Genesis 19:14-15

19:14 Then Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were going to marry his daughters. ¹  He said, “Quick, get out of this place because the Lord is about to destroy ²  the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was ridiculing them. ³ 

19:15 At dawn ⁴  the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get going! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, ⁵  or else you will be destroyed when the city is judged!” ⁶ 

Genesis 19:22

19:22 Run there quickly, ⁷  for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” (This incident explains why the town was called Zoar.) ⁸ 

Genesis 19:1

The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

19:1 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening while ⁹  Lot was sitting in the city’s gateway. ¹⁰  When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face toward the ground.

Genesis 19:11

19:11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, from the youngest to the oldest, ¹¹  with blindness. The men outside ¹²  wore themselves out trying to find the door.

Genesis 19:1

The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

19:1 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening while ¹³  Lot was sitting in the city’s gateway. ¹⁴  When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face toward the ground.

Genesis 19:3

19:3 But he urged ¹⁵  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.

Psalms 121:1

Psalm 121 ¹⁶ 

A song of ascents. ¹⁷ 

121:1 I look up ¹⁸  toward the hills.

From where ¹⁹  does my help come?

Matthew 3:7

3:7 But when he saw many Pharisees ²⁰  and Sadducees ²¹  coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

Matthew 24:16-18

24:16 then those in Judea must flee ²²  to the mountains. 24:17 The one on the roof ²³  must not come down ²⁴  to take anything out of his house, 24:18 and the one in the field must not turn back to get his cloak.

Hebrews 2:3

2:3 how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was first communicated through the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him,

[19:14]  ¹ 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.

[19:14]  ² tn The Hebrew active participle expresses an imminent action.

[19:14]  ³ 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.

[19:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “When dawn came up.”

[19:15]  ⁵ 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.

[19:15]  ⁶ tn Or “with the iniquity [i.e., punishment] of the city” (cf. NASB, NRSV).

[19:22]  ⁷ tn Heb “Be quick! Escape to there!” The two imperatives form a verbal hendiadys, the first becoming adverbial.

[19:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “Therefore the name of the city is called Zoar.” The name of the place, צוֹעַר (tso’ar) apparently means “Little Place,” in light of the wordplay with the term “little” (מִצְעָר, mits’ar) used twice by Lot to describe the town (v. 20).

[19:1]  ⁹ tn The disjunctive clause is temporal here, indicating what Lot was doing at the time of their arrival.

[19:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “sitting in the gate of Sodom.” The phrase “the gate of Sodom” has been translated “the city’s gateway” for stylistic reasons.

[19:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “from the least to the greatest.”

[19:11]  ¹² tn Heb “they”; the referent (the men of Sodom outside the door) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:1]  ¹³ tn The disjunctive clause is temporal here, indicating what Lot was doing at the time of their arrival.

[19:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “sitting in the gate of Sodom.” The phrase “the gate of Sodom” has been translated “the city’s gateway” for stylistic reasons.

[19:3]  ¹⁵ 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.

[121:1]  ¹⁶ sn Psalm 121. The psalm affirms that the Lord protects his people Israel. Unless the psalmist addresses an observer (note the second person singular forms in vv. 3-8), it appears there are two or three speakers represented in the psalm, depending on how one takes v. 3. The translation assumes that speaker one talks in vv. 1-2, that speaker two responds to him with a prayer in v. 3 (this assumes the verbs are true jussives of prayer), and that speaker three responds with words of assurance in vv. 4-8. If the verbs in v. 3 are taken as a rhetorical use of the jussive, then there are two speakers. Verses 3-8 are speaker two’s response to the words of speaker one. See the note on the word “sleep” at the end of v. 3.

[121:1]  ¹⁷ sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.

[121:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “I lift my eyes.”

[121:1]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew term מֵאַיִן (me’ayin) is interrogative, not relative, in function. Rather than directly stating that his source of help descends from the hills, the psalmist is asking, “From where does my help come?” Nevertheless, the first line does indicate that he is looking toward the hills for help, probably indicating that he is looking up toward the sky in anticipation of supernatural intervention. The psalmist assumes the dramatic role of one needing help. He answers his own question in v. 2.

[3:7]  ²⁰ sn Pharisees were members of one of the most important and influential religious and political parties of Judaism in the time of Jesus. There were more Pharisees than Sadducees (according to Josephus, Ant. 17.2.4 [17.42] there were more than 6,000 Pharisees at about this time). Pharisees differed with Sadducees on certain doctrines and patterns of behavior. The Pharisees were strict and zealous adherents to the laws of the OT and to numerous additional traditions such as angels and bodily resurrection.

[3:7]  ²¹ sn The Sadducees controlled the official political structures of Judaism at this time, being the majority members of the Sanhedrin. They were known as extremely strict on law and order issues (Josephus, J. W. 2.8.2 [2.119], 2.8.14 [2.164-166]; Ant. 13.5.9 [13.171-173], 13.10.6 [13.293-298], 18.1.2 [18.11], 18.1.4 [18.16-17], 20.9.1 [20.199]; Life 2 [10-11]). See also Matt 16:1-12; 22:23-34; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-38; Acts 5:17; 23:6-8.

[24:16]  ²² sn Fleeing to the mountains is a key OT image: Gen 19:17; Judg 6:2; Isa 15:5; Jer 16:16; Zech 14:5.

[24:17]  ²³ sn On the roof. Most of the roofs in the NT were flat roofs made of pounded dirt, sometimes mixed with lime or stones, supported by heavy wooden beams. They generally had an easy means of access, either a sturdy wooden ladder or stone stairway, sometimes on the outside of the house.

[24:17]  ²⁴ sn The swiftness and devastation of the judgment will require a swift escape. There will be no time to come down from the roof and pick up anything from inside one’s home.