Genesis 19

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The visitors are now identified as mal'akhim ('angels,' literally 'messengers'), whereas in 18:2 they were called anashim ('men'). This shift in terminology reveals what the reader suspected: two of the three visitors to Abraham were divine emissaries. The third, who spoke as the LORD, apparently did not accompany them to Sodom.
2. 'Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom' (veLot yoshev besha'ar Sedom) — the gate was the civic center where legal transactions, judgments, and public business took place (cf. Ruth 4:1; Proverbs 31:23). That Lot 'sits' there suggests he has attained a position of civic authority or at least social standing in Sodom. This contrasts sharply with his original status as a 'sojourner' (ger), a tension the mob will exploit in verse 9.
3. Lot's hospitality mirrors Abraham's in chapter 18 — rising, bowing, offering shelter — but the contrast between the two settings (Mamre's oaks vs. Sodom's gate) signals that everything here will go differently.

Translator Notes

1. Lot's invitation follows the pattern of Near Eastern hospitality but with notable differences from Abraham's. Abraham offered shade, water, and bread in the open; Lot urgently directs them indoors. He knows what Sodom is, and the street is no place for strangers after dark.
2. 'We will spend the night in the town square' (ki varechov nalin) — the rechov is the open plaza near the city gate. The angels' initial refusal may be a test of Lot's insistence, or it may serve the narrative purpose: had they stayed in the square, the events that follow would have confirmed Sodom's wickedness even more publicly. Their willingness to stay outside underscores that they do not fear the city's inhabitants; they are there as agents of judgment.
3. The angels' refusal contrasts with their immediate acceptance of Abraham's invitation in 18:5. The literary effect emphasizes the difference between Mamre and Sodom — one a place of generous welcome, the other a place of danger.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'He pressed them strongly' (vayyiftsar bam me'od) — the verb patsar means to urge insistently, even to the point of being burdensome. Lot knows the danger. His insistence is not mere politeness but an act of protective hospitality. The same verb appears in verse 9 when the mob 'presses hard' against Lot — the same urgency directed to opposite ends.
2. 'Unleavened bread' (matzot) — bread made without leaven, which can be prepared quickly since it requires no rising time. This detail may reflect the haste of the situation, but it also creates a resonance with the Passover narrative, where matzot are eaten on the night of deliverance from judgment (Exodus 12:8). Lot serves matzot on the night before Sodom's destruction — an echo the later reader cannot miss.
3. Lot's feast (mishteh) is more modest than Abraham's lavish spread in 18:6–8 — no fine flour, no choice calf, no curds and milk. The contrast between the two brothers' provisions subtly reflects their different circumstances.

Translator Notes

1. 'Before they lay down' (terem yishkavu) — the attack comes at night, before the household has gone to sleep. The timing emphasizes the predatory nature of the mob: they do not wait; they act under cover of darkness.
2. 'The men of the city, the men of Sodom' (anshei ha'ir anshei Sedom) — the double identification is emphatic. These are not outsiders but the very citizens of Sodom. The repetition underscores collective guilt.
3. 'Both young and old, all the people from every quarter' (minna'ar ve'ad zaqen kol ha'am miqqatseh) — the universality is stressed with deliberate thoroughness. No age group is exempt; no neighborhood is uninvolved. The phrase miqqatseh ('from the end/extremity') means from every corner of the city. This total participation answers the question Abraham raised in 18:23–32: are there even ten righteous in the city? The answer is made visible — not one man stays home.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'That we may know them' (veneda'ah otam) — the verb yada ('to know') has a wide semantic range, from intellectual knowledge to intimate sexual knowledge (cf. 4:1, 'Adam knew Eve his wife'). The context makes the sexual intent unmistakable: the mob demands access to the visitors for the purpose of sexual violence. This is not mere curiosity but an assertion of dominance and violation of the most fundamental laws of hospitality.
2. The demand exposes the comprehensive moral corruption of Sodom. The 'outcry' (tsa'aqah) that reached the LORD in 18:20–21 is now given concrete form. The sin is not a private vice but a communal act of aggression against the vulnerable — precisely the kind of injustice that provokes divine intervention throughout Scripture (cf. Ezekiel 16:49, which identifies Sodom's sin as arrogance, excess of food, prosperous ease, and failure to aid the poor and needy).

