19:33 So that night they made their father drunk with wine, 21 and the older daughter 22 came and had sexual relations with her father. 23 But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up. 24 19:34 So in the morning the older daughter 25 said to the younger, “Since I had sexual relations with my father last night, let’s make him drunk again tonight. 26 Then you go and have sexual relations with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” 27 19:35 So they made their father drunk 28 that night as well, and the younger one came and had sexual relations with him. 29 But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up. 30
19:36 In this way both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. 19:37 The older daughter 31 gave birth to a son and named him Moab. 32 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. 33 He is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today.
1 tn The term used refers to one who plays a stringed instrument, perhaps a harp.
2 tn Heb “the hand of the
3 tn Heb “making this valley cisterns, cisterns.” The Hebrew noun גֵּב (gev) means “cistern” in Jer 14:3 (cf. Jer 39:10). The repetition of the noun is for emphasis. See GKC 396 §123.e. The verb (“making”) is an infinitive absolute, which has to be interpreted in light of the context. The translation above takes it in an imperatival sense. The command need not be understood as literal, but as hyperbolic. Telling them to build cisterns is a dramatic way of leading into the announcement that he would miraculously provide water in the desert. Some prefer to translate the infinitive as an imperfect with the Lord as the understood subject, “I will turn this valley [into] many pools.”
4 tn Heb “see.”
5 tn Heb “and this is easy in the eyes of the
6 tn Heb “and went out to cry out to the king for her house and her field.”
7 tn Heb “man of God’s.”
8 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Gehazi) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
10 tn Heb “and look, the woman whose son he had brought back to life was crying out to the king for her house and her field.”
11 tn Heb “and the king asked the woman and she told him.”
12 tn Heb “and he assigned to her an official, saying.”
13 tn The words “I will take nothing” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
14 tn Heb “except only what the young men have eaten.”
15 tn Heb “made war.”
16 sn On the geographical background of vv. 1-2 see J. P. Harland, “Sodom and Gomorrah,” The Biblical Archaeologist Reader, 1:41-75; and D. N. Freedman, “The Real Story of the Ebla Tablets, Ebla and the Cities of the Plain,” BA 41 (1978): 143-64.
17 tn Heb “drink wine.”
18 tn Heb “and we will lie down.” The cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive is subordinated to the preceding cohortative and indicates purpose/result.
19 tn Or “that we may preserve.” Here the cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates their ultimate goal.
20 tn Heb “and we will keep alive from our father descendants.”
21 tn Heb “drink wine.”
22 tn Heb “the firstborn.”
23 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.
24 tn Heb “and he did not know when she lay down and when she arose.”
25 tn Heb “the firstborn.”
26 tn Heb “Look, I lied down with my father. Let’s make him drink wine again tonight.”
27 tn Heb “And go, lie down with him and we will keep alive from our father descendants.”
28 tn Heb “drink wine.”
29 tn Heb “lied down with him.”
30 tn Heb “And he did not know when she lied down and when she arose.”
31 tn Heb “the firstborn.”
32 sn The meaning of the name Moab is not certain. The name sounds like the Hebrew phrase “from our father” (מֵאָבִינוּ, me’avinu) 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.
33 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.