Discovery BoxGenesis 19:20-30
Context19:20 Look, this town 1 over here is close enough to escape to, and it’s just a little one. 2 Let me go there. 3 It’s just a little place, isn’t it? 4 Then I’ll survive.” 5
19:21 “Very well,” he replied, 6 “I will grant this request too 7 and will not overthrow 8 the town you mentioned. 19:22 Run there quickly, 9 for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” (This incident explains why the town was called Zoar.) 10
19:23 The sun had just risen 11 over the land as Lot reached Zoar. 12 19:24 Then the Lord rained down 13 sulfur and fire 14 on Sodom and Gomorrah. It was sent down from the sky by the Lord. 15 19:25 So he overthrew those cities and all that region, 16 including all the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation that grew 17 from the ground. 19:26 But Lot’s 18 wife looked back longingly 19 and was turned into a pillar of salt.
19:27 Abraham got up early in the morning and went 20 to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 19:28 He looked out toward 21 Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of that region. 22 As he did so, he saw the smoke rising up from the land like smoke from a furnace. 23
19:29 So when God destroyed 24 the cities of the region, 25 God honored 26 Abraham’s request. He removed Lot 27 from the midst of the destruction when he destroyed 28 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.
Deuteronomy 34:3
Context34:3 the Negev, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of the date palm trees, as far as Zoar.
Isaiah 15:5
Context15:5 My heart cries out because of Moab’s plight, 29
and for the fugitives 30 stretched out 31 as far as Zoar and Eglath Shelishiyah.
For they weep as they make their way up the ascent of Luhith;
they loudly lament their demise on the road to Horonaim. 32
Jeremiah 48:34
Context48:34 Cries of anguish raised from Heshbon and Elealeh
will be sounded as far as Jahaz. 33
They will be sounded from Zoar as far as Horonaim and Eglath Shelishiyah.
For even the waters of Nimrim will be dried up.
[19:20] 1 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.”
[19:20] 2 tn Heb “Look, this town is near to flee to there. And it is little.”
[19:20] 3 tn Heb “Let me escape to there.” The cohortative here expresses Lot’s request.
[19:20] 4 tn Heb “Is it not little?”
[19:20] 5 tn Heb “my soul will live.” After the cohortative the jussive with vav conjunctive here indicates purpose/result.
[19:21] 6 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
[19:21] 7 tn Heb “I have lifted up your face [i.e., shown you favor] also concerning this matter.”
[19:21] 8 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”).
[19:22] 9 tn Heb “Be quick! Escape to there!” The two imperatives form a verbal hendiadys, the first becoming adverbial.
[19:22] 10 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).
[19:23] 11 sn The sun had just risen. There was very little time for Lot to escape between dawn (v. 15) and sunrise (here).
[19:23] 12 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.
[19:24] 13 tn The disjunctive clause signals the beginning of the next scene and highlights God’s action.
[19:24] 14 tn Or “burning sulfur” (the traditional “fire and brimstone”).
[19:24] 15 tn Heb “from the
[19:25] 16 tn Or “and all the plain”; Heb “and all the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.
[19:25] 17 tn Heb “and the vegetation of the ground.”
[19:26] 18 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Lot) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[19:26] 19 tn The Hebrew verb means “to look intently; to gaze” (see 15:5).
[19:27] 20 tn The words “and went” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[19:28] 21 tn Heb “upon the face of.”
[19:28] 22 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] 23 tn Heb “And he saw, and look, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.”
[19:29] 24 tn The construction is a temporal clause comprised of the temporal indicator, an infinitive construct with a preposition, and the subjective genitive.
[19:29] 25 tn Or “of the plain”; Heb “of the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.
[19:29] 26 tn Heb “remembered,” but this means more than mental recollection here. Abraham’s request (Gen 18:23-32) was that the
[19:29] 27 sn God’s removal of Lot before the judgment is paradigmatic. He typically delivers the godly before destroying their world.
[19:29] 28 tn Heb “the overthrow when [he] overthrew.”
[15:5] 29 tn Heb “for Moab.” For rhetorical purposes the speaker (the Lord?, see v. 9) plays the role of a mourner.
[15:5] 30 tn The vocalization of the Hebrew text suggests “the bars of her gates,” but the form should be repointed to yield, “her fugitives.” See HALOT 156-57 s.v. בָּרִחַ, and BDB 138 s.v. בָּרִיהַ.
[15:5] 31 tn The words “are stretched out” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[15:5] 32 tn Heb “For the ascent of Luhith, with weeping they go up it; for [on] the road to Horonaim an outcry over shattering they raise up.”
[48:34] 33 tn The meaning of this verse is very uncertain. The ambiguity of the syntax and the apparent elliptical nature of this text makes the meaning of this verse uncertain. The Hebrew text reads: “From the cry of Heshbon unto Elealeh unto Jahaz they utter their voice from Zoar unto Horonaim Eglath Shelishiyah.” The translation and interpretation here are based on interpreting the elliptical syntax here by the parallel passage in Isaiah 15:4-6 where cries of anguish rise from Heshbon and Elealeh which are heard all the way to Jahaz. The people flee southward arriving at Zoar and Eglath Shelishiyah where they voice the news of the destruction in the north. Hence, the present translation interprets the phrase “from the cry of Heshbon unto Elealeh” to be parallel to “Heshbon and Elealeh cry out” and take the preposition “from” with the verb “they utter their voice,” i.e., with the cry of Heshbon and Elealeh. The impersonal “they raise their voice” is then treated as a passive and made the subject of the whole verse. There is some debate about the identification of the waters of Nimrim. They may refer to the waters of the Wadi Nimrim which enters the Jordan about eight miles north of the Dead Sea or those of the Wadi en-Numeirah which flows into the southern tip of the Dead Sea from about ten miles south. Most commentators take the reference to be the latter because of association with Zoar. However, if the passage is talking about the destruction in the north which is reported in the south by the fleeing refugees, the reference is probably to the Wadi Nimrim in the north.