Translator Notes

1. Lot goes out alone to face the mob, shutting the door behind him to protect his guests inside. Whatever we may think of his subsequent offer, this act of stepping outside to confront an enraged crowd is an act of physical courage. He places his own body between the mob and the visitors.
2. 'Shut the door behind him' (vehadelet sagar acharav) — the closed door is a barrier between the protected space of hospitality and the hostile outside. The door will become a focal point: the mob will try to break it down (v. 9), and the angels will pull Lot back through it (v. 10). Inside is safety; outside is chaos.

Translator Notes

1. 'My brothers' (achai) — Lot addresses the mob with a term of kinship, attempting to appeal to social bonds. He has lived among them long enough to call them brothers, yet the term also reveals the tragic distance between his values and theirs.
2. 'Do not act so wickedly' (al na tare'u) — the verb ra'a in the Hiphil means 'to do evil, to act wickedly.' Lot names their intent plainly: this is evil. The brevity of his plea — just four words in Hebrew — conveys both urgency and the futility of reasoning with a mob.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. Lot's offer of his virgin daughters to the mob is one of the most disturbing passages in the Hebrew Bible. The text presents it without comment or approval — the narrator does not editorialize. Lot's calculus appears to prioritize the obligation of hospitality to guests over the safety of his own daughters, reflecting the extreme weight placed on the host's duty in ancient Near Eastern culture. Modern readers rightly recoil; the text neither endorses nor condemns but records.
2. 'Who have not known a man' (asher lo yade'u ish) — the same verb yada used by the mob in verse 5, creating a grim wordplay. The daughters' sexual innocence is offered against the mob's sexual violence.
3. 'Under the shadow of my roof' (betsel qorati) — literally 'in the shadow of my beam/rafter.' The roof-beam represents the entire household and its protective obligation. Once a person has entered under another's roof, the host bears sacred responsibility for their safety. This principle of hospitality was inviolable in the ancient world, and Lot invokes it as the ultimate justification for his horrifying offer. The phrase reveals both the nobility of the principle and the catastrophic lengths to which Lot is driven.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'This one came to sojourn, and now he would play the judge' (ha'echad ba lagur vayyishpot shafot) — the mob's retort exposes Lot's precarious status. He is a ger, a resident alien, not a native citizen. He has no standing to pass moral judgment. The infinitive absolute construction vayyishpot shafot ('he judges, judging!' or 'he keeps on judging!') expresses contempt — who does this foreigner think he is? The irony is sharp: Lot sat in the gate (v. 1), the place of judgment, yet the mob denies him any judicial authority.
2. 'We will deal worse with you than with them' (nara lekha mehem) — the threat escalates. The mob turns its violence toward Lot himself. His attempt at mediation has failed completely; moral reasoning is useless against collective rage.
3. 'They pressed hard' (vayyiftseru) — the same root (p-ts-r) used in verse 3 of Lot's pressing the angels to accept his hospitality. The verbal echo is bitter: Lot's insistent goodness is mirrored by the mob's insistent evil.

Translator Notes

1. The angels — called 'the men' (ha'anashim) here, maintaining the narrative's fluid terminology — intervene decisively. They reach through the doorway, pull Lot inside, and shut the door. The rescue is physical and sudden. Lot's attempt to protect his guests has reversed: the guests now protect him.
2. The closed door reappears: in verse 6 Lot shut it to protect those inside; now the angels shut it to protect Lot himself. The door is the boundary between the ordered space of hospitality and the chaos of mob violence.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Blindness' (sanverim) — this rare word appears only here and in 2 Kings 6:18, where Elisha strikes the Aramean army with the same affliction. It may denote not total blindness but a dazzling, disorienting confusion of vision — the men can still grope for the door but cannot find it. The word's rarity adds to its strangeness and supernatural quality.
2. 'Both small and great' (miqqaton ve'ad gadol) — echoing the 'young and old' of verse 4. Every member of the mob is struck. Even blinded, they do not retreat but 'wearied themselves' (vayyil'u) trying to find the entrance. The persistence of their malice even after divine intervention underscores the depth of Sodom's corruption — judgment does not produce repentance but only frustrated rage.

