Genesis 13:12

13:12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled among the cities of the Jordan plain ¹  and pitched his tents next to Sodom.

Genesis 13:11

13:11 Lot chose for himself the whole region of the Jordan and traveled ²  toward the east.

So the relatives separated from each other. ³ 

Genesis 19:25

19:25 So he overthrew those cities and all that region, ⁴  including all the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation that grew ⁵  from the ground.

Genesis 19:28

19:28 He looked out toward ⁶  Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of that region. ⁷  As he did so, he saw the smoke rising up from the land like smoke from a furnace. ⁸ 

Genesis 13:10

13:10 Lot looked up and saw ⁹  the whole region ¹⁰  of the Jordan. He noticed ¹¹  that all of it was well-watered (before the Lord obliterated ¹²  Sodom and Gomorrah) ¹³  like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, ¹⁴  all the way to Zoar.

Genesis 19:17

19:17 When they had brought them outside, they ¹⁵  said, “Run ¹⁶  for your lives! Don’t look ¹⁷  behind you or stop anywhere in the valley! ¹⁸  Escape to the mountains or you will be destroyed!”

Genesis 19:29

19:29 So when God destroyed ¹⁹  the cities of the region, ²⁰  God honored ²¹  Abraham’s request. He removed Lot ²²  from the midst of the destruction when he destroyed ²³  the cities Lot had lived in.

[13:12]  ¹ tn Or “the cities of the plain”; Heb “[the cities of] the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.

[13:11]  ² tn Heb “Lot traveled.” The proper name has not been repeated in the translation at this point for stylistic reasons.

[13:11]  ³ tn Heb “a man from upon his brother.”

[19:25]  ³ tn Or “and all the plain”; Heb “and all the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.

[19:25]  ⁴ tn Heb “and the vegetation of the ground.”

[19:28]  ⁴ tn Heb “upon the face of.”

[19:28]  ⁵ 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.

[19:28]  ⁶ tn Heb “And he saw, and look, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.”

[13:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “lifted up his eyes and saw.” The expression draws attention to the act of looking, indicating that Lot took a good look. It also calls attention to the importance of what was seen.

[13:10]  ⁶ tn Or “plain”; Heb “circle.”

[13:10]  ⁷ tn The words “he noticed” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[13:10]  ⁸ sn Obliterated. The use of the term “destroy” (שַׁחֵת, shakhet) is reminiscent of the Noahic flood (Gen 6:13). Both at the flood and in Sodom the place was obliterated by catastrophe and only one family survived (see C. Westermann, Genesis, 2:178).

[13:10]  ⁹ tn This short temporal clause (preposition + Piel infinitive construct + subjective genitive + direct object) is strategically placed in the middle of the lavish descriptions to sound an ominous note. The entire clause is parenthetical in nature. Most English translations place the clause at the end of v. 10 for stylistic reasons.

[13:10]  ¹⁰ sn The narrative places emphasis on what Lot saw so that the reader can appreciate how it aroused his desire for the best land. It makes allusion to the garden of the Lord and to the land of Egypt for comparison. Just as the tree in the garden of Eden had awakened Eve’s desire, so the fertile valley attracted Lot. And just as certain memories of Egypt would cause the Israelites to want to turn back and abandon the trek to the promised land, so Lot headed for the good life.

[19:17]  ⁶ 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.

[19:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “escape.”

[19:17]  ⁸ 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.

[19:17]  ⁹ tn Or “in the plain”; Heb “in the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.

[19:29]  ⁷ tn The construction is a temporal clause comprised of the temporal indicator, an infinitive construct with a preposition, and the subjective genitive.

[19:29]  ⁸ tn Or “of the plain”; Heb “of the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.

[19:29]  ⁹ 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.

[19:29]  ¹⁰ sn God’s removal of Lot before the judgment is paradigmatic. He typically delivers the godly before destroying their world.

[19:29]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the overthrow when [he] overthrew.”