The Torah · Old Testament
Genesis 19
Lot escapes Sodom and faces a troubled aftermath
General context
Two angels enter Sodom and accept Lot's hospitality. A mob surrounds his house and demands the guests for sexual abuse. Lot offers his daughters instead, but the visitors pull him inside and strike the attackers with blindness. His sons-in-law do not take the warning of destruction seriously. The angels lead Lot, his wife and two daughters out while he lingers. Lot receives permission to flee to Zoar before the Lord destroys Sodom and Gomorrah, their inhabitants and the growth across the plain. His wife looks back and becomes a pillar of salt. Abraham sees the smoke, and the narrator connects Lot's rescue with God remembering Abraham. Later, Lot and his daughters live in a cave. They make him drunk and have incestuous intercourse with him while he is unaware. Their sons are named Moab and Ben-ammi.
Cited passages: Genesis 19:1, Genesis 19:2, Genesis 19:3, Genesis 19:4, Genesis 19:5, Genesis 19:6, Genesis 19:7, Genesis 19:8, Genesis 19:9, Genesis 19:10, Genesis 19:11, Genesis 19:12, Genesis 19:13, Genesis 19:14, Genesis 19:15, Genesis 19:16, Genesis 19:17, Genesis 19:20, Genesis 19:21, Genesis 19:22, Genesis 19:23, Genesis 19:24, Genesis 19:25, Genesis 19:26, Genesis 19:27, Genesis 19:28, Genesis 19:29, Genesis 19:30, Genesis 19:31, Genesis 19:32, Genesis 19:33, Genesis 19:34, Genesis 19:35, Genesis 19:36, Genesis 19:37, Genesis 19:38
Genesis 19 (KJV)
1And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;
2And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night.
3And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.
4But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:
5And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.
6And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him,
7And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.
8Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.
9And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door.
10But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door.
11And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.
12And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place:
13For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it.
14And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.
15And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.
16And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.
17And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.
18And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord:
19Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:
20Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.
21And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken.
22Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
23The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.
24Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven;
25And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
26But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
27And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord:
28And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.
29And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.
30And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.
31And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth:
32Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.
33And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.
34And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.
35And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.
36Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.
37And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day.
38And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Ben-ammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.
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Historical context
The scene begins at Sodom's gate in the evening. The visitors eat unleavened bread in Lot's house, and the escape begins as morning comes. Zoar is spared at Lot's request, and he reaches it after sunrise. The account gives no names or ages for his wife and daughters. Its report of sons-in-law does not explain every detail of the household's relationships. Lot later leaves Zoar because he is afraid to stay there. The older daughter's claim that no man is available belongs to her speech; it is not a statement that all men have died. The closing birth notices identify Moab and Ben-ammi as ancestors of the Moabites and Ammonites, without describing modern peoples.
Cited passages: Genesis 19:1, Genesis 19:3, Genesis 19:8, Genesis 19:14, Genesis 19:15, Genesis 19:20, Genesis 19:21, Genesis 19:22, Genesis 19:23, Genesis 19:26, Genesis 19:30, Genesis 19:31, Genesis 19:36, Genesis 19:37, Genesis 19:38
Literary context
The door marks the struggle between the household and the crowd: Lot goes outside, the crowd presses toward it, and the visitors draw him back in and shut it. The escape also meets resistance from within the household. The sons-in-law dismiss the warning, Lot lingers, and his wife looks back. The narrator explicitly calls the intervention mercy and later names God's remembrance of Abraham. Rescue does not produce a simple happy ending. Fear leads Lot to the cave, and the repeated intoxication and incest scenes end with two birth notices. The account reports Lot's offer of his daughters and their later actions without turning either into a model for conduct.
Cited passages: Genesis 19:6, Genesis 19:8, Genesis 19:9, Genesis 19:10, Genesis 19:11, Genesis 19:14, Genesis 19:16, Genesis 19:26, Genesis 19:29, Genesis 19:30, Genesis 19:32, Genesis 19:33, Genesis 19:34, Genesis 19:35, Genesis 19:36, Genesis 19:37, Genesis 19:38
Key moments
- The visitors pull Lot inside (Genesis 19:10). The visitors rescue Lot from the crowd and shut the door.
- Mercy interrupts the delay (Genesis 19:16). While Lot lingers, the visitors take his family by the hand and bring them outside the city.
- Abraham is remembered (Genesis 19:29). The narrator connects Lot being sent out of the destruction with God remembering Abraham.
- The family moves to a cave (Genesis 19:30). Lot leaves Zoar out of fear and lives in a mountain cave with his two daughters.
For reflection
How do the references to mercy and God remembering Abraham affect your reading of a rescue story that also records serious harm within the family?
People in this chapter
Also indexed here:
- A wife of Lot
- Ben-ammi
- Daughter1 of Lot
- Daughter2 of Lot
- Moab