Translator Notes

1. The angels now reveal their mission's dual purpose: judgment on Sodom and deliverance of Lot's household. The catalog of family members — sons-in-law, sons, daughters, 'whoever you have' — is comprehensive. God's mercy extends to anyone connected to Lot.
2. 'Bring them out of the place' (hotse min hamaqom) — hamaqom ('the place') is used rather than 'the city,' perhaps already distancing the location from its identity. It is no longer a city to be named but a place to be destroyed. The urgency is absolute: get out everyone you can.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'The outcry' (tsa'aqatam) — this is the same tsa'aqah ('cry, outcry') mentioned in 18:20–21, where the LORD told Abraham that the outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah was great. The word denotes the cry of the oppressed rising to heaven — the same cry of Israel in Egypt (Exodus 3:7) and the blood of Abel from the ground (4:10). It is not the cry of Sodom's inhabitants but the cry against them — the voice of their victims reaching God.
2. 'The LORD has sent us to destroy it' (vayshallechenu YHWH leshachatah) — the angels explicitly identify themselves as agents of the LORD on a mission of destruction. The verb shachat ('to destroy, corrupt, ruin') connects to the moral corruption (mashchit) that necessitates the physical destruction. The city that corrupted itself will be destroyed — the punishment mirrors the crime.
3. The angels speak of the LORD in the third person — 'the LORD has sent us' — confirming their identity as messengers (mal'akhim) rather than the LORD himself.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'His sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters' (chatanavav loqechei venotav) — the Hebrew is ambiguous. The participle loqechei ('taking, about to take') could indicate men who had already married his daughters or men betrothed to them. Since verse 8 mentions two virgin daughters still in Lot's house, these are likely betrothed men who had not yet consummated the marriage. Lot may have had other, already-married daughters as well.
2. 'He seemed to be jesting' (vayehi khimtsacheq) — the word kimtsacheq ('like one laughing, jesting, mocking') contains the root ts-ch-q, the same root as the name Yitschaq (Isaac, 'he laughs'). In 18:12–15, Sarah laughed (vatitschaq) at the promise of a son; here Lot's warning of judgment is received as a joke. The wordplay is devastating: the laughter of disbelief at God's promise mirrors the laughter of disbelief at God's judgment. Both are misplaced.
3. The sons-in-law's refusal seals their fate. They hear the warning and dismiss it. This is the pattern of judgment throughout Scripture: warning is given, and those who do not heed it perish (cf. Noah's generation, Pharaoh).

Translator Notes

1. 'As dawn arose' (ukhemo hashachar alah) — the destruction will come with the sunrise (v. 23). Dawn, normally a symbol of hope and new beginning, here marks the deadline for escape. The light that comes will bring fire.
2. 'The angels urged Lot' (vayya'itsu hammal'akhim beLot) — the verb 'uts means to press, urge, hasten. The narrative has shifted from Lot pressing the angels (v. 3) to the angels pressing Lot. He who was eager to show hospitality is now reluctant to leave.
3. 'Your two daughters who are here' (shetei venotekha hannimtsa'ot) — hannimtsa'ot means 'who are found, who are present.' This specifies the daughters still in Lot's household, distinguishing them from any who may have married and remained in the city.
4. 'Lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city' (pen tissafeh ba'avon ha'ir) — the verb safah means 'to sweep away, to be destroyed.' The word 'avon means both 'iniquity' and 'punishment for iniquity' — the city's sin and its consequence are expressed in a single word.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'He lingered' (vayyitmahemah) — this extraordinary verb, a Hitpalpel form of mahah ('to delay'), conveys prolonged, inexplicable hesitation. Lot dawdles, dithers, cannot bring himself to leave. After a night of mob violence, after explicit warning of imminent destruction, he lingers. The word captures the gravitational pull of a familiar life, even one lived in a wicked city. Lot's attachment to Sodom runs deeper than his fear of its judgment.
2. 'The men seized his hand' (vayyachaziku ha'anashim beyado) — the angels physically grip the hands of Lot, his wife, and both daughters. Four people, four hands seized. Salvation here is not Lot's achievement but God's forcible rescue of one who cannot save himself.
3. 'The LORD being merciful to him' (bechemlat YHWH alav) — the narrator's comment is theologically decisive. Lot is not saved by his righteousness (though 2 Peter 2:7 calls him 'righteous Lot'), nor by his own initiative — he is lingering! He is saved by chemlah, the LORD's compassion, tender mercy, sparing pity. The preposition al ('upon him') suggests mercy descending, covering, enveloping. This is pure grace: God saves a man who cannot even bring himself to walk out the door.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Flee for your life!' (himmalet al nafshekha) — literally 'escape upon your life,' meaning 'flee for the sake of your life.' The Niphal imperative of malat ('to escape') is urgent and absolute. The singular address ('your life,' not 'your lives') may indicate the command is directed primarily to Lot, or it may reflect the Hebrew convention of addressing the head of household.
2. 'Do not look behind you' (al tabbit acharekha) — the prohibition against looking back is never explained in the text. It may signify complete separation from the doomed city — no lingering attachment, no backward glance of longing or regret. Looking back would represent a divided heart, a refusal to fully accept deliverance. Lot's wife will violate this command in verse 26.
3. 'Flee to the hills' (haharah himmalet) — literally 'to the mountain, escape!' The mountain represents safety, elevation above the destruction that will engulf the plain (kikkar). Throughout Scripture, mountains are places of refuge and divine encounter. Lot, characteristically, will negotiate even this command (vv. 18–20).

