Discovery BoxGenesis 19:20-38
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. 19:31 Later the older daughter said 29 to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man anywhere nearby 30 to have sexual relations with us, 31 according to the way of all the world. 19:32 Come, let’s make our father drunk with wine 32 so we can have sexual relations 33 with him and preserve 34 our family line through our father.” 35
19:33 So that night they made their father drunk with wine, 36 and the older daughter 37 came and had sexual relations with her father. 38 But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up. 39 19:34 So in the morning the older daughter 40 said to the younger, “Since I had sexual relations with my father last night, let’s make him drunk again tonight. 41 Then you go and have sexual relations with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” 42 19:35 So they made their father drunk 43 that night as well, and the younger one came and had sexual relations with him. 44 But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up. 45
19:36 In this way both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. 19:37 The older daughter 46 gave birth to a son and named him Moab. 47 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. 48 He is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today.
[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.”
[19:31] 29 tn Heb “and the firstborn said.”
[19:31] 30 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.
[19:31] 31 tn Heb “to enter upon us.” This is a euphemism for sexual relations.
[19:32] 32 tn Heb “drink wine.”
[19:32] 33 tn Heb “and we will lie down.” The cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive is subordinated to the preceding cohortative and indicates purpose/result.
[19:32] 34 tn Or “that we may preserve.” Here the cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates their ultimate goal.
[19:32] 35 tn Heb “and we will keep alive from our father descendants.”
[19:33] 36 tn Heb “drink wine.”
[19:33] 37 tn Heb “the firstborn.”
[19:33] 38 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.
[19:33] 39 tn Heb “and he did not know when she lay down and when she arose.”
[19:34] 40 tn Heb “the firstborn.”
[19:34] 41 tn Heb “Look, I lied down with my father. Let’s make him drink wine again tonight.”
[19:34] 42 tn Heb “And go, lie down with him and we will keep alive from our father descendants.”
[19:35] 43 tn Heb “drink wine.”
[19:35] 44 tn Heb “lied down with him.”
[19:35] 45 tn Heb “And he did not know when she lied down and when she arose.”
[19:37] 46 tn Heb “the firstborn.”
[19:37] 47 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.
[19:38] 48 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.
