpose/result.

90 tn Or “that we may preserve.” Here the cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates their ultimate goal.

91 tn Heb “and we will keep alive from our father descendants.”

92 tn Heb “drink wine.”

93 tn Heb “the firstborn.”

94 tn Heb “and the firstborn came and lied down with her father.” The expression “lied down with” here and in the following verses is a euphemism for sexual relations.

95 tn Heb “and he did not know when she lay down and when she arose.”

96 tn Heb “the firstborn.”

97 tn Heb “Look, I lied down with my father. Let’s make him drink wine again tonight.”

98 tn Heb “And go, lie down with him and we will keep alive from our father descendants.”

99 tn Heb “drink wine.”

100 tn Heb “lied down with him.”

101 tn Heb “And he did not know when she lied down and when she arose.”

102 tn Heb “the firstborn.”

103 sn The meaning of the name Moab is not certain. The name sounds like the Hebrew phrase “from our father” (מֵאָבִינוּ, meavinu) which the daughters used twice (vv. 32, 34). This account is probably included in the narrative in order to portray the Moabites, who later became enemies of God’s people, in a negative light.

104 sn The name Ben-Ammi means “son of my people.” Like the account of Moab’s birth, this story is probably included in the narrative to portray the Ammonites, another perennial enemy of Israel, in a negative light.

105 tn Heb “and Irad fathered.”

106 tn Heb “to not do.”

107 tn Or “I also” (see HALOT 76 s.v. אַף 6.b).

108 tn Heb “soul.” These expressions may refer either to the physical effects of consumption and fever as the rendering in the text suggests (e.g., J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 452, 454, “diminishing eyesight and loss of appetite”), or perhaps the more psychological effects, “which exhausts the eyes” because of anxious hope “and causes depression” (Heb “causes soul [נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh] to pine away”), e.g., B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 185.

109 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have causal force here.

110 tn That is, “your enemies will eat” the produce that grows from the sown seed.

111 tn Heb “And if until these.”

112 tn Heb “I will add to discipline you seven [times] on your sins.”

113 tn Heb “the tree of the land will not give its fruit.” The collective singular has been translated as a plural. Tg. Onq., some medieval Hebrew mss, Smr, LXX, and Tg. Ps.-J. have “the field” as in v. 4, rather than “the land.”

114 tn Heb “hostile with me,” but see the added preposition בְּ (bet) on the phrase “in hostility” in v. 24 and 27.

115 tn Heb “your blow, stroke”; cf. TEV “punishment”; NLT “I will inflict you with seven more disasters.”

116 tn Heb “the animal of the field.” This collective singular has been translated as a plural. The expression “animal of the field” refers to a wild (i.e., nondomesticated) animal.

117 tn The words “of your children” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.

118 tn Heb “and diminish you.”

119 tn Heb “And if in these.”

120 tn Heb “with me,” but see the added preposition בְּ (bet) on the phrase “in hostility” in vv. 24 and 27.

121 tn Heb “and I myself will also strike you.”

122 tn Heb “vengeance of covenant”; cf. NAB “the avenger of my covenant.”

123 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) has a concessive force in this context.

124 tn Heb “in hand of enemy,” but Tg. Ps.-J. and Tg. Neof. have “in the hands of your enemies” (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 454).

125 tn Heb “When I break to you staff of bread” (KJV, ASV, and NASB all similar).

126 tn Heb “they will return your bread in weight.”

127 tn Heb “And if in this.”

128 tn Heb “with me.”

129 tn Heb “in rage of hostility with you”; NASB “with wrathful hostility”; NRSV “I will continue hostile to you in fury”; CEV “I’ll get really furious.”

130 tn Heb “and the flesh of your daughters you will eat.” The phrase “you will eat” has not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

131 sn Regarding these cultic installations, see the remarks in B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 188, and R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:903. The term rendered “incense altars” might better be rendered “sanctuaries [of foreign deities]” or “stelae.”

132 tn The translation reflects the Hebrew wordplay “your corpses…the corpses of your idols.” Since idols, being lifeless, do not really have “corpses,” the translation uses “dead bodies” for people and “lifeless bodies” for the idols.

133 tn Heb “and my soul will abhor you.”

134 tn Heb “And I will give your cities a waste”; NLT “make your cities desolate.”

135 tn Heb “and I will empty sword” (see HALOT 1228 s.v. ריק 3).

136 tn There are two Hebrew roots רָצָה (ratsah), one meaning “to be pleased with; to take pleasure” (HALOT 1280-81 s.v. רצה; cf. “enjoy” in NASB, NIV, NRSV, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 452), and the other meaning “to restore” (HALOT 1281-82 s.v. II רצה; cf. NAB “retrieve” and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 189).