Translator Notes

1. 'Oh no, my lord!' (al na Adonai) — Lot's response to the command to flee is immediate negotiation. Even in the moment of divine rescue, with destruction imminent, Lot bargains. The address 'Adonai' (my lord) here may be directed to God or to the angel speaking; the Masoretic pointing suggests the divine address.
2. The brevity of Lot's protest — just three words — is striking. It echoes Abraham's intercession in 18:23–32, but where Abraham negotiated on behalf of others, Lot negotiates for his own convenience. The contrast between uncle and nephew is once again drawn sharply.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'You have shown great kindness' (vattagdel chasdekha) — Lot acknowledges that his deliverance is an act of chesed, the covenant-loyalty and lovingkindness of God. The verb gadal ('to make great, magnify') intensifies: God has not merely shown chesed but has made it great, has magnified it. This is a remarkable theological statement from a man who is simultaneously negotiating to disobey.
2. 'I cannot flee to the hills' (lo ukhal lehimmalet haharah) — Lot claims inability. Whether this is physical weakness, fear of the unknown wilderness, or simply reluctance to leave civilization entirely, the text does not specify. His fear — 'lest the disaster overtake me and I die' (pen tidbaqani hara'ah vamatti) — suggests he doubts whether he can reach the mountains before destruction falls. The verb davaq ('to cling, overtake, stick to') vividly pictures calamity catching up and clinging to him.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'It is a small one' (vehi mits'ar) — Lot's argument is charming in its absurdity: spare this city because it is so small it hardly matters. The word mits'ar ('small, insignificant, trifling') becomes the city's name: Tso'ar (v. 22), meaning 'small.' Lot essentially names the city by his plea for it.
2. The repetition — 'is it not a small one?' (halo mits'ar hi) — is almost wheedling. Lot negotiates with the angel as though haggling at the gate. The contrast with Abraham's dignified intercession in chapter 18 is notable: Abraham argued on principle (justice and righteousness); Lot argues from personal convenience and fear.
3. 'And my life will be saved' (utechi nafshi) — literally 'and my soul shall live.' Lot frames everything in terms of his own survival. The self-focus is understandable but stands in contrast to Abraham's concern for the righteous of Sodom.

Translator Notes

1. 'I have granted you this request' (nasa'ti fanekha) — literally 'I have lifted your face,' an idiom meaning 'I have shown you favor, I have accepted your petition.' The expression comes from the practice of a petitioner prostrating before a superior; to 'lift the face' is to grant the request and restore the petitioner to standing. God accepts even Lot's self-serving negotiation.
2. 'I will not overthrow the city' (levilti hofki et ha'ir) — the verb hafakh ('to overthrow, overturn') is the characteristic word for Sodom's destruction (cf. v. 25, 29). It denotes total inversion — turning upside down, the complete reversal of an established order. The overthrow of Sodom becomes a paradigm referenced throughout Scripture (Deuteronomy 29:23; Isaiah 13:19; Jeremiah 49:18; Amos 4:11).

