Genesis19

Two angels arrive in Sodom and are hosted by Lot, but the city's wicked men demand access to them. The angels rescue Lot, his wife, and two daughters before God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone, though Lot's wife disobeys and turns into a pillar of salt. Afterward, Lot and his daughters dwell in a cave, where, fearing isolation, the daughters intoxicate their father and conceive sons, Moab and Benammi, perpetuating their lineage.
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Angels Visit Lot in Sodom

1
Now the two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them, bowed facedown, ​
2
and said, “My lords, please turn aside into the house of your servant; wash your feet and spend the night. Then you can rise early and go on your way.” “No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.” ​
3
But Lot insisted so strongly that they followed him into his house. He prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

The Wickedness of Sodom Exposed

4
Before they had gone to bed, all the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, surrounded the house.
5
They called out to Lot, saying, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out to us so we can have relations with them!” ​
6
Lot went outside to meet them, shutting the door behind him.
7
“Please, my brothers,” he pleaded, “don’t do such a wicked thing!
8
Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them to you, and you can do to them as you please. But do not do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.” ​
9
“Get out of the way!” they replied. And they declared, “This one came here as a foreigner, and he is already acting like a judge! Now we will treat you worse than them.” And they pressed in on Lot and moved in to break down the door.
10
But the men inside reached out, pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door.
11
And they struck the men at the entrance, young and old, with blindness, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the door. ​

Warning and Impending Judgment

12
Then the two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—a son-in-law, your sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here,
13
because we are about to destroy this place. For the outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that He has sent us to destroy it.” ​
14
So Lot went out and spoke to the sons-in-law who were pledged in marriage to his daughters. “Get up,” he said. “Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking. ​

The Escape to Zoar

15
At daybreak the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.”
16
But when Lot hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters. And they led them safely out of the city, because of the LORD’s compassion for them. ​
17
As soon as the men had brought them out, one of them said, “Run for your lives! Do not look back, and do not stop anywhere on the plain! Flee to the mountains, or you will be swept away!” ​
18
But Lot replied, “No, my lords, please!
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Your servant has indeed found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness by sparing my life. But I cannot run to the mountains; the disaster will overtake me, and I will die.
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Look, there is a town nearby where I can flee, and it is a small place. Please let me flee there—is it not a small place? Then my life will be saved.” ​
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“Very well,” he answered, “I will grant this request as well, and will not demolish the town you indicate.
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Hurry! Run there quickly, for I cannot do anything until you reach it.” That is why the town was called Zoar. ​
23
And by the time the sun had risen over the land, Lot had reached Zoar.

Destruction of the Cities of the Plain

24
Then the LORD rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens. ​
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Thus He destroyed these cities and the entire plain, including all the inhabitants of the cities and everything that grew on the ground.
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But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. ​
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Early the next morning, Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD.
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He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw the smoke rising from the land like smoke from a furnace.
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So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham, and He brought Lot out of the catastrophe that destroyed the cities where he had lived. ​

Lot and His Daughters: Origin of Moab and Ammon

30
Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains—for he was afraid to stay in Zoar—where they lived in a cave. ​
31
One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to sleep with us, as is the custom over all the earth.
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Come, let us get our father drunk with wine so we can sleep with him and preserve his line.” ​
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So that night they got their father drunk with wine, and the firstborn went in and slept with her father; he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up.
34
The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Look, I slept with my father last night. Let us get him drunk with wine again tonight so you can go in and sleep with him and we can preserve our father’s line.”
35
So again that night they got their father drunk with wine, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him; he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up.
36
Thus both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father.
37
The older daughter gave birth to a son and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites of today. ​
38
The younger daughter also gave birth to a son, and she named him Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites of today. ​

Study Notes for Genesis 19

Verse 1

The two visitors are the angels previously seen with the LORD in Genesis 18. Lot sat in the gate, which was the place of business, legal proceedings, and social prominence, indicating he held some status in the city.

Verse 2

Lot demonstrates the sacred duty of hospitality expected in the ancient Near East, a virtue that stands in stark contrast to the subsequent behavior of the city residents.

Verse 5

The phrase 'that we may know them' (Hebrew: *yada'*) is a euphemism for sexual intercourse. This demand reveals the deep moral perversion and violent intent of the Sodomites, confirming the severity of the 'outcry' mentioned in Genesis 18:20.

Verse 8

Lot's offer of his daughters, though morally appalling, underscores the absolute priority of protecting a guest under one's roof in ancient culture, even above the honor of one's own family. This shows Lot's desperate moral confusion after years of assimilation.

Verse 11

The immediate, localized blindness inflicted by the angels demonstrates their supernatural power and serves as a final, decisive warning to the inhabitants before the ultimate judgment.

Verse 13

The angels confirm that they are God’s agents sent specifically to execute the destruction of the city because its sin has reached a catastrophic level, fulfilling the divine investigation of Genesis 18.

Verse 14

The sons-in-law's dismissal of Lot's warning illustrates the spiritual blindness and complacency that results from living within a corrupt culture, leading them to mock the divine decree.

Verse 16

Lot 'lingered,' showing his spiritual lethargy and attachment to the condemned city. His rescue was not due to his own initiative but was an act of sovereign grace, as the LORD was merciful to him for Abraham’s sake (v. 29).

Verse 17

The command to 'look not behind thee' symbolizes the spiritual necessity of total separation from the condemned way of life, emphasizing that attachment to the world leads to ruin.

Verse 20

Lot’s fear prevents him from obeying the command to flee to the mountain; instead, he bargains for the small, nearby city of Zoar. This reveals his weakness and continued reliance on visible safety rather than divine protection.

Verse 22

The statement, 'I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither,' highlights God's protective commitment to the righteous (even the compromised Lot) before the full judgment is executed upon the wicked.

Verse 24

The destruction by 'brimstone and fire' suggests a catastrophic, yet divinely directed, event involving volcanic or seismic activity, marking the area as a place of irreversible judgment.

Verse 26

Lot's wife's disobedience and looking back signify a desire or longing for the life she was commanded to abandon. She serves as a lasting testament to the danger of spiritual compromise (Luke 17:32).

Verse 29

This verse provides the theological reason for Lot's deliverance: God remembered Abraham, confirming that Lot’s salvation was an extension of the covenant promise and Abraham’s intercession in Genesis 18.

Verse 30

Lot’s fear of Zoar, the city he had just negotiated for, demonstrates his continuing psychological instability and inability to trust after the trauma of the judgment.

Verse 32

The daughters’ primary motivation is not sexual pleasure but the cultural imperative to 'preserve seed,' ensuring the continuation of their father's lineage in what they perceive as the end of the world.

Verse 37

Moab, meaning 'from father,' becomes the ancestor of the Moabites, a people who would often be hostile to Israel, establishing an ancient rivalry rooted in this dishonorable event.

Verse 38

Ben-ammi, meaning 'son of my people,' becomes the ancestor of the Ammonites, another nation frequently antagonistic to the Israelites, completing the tragic legacy of Lot’s family.

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