137 tn Heb “it shall rest which it did not rest.”

138 tn Heb “And.”

139 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) is used in a concessive sense here.

140 tn The term rendered “to stand up” is a noun, not an infinitive. It occurs only here and appears to designate someone who would take a powerful stand for them against their enemies.

141 tn Heb “in” (so KJV, ASV; also later in this verse).

142 tn Heb “fathers’” (also in the following verse).

143 tn Heb “And.” Many English versions take this to be a conditional clause (“if…”) though there is no conditional particle (see, e.g., NASB, NIV, NRSV; but see the very different rendering in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 190). The temporal translation offered here (“when”) takes into account the particle אָז (’az, “then”), which occurs twice in v. 41. The obvious contextual contrast between vv. 39 and 40 is expressed by “however” in the translation.

144 tn Heb “in their trespassing which they trespassed in me.” See the note on Lev 5:15, although the term is used in a more technical sense there in relation to the “guilt offering.”

145 tn Heb “and also which they walked.”

146 tn Heb “with me.”

147 tn Heb “or then,” although the LXX has “then” and the Syriac “and then.”

148 tn Heb “and then they make up for.” On the verb “make up for” see the note on v. 34 above.

149 tn Heb “my covenant with Abraham I will remember.” The phrase “I will remember” has not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

150 tn Heb “from them.” The preposition “from” refers here to the agent of the action (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 455).

151 tn The jussive form of the verb with the simple vav (ו) here calls for a translation that expresses purpose.

152 tn The verb is the Hophal infinitive construct with the third feminine singular suffix (GKC 182 §67.y; cf. v. 34).

153 tn Heb “from them.”

154 tn Heb “because and in because,” a double expression, which is used only here and in Ezek 13:10 (without the vav) for emphasis (GKC 492 §158.b).

155 tn Heb “and their soul has abhorred.”

156 tn Heb “covenant of former ones.”

157 tn Heb “gave” (so NLT); KJV, ASV, NCV “made.”

158 tn Heb “by the hand of” (so KJV).

159 tn The nuance of the perfect tense here has to be the future perfect.

160 tn Heb “do not hear the voice of.”

161 tn Heb “and overtake you” (so NIV, NRSV); NAB, NLT “and overwhelm you.”

162 tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

163 sn See note on the similar expression in v. 6.

164 tn Heb “the curse, the confusion, and the rebuke” (NASB and NIV similar); NRSV “disaster, panic, and frustration.”

165 tn Heb “in all the stretching out of your hand.”

166 tc For the MT first person common singular suffix (“me”), the LXX reads either “Lord” (Lucian) or third person masculine singular suffix (“him”; various codices). The MT’s more difficult reading probably represents the original text.

167 tn Heb “will cause pestilence to cling to you.”

168 tn Heb “The Lord.” See note on “he” in 28:8.

169 tn Or perhaps “consumption” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV). The term is from a verbal root that indicates a weakening of one’s physical strength (cf. NAB “wasting”; NIV, NLT “wasting disease”).

170 tn Heb “hot fever”; NIV “scorching heat.”

171 tn Or “drought” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT).

172 tc The MT reads “Your.” The LXX reads “Heaven will be to you.”

173 tn Or “heavens” (also in the following verse). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

174 tc The meaningless MT reading זַעֲוָה (zaavah) is clearly a transposition of the more commonly attested Hebrew noun זְוָעָה (zÿvaah, “terror”).

175 tn Heb “heart” (so KJV, NASB).

176 tn Heb “you will not cause your ways to prosper.”

177 tc For MT reading שָׁגַל (shagal, “ravish; violate”), the Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate presume the less violent שָׁכַב (shakhav, “lie with”). The unexpected counterpart to betrothal here favors the originality of the MT.

178 tn Heb “and there will be no power in your hand”; NCV “there will be nothing you can do.”

179 tc The LXX reads the plural “kings.”

180 tn Heb “your olives will drop off” (נָשַׁל, nashal), referring to the olives dropping off before they ripen.

181 tn The Hebrew term denotes some sort of buzzing or whirring insect; some have understood this to be a type of locust (KJV, NIV, CEV), but other insects have also been suggested: “buzzing insects” (NAB); “the cricket” (NASB); “the cicada” (NRSV).

182 tn Heb “the foreigner.” This is a collective singular and has therefore been translated as plural; this includes the pronouns in the following verse, which are also singular in the Hebrew text.

183 tn Heb “commanded”; NAB, NIV, TEV “he gave you.”

184 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the curses mentioned previously) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

185 tn Heb “seed” (so KJV, ASV).

186 tn Heb “lack of everything.”