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'I can do nothing until you arrive there' (lo ukhal la'asot davar ad bo'akha shammah) — a remarkable statement. The agent of divine judgment says that destruction is constrained until the righteous (or at least the spared) are safe. God's judgment waits for mercy to complete its work. This principle echoes throughout Scripture: Noah must be in the ark before the flood (7:16); Israel must be past the sea before it closes (Exodus 14:28–29).
2. 'Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar' (al ken qara shem ha'ir Tso'ar) — the narrator provides the etiological explanation. Tso'ar is related to mits'ar ('small'), preserving Lot's plea in the city's permanent name. The city that was too small to matter became the city that was too small to destroy.

Translator Notes

1. 'The sun had risen over the land' (hashemesh yatsa al ha'arets) — this simple, luminous sentence creates the calm before the cataclysm. The sun rises as it always does; the earth appears normal; Lot reaches his small refuge. The next verse will shatter this ordinary moment with fire from heaven. The juxtaposition of natural beauty and supernatural destruction is devastating.
2. The verse serves as a precise timestamp: destruction comes in full daylight, not under cover of night. The sun that rises to illuminate the land will witness its incineration.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'The LORD rained ... from the LORD out of heaven' (vaYHWH himtir ... me'et YHWH min hashamayim) — the double mention of the LORD is one of the most discussed phrases in Genesis. 'The LORD rained ... from the LORD' seems to distinguish between a LORD who acts on earth and a LORD who sends from heaven. Some read this as simply emphatic repetition; others see a hint of plurality within the divine being. The text makes no attempt to resolve the tension.
2. 'Sulfur and fire' (gafrit va'esh) — gafrit is brimstone (sulfite/sulfur), and combined with fire it evokes volcanic destruction, though the text frames it as directly sent from heaven, not as a natural geological event. The region around the Dead Sea is rich in sulfur and bitumen deposits (cf. 14:10, 'the Valley of Siddim was full of bitumen pits'). Whatever natural processes may have been involved, the narrative insists on divine agency: this is the LORD's rain, falling from the LORD, out of heaven.
3. The verb himtir ('rained') uses the language of weather — God 'rains' destruction as he rains water. The irony is absolute: rain in an arid land is life; this rain is death. The heavens that should send blessing send annihilation.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'He overthrew' (vayyahafokh) — the verb hafakh means to turn upside down, to overturn completely. It is the definitive word for Sodom's destruction and gives rise to the noun mahapekhah ('overthrow'), which becomes the technical term for Sodom's fate throughout the prophets. The word implies total inversion: what was above is now below; what was a fertile plain becomes a desolate waste.
2. The scope of destruction is comprehensive: the cities (plural — not Sodom alone but the cities of the plain), the entire kikkar (the Jordan plain), all inhabitants, and even the vegetation (tsemach ha'adamah, 'the growth of the ground'). Nothing organic survives. The land that Lot chose because it was 'well watered everywhere, like the garden of the LORD' (13:10) is now utterly barren. The irony of Lot's original choice is complete.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'She looked back' (vatabbeit) — the verb nabat means more than a casual glance; it denotes an intent, fixed gaze. This is not an accidental glimpse over the shoulder but a deliberate turning to look. She violated the explicit command of verse 17: 'Do not look behind you.' Her look back signifies attachment to what was being destroyed — longing for the city, its life, its comforts. Jesus will cite her as a warning: 'Remember Lot's wife' (Luke 17:32).
2. 'A pillar of salt' (netsiv melach) — netsiv can mean 'pillar, monument, standing form.' The Dead Sea region is rich in salt formations, and pillar-shaped salt deposits exist to this day along its southern shore. The transformation is both judgment and monument — she who turned to look became a permanent marker of the consequences of divided loyalty.
3. Lot's wife is never named in the text. She is identified only in relation to Lot ('his wife'), making her simultaneously everywoman and no one. The anonymity universalizes her story: anyone who looks back at what God has condemned shares her fate.

