Genesis 19:23-29

19:23 The sun had just risen ¹  over the land as Lot reached Zoar. ²  19:24 Then the Lord rained down ³  sulfur and fire ⁴  on Sodom and Gomorrah. It was sent down from the sky by the Lord. ⁵  19:25 So he overthrew those cities and all that region, ⁶  including all the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation that grew ⁷  from the ground. 19:26 But Lot’s ⁸  wife looked back longingly ⁹  and was turned into a pillar of salt.

19:27 Abraham got up early in the morning and went ¹⁰  to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 19:28 He looked out toward ¹¹  Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of that region. ¹²  As he did so, he saw the smoke rising up from the land like smoke from a furnace. ¹³ 

19:29 So when God destroyed ¹⁴  the cities of the region, ¹⁵  God honored ¹⁶  Abraham’s request. He removed Lot ¹⁷  from the midst of the destruction when he destroyed ¹⁸  the cities Lot had lived in.

[19:23]  ¹ sn The sun had just risen. There was very little time for Lot to escape between dawn (v. 15) and sunrise (here).

[19:23]  ² 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]  ³ tn The disjunctive clause signals the beginning of the next scene and highlights God’s action.

[19:24]  ⁴ tn Or “burning sulfur” (the traditional “fire and brimstone”).

[19:24]  ⁵ tn Heb “from the Lord from the heavens.” The words “It was sent down” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[19:25]  ⁶ tn Or “and all the plain”; Heb “and all the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.

[19:25]  ⁷ tn Heb “and the vegetation of the ground.”

[19:26]  ⁸ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Lot) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:26]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew verb means “to look intently; to gaze” (see 15:5).

[19:27]  ¹⁰ tn The words “and went” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[19:28]  ¹¹ tn Heb “upon the face of.”

[19:28]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Heb “And he saw, and look, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.”

[19:29]  ¹⁴ tn The construction is a temporal clause comprised of the temporal indicator, an infinitive construct with a preposition, and the subjective genitive.

[19:29]  ¹⁵ tn Or “of the plain”; Heb “of the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.

[19:29]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ sn God’s removal of Lot before the judgment is paradigmatic. He typically delivers the godly before destroying their world.

[19:29]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the overthrow when [he] overthrew.”