187 tn Heb “he” (also later in this verse). The pronoun is a collective singular referring to the enemies (cf. CEV, NLT). Many translations understand the singular pronoun to refer to the Lord (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV).

188 tn Heb “from the end of the earth.”

189 tn Some translations understand this to mean “like an eagle swoops down” (e.g., NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), comparing the swift attack of an eagle to the attack of the Israelites’ enemies.

190 tn Heb “it” (so NRSV), a collective singular referring to the invading nation (several times in this verse and v. 52).

191 tn Heb “increase of herds.”

192 tn Heb “growth of flocks.”

193 tn Heb “gates,” also in vv. 55, 57.

194 tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NRSV); NASB “the offspring of your own body.”

195 tn Heb “siege and stress.”

196 tn Heb “besiege,” redundant with the noun “siege.”

197 tc The LXX adds σφόδρα (sfodra, “very”) to bring the description into line with v. 54.

198 tn Heb “delicateness and tenderness.”

199 tn Heb includes “that which comes out from between her feet.”

200 tn Heb “her sons that she will bear.”

201 tn Heb includes “in her need for everything.”

202 tn Heb “If you are not careful to do.”

203 sn These are the plagues the Lord inflicted on the Egyptians prior to the exodus which, though they did not fall upon the Israelites, must have caused great terror (cf. Exod 15:26).

204 tn Heb “will cling to you” (so NIV); NLT “will claim you.”

205 tn The Hebrew term תּוֹרָה (torah) can refer either (1) to the whole Pentateuch or, more likely, (2) to the book of Deuteronomy or even (3) only to this curse section of the covenant text. “Scroll” better reflects the actual document, since “book” conveys the notion of a bound book with pages to the modern English reader. Cf. KJV, NASB, NRSV “the book of this law”; NIV, NLT “this Book of the Law”; TEV “this book of God’s laws and teachings.”

206 tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

207 tn Heb “have not listened to the voice of.”

208 tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 28:8.

209 tn Heb “you will not be confident in your life.” The phrase “from one day to the next” is implied by the following verse.

210 tn The perfect verb here represents the indefinite past. It has no specific sighting in mind, but refers to each time he has seen the wicked do this.

211 sn The figure is an implied metaphor. Plowing suggests the idea of deliberately preparing (or cultivating) life for evil. This describes those who are fundamentally wicked.

212 tn The LXX renders this with a plural “barren places.”

213 tn Heb “reap it.”

214 sn Having summoned the witnesses and announced the Lord’s accusation against Israel, Isaiah mourns the nation’s impending doom. The third person references to the Lord in the second half of the verse suggest that the quotation from the Lord (cf. vv. 2-3) has concluded.

215 tn Heb “Woe [to the] sinful nation.” The Hebrew term הוֹי, (hoy, “woe, ah”) was used in funeral laments (see 1 Kgs 13:30; Jer 22:18; 34:5) and carries the connotation of death. In highly dramatic fashion the prophet acts out Israel’s funeral in advance, emphasizing that their demise is inevitable if they do not repent soon.

216 tn Or “sons” (NASB). The prophet contrasts four terms of privilege – nation, people, offspring, children – with four terms that depict Israel’s sinful condition in Isaiah’s day – sinful, evil, wrong, wicked (see J. A. Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah, 43).

217 sn Holy One of Israel is one of Isaiah’s favorite divine titles for God. It pictures the Lord as the sovereign king who rules over his covenant people and exercises moral authority over them.

218 tn Heb “they are estranged backward.” The LXX omits this statement, which presents syntactical problems and seems to be outside the synonymous parallelistic structure of the verse.

219 tc The MT reads שִׁחֶתְךָ (shikhetkha, “he destroyed you”; Piel perfect 3rd person masculine singular from שָׁחַת, shakhat, “to destroy” + 2nd person masculine singular suffix). The BHS editors suggest שׁחתיךָ (“I will destroy you”; Piel perfect 1st person common singular + 2nd person masculine singular suffix). Contextually, this fits: If the Lord is intent on destroying Israel, there is no one who will be able to rescue her from him. This reading is also followed by NCV, NRSV, TEV.

220 tc The MT reads כִּי־בִי בְעֶזְרֶךָ (ki-vi veezrekha, “but in me is your help”); cf. KJV, NIV, NLT. The LXX and Syriac reflect an underlying Hebrew text of כִּי־מִי בְעֶזְרֶךָ (ki-mi veezrekha, “For who will help you?”). The interrogative מִי (“Who?”) harmonizes well with the interrogatives in 13:9-10 and should be adopted, as the BHS editors suggest; the reading is also followed by NAB, NCV, NRSV, TEV.