Translator Notes

1. 'Abraham rose early in the morning' (vayyashkem Avraham babboqer) — the verb hashkim ('to rise early') is characteristic of Abraham (cf. 21:14; 22:3). He is consistently depicted as a man of early, purposeful action. Here he returns to the very spot where he interceded with the LORD in 18:22–33.
2. 'The place where he had stood before the LORD' (hamaqom asher amad sham et penei YHWH) — literally 'the place where he stood there before the face of the LORD.' The phrase et penei YHWH ('before the face of the LORD') recalls the intensity of Abraham's intercession. He returns to the place of prayer to see the outcome of what he prayed about. The narrative shifts perspective from Lot's escape to Abraham's witness, connecting the two threads of the story.

Translator Notes

1. 'He looked down' (vayyashqef) — the verb shaqaf means to look down from a height, to gaze out over a vista. Abraham views the destruction from the heights near Hebron, looking eastward and down toward the Jordan plain. The panoramic perspective makes him a witness to the entirety of the devastation.
2. 'The smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace' (alah qitor ha'arets keqitor hakkivshan) — qitor is dense smoke, vapor, the kind that rises from intense burning. A kivshan is a kiln or smelting furnace — an industrial image of extreme, sustained heat. The simile conveys not a brush fire but a total conflagration. The entire landscape has become a furnace.
3. Abraham had asked in 18:23, 'Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?' Now he sees the answer: the cities are destroyed, but — as verse 29 will clarify — God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out. The righteous (such as they were) were not swept away with the wicked.

Translator Notes

1. 'God remembered Abraham' (vayyizkor Elohim et Avraham) — the verb zakhar ('to remember') in its divine usage does not mean that God had forgotten. It signifies God's active turning of attention, the moment when prior commitment becomes present action. God 'remembers' Noah in 8:1, Rachel in 30:22, Israel in Exodus 2:24. Each time, remembering triggers deliverance. Here, Lot is saved not because of his own merit but because God remembered Abraham — the intercessor's prayer is effective even when the answer is not exactly what was asked for.
2. 'The overthrow' (hahapekhah) — the noun form of hafakh, used as a proper designation for the destruction. 'The Overthrow' becomes a fixed title for Sodom's fate, referenced repeatedly in prophetic literature.
3. The shift from YHWH (v. 24) to Elohim here may reflect the narrator's use of the more universal divine name when describing God's cosmic act of judgment, or it may follow the convention of using Elohim when the emphasis is on God's power and sovereignty.

Translator Notes

1. 'He was afraid to dwell in Zoar' (ki yare lashebet beTso'ar) — the irony is thick. Lot negotiated desperately to be allowed to flee to Zoar instead of the hills (vv. 18–22), yet now he abandons Zoar for the very hills he was told to flee to originally. His fear may stem from the realization that Zoar, being a city of the plain, could share the fate of Sodom. Or perhaps the proximity to the destruction has unnerved him. Either way, the man who could not bring himself to leave Sodom (v. 16) now cannot stay anywhere.
2. 'He dwelt in a cave' (vayyeshev bamme'arah) — Lot's trajectory is now complete: from Abraham's companion (13:1) to Sodom's citizen at the gate (19:1) to cave-dweller. The man who chose the lush, well-watered plain (13:10–11) ends in a cave. The reversal mirrors the land's transformation from 'like the garden of the LORD' (13:10) to smoldering ruin.

Translator Notes

1. 'There is no man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth' (ve'ish ein ba'arets lavo aleinu kederekh kol ha'arets) — the daughters' perception may be literal (they believe the destruction has wiped out all humanity, having witnessed an apocalyptic event) or hyperbolic (there is no suitable man available in their isolated cave existence). Given that they have just seen cities consumed by fire from heaven, a belief that the world has ended is not unreasonable.
2. 'After the manner of all the earth' (kederekh kol ha'arets) — literally 'according to the way of all the earth,' meaning the normal course of human procreation through marriage. The phrase underscores that what they are about to propose is a departure from the natural order, driven by what they perceive as desperate circumstances.
3. The firstborn takes the initiative throughout this episode, planning and directing the younger sister. The narrative structure places responsibility primarily on her.

Translator Notes

1. 'That we may preserve offspring through our father' (unchayyeh me'avinu zara) — literally 'that we may keep alive from our father seed.' The verb chayyah ('to keep alive, preserve life') frames the act as one of preservation and continuity rather than desire. The daughters' stated motive is survival of the family line — the same concern that drives Tamar's deception of Judah in chapter 38 and Ruth's approach to Boaz in Ruth 3. The biblical narrative presents these as morally complex acts driven by the imperative of lineage preservation.
2. The plan requires making Lot drunk — 'let us make our father drink wine' (nashqeh et avinu yayin) — because he would never consent knowingly. The use of wine as a tool of deception inverts the normal association of wine with celebration and covenant meals. The text records the plan without editorial comment, leaving moral judgment to the reader.

Translator Notes

1. 'He did not know when she lay down or when she arose' (velo yada beshikhvah uvequmah) — the verb yada ('to know') returns with bitter irony. In verse 5, the mob demanded to 'know' the visitors; in verse 8, Lot offered daughters who had not 'known' a man; now Lot himself does not 'know' what is happening to him. The same word threads through the chapter, marking the progression from threatened sexual violence to actual sexual transgression within the family.
2. The text emphasizes Lot's unconsciousness: he did not know her lying down (shikhvah) or her rising (qumah). Whether this is physically plausible after extreme intoxication is beside the narrative's point — the text insists on Lot's lack of awareness and therefore his lack of consent. He is victim rather than agent in this act.

Translator Notes

1. The firstborn reports success and directs the younger to repeat the act. The repetition is structured with deliberate parallelism: the same plan, the same wine, the same outcome. The narrative's doubling ensures both children — and both nations that will descend from them — are placed on equal footing.
2. 'Let us make him drink wine tonight also' (nashqennu yayin gam hallaylah) — the word gam ('also, again') underscores the calculated, repeated nature of the deception. This is not a momentary lapse but a planned sequence.

Translator Notes

1. The near-verbatim repetition of verse 33 — the same wine, the same unknowing — creates a liturgical quality, as though the narrator is recording a terrible ritual. The younger daughter's act parallels the firstborn's exactly. The only variation is the subject: 'the younger arose' (vataqam hatse'irah) instead of 'the firstborn went in' (vattavo habbekhirah).
2. Again, 'he did not know' (velo yada) — Lot's obliviousness is restated. The narrative insists twice on his lack of awareness, as if anticipating the question of his complicity.

Translator Notes

1. The verse is starkly factual — nine words in Hebrew reporting the result without comment, emotion, or moral evaluation. The narrator's restraint is itself a statement: the text records what happened and leaves interpretation to the reader and to the unfolding of history, as the nations born from these conceptions will interact with Israel for centuries to come.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Moab' (Mo'av) — the name is popularly etymologized as me'av ('from [the] father'), a brazen acknowledgment of the child's paternity. The name preserves the origin story in perpetuity: every time the Moabites are mentioned, their ancestor's name recalls his conception. Whether this etymology is linguistically precise matters less than its narrative function — it brands the nation with its origin.
2. 'He is the father of the Moabites to this day' (hu avi Mo'av ad hayyom) — the etiological formula connects the narrative past to the narrator's present. The Moabites were Israel's neighbors, sometimes enemies (Numbers 22–25), sometimes kin (Deuteronomy 2:9). Remarkably, Ruth the Moabitess will become an ancestor of King David and, in the Christian genealogy, of Jesus (Ruth 4:17–22; Matthew 1:5). The line that begins in shame ends in royalty.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Ben-ammi' (Ben-ammi) — the name means 'son of my people' or 'son of my kinsman.' It is slightly more euphemistic than 'Moab,' veiling the paternity behind the broader term 'my people/kinsman' (ammi) rather than 'my father' (avi). Yet the meaning is transparent: 'the son of my own kin' is a circumlocution for incestuous origin.
2. 'He is the father of the Ammonites to this day' (hu avi benei Ammon ad hayyom) — the Ammonites (literally 'sons of Ammon') occupied the territory east of the Jordan, centered around modern Amman (which preserves the ancient name). Like the Moabites, they were Israel's kinsmen and rivals, protected from Israelite conquest by divine decree (Deuteronomy 2:19) yet frequently in conflict with Israel (Judges 10–11; 1 Samuel 11).
3. The chapter ends with these etiological notices, turning from the cosmic drama of divine judgment to the domestic consequences of survival. Out of the ashes of Sodom come two nations that will shape Israel's story for centuries. The narrative neither celebrates nor condemns the daughters' act — it simply records the origin of peoples who will become permanent fixtures in the biblical landscape.