Genesis chapter 19

English Standard Version

1The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth 2and said, "My lords, please turn aside to your servant 's house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way." They said, "No; we will spend the night in the town square." 3But he pressed them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

4But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. 5And they called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them." 6Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him, 7and said, "I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. 8Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof." 9But they said, "Stand back!" And they said, "This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them." Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down. 10But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. 11And they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door.

12Then the men said to Lot, "Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place. 13For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it." 14So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, "Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city." But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.

15As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city." 16But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. 17And as they brought them out, one said, "Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away." 18And Lot said to them, "Oh, no, my lords. 19Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. 20Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there — is it not a little one? — and my life will be saved!" 21He said to him, "Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. 22Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there." Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

23The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. 24Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. 25And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. 26But Lot 's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

27And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 28And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.

29So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.

30Now Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters. 31And the firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to 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 offspring from our father." 33So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father. He did not know when she lay down or when she arose.

34The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, "Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight also. Then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father." 35So they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. 36Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. 37The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites to this day.

What does Genesis chapter 19 mean?

Chapter 19 is one of the most dramatic and shocking chapters in Genesis—which is saying something! The events recorded here reveal the utter wickedness of the people of Sodom. They display God's grace to Abraham in rescuing Lot and his family. They show God's readiness and ability to judge the sins of humanity. And, these verses display the lasting consequences of sin in the hearts of Lot and his daughters.

In the prior chapter, God humors Abraham by discussing the conditions which Sodom must meet in order to avoid destruction. While God has no need to justify His actions to anyone, this conversation is permitted for our benefit. By allowing Abraham to set a standard for God's justice, which Sodom abjectly fails, chapter 18 leaves no doubt that the fate of Sodom is unquestionably deserved.

In this chapter, two angels come to Sodom to destroy the city. These seem to be the same angels who had been speaking with Abraham in chapter 18. Lot greets them at the gates to the city and insists they stay in his house for the night. Based on what happens in the next few verses, Lot likely knows that travelling strangers will not be safe in the streets.

Even inside Lot's home, however, these strangers are not out of harm's way. The men of the city surround Lot's house and demand the "men" be sent out so the mob "may know them." The text is clear—both in terms of language, interpretation, and context—that a crowd of men from Sodom has gathered to homosexually rape these two strangers.

Lot pleads with them. He offers them his virgin daughters instead. Whether this is a symbolic gesture of middle-eastern hospitality, or an actual solution being proposed by Lot, the men of Sodom will not relent. The angels intervene and physically remove Lot and his family from the city. They give clear instructions to run for the hills and not look back. Lot says no, and they allow him to go to Zoar instead.

Then God's judgment falls in the form of sulfur and fire. God destroys Sodom, Gomorrah, the region around it, all the people, and all the vegetation. Lot's wife disobeys, looks back, and is turned into a pillar of salt. Lot and his two daughters have been spared, but they have lost everything. The following morning, Abraham sees the smoke rising from all the land of the valley as from a furnace. Everything has been utterly destroyed.

Though they are safe in Zoar, Lot is afraid to stay there. He takes his daughters and runs for the hills, settling in a cave. It's unclear why Lot didn't run to the household of his uncle Abraham.

In one of Scripture's most tragic embarrassments, Lot's daughters decide they have lost all hope of ever being married or having children. They take matters into their own hands. Reflecting the all-but-nonexistent morality of the Sodomite culture in which they were raised, they get their father blindly drunk on two consecutive nights, each having sex with him in his stupor.

Both daughters become pregnant, and the resulting sons become the fathers of the Moabite and Ammonite peoples, respectively. Lot's story, so far as the Bible is concerned, ends here, in ruin, shame, and humiliation.

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Book Summary
The book of Genesis establishes fundamental truths about God. Among these are His role as the Creator, His holiness, His hatred of sin, His love for mankind, and His willingness to provide for our redemption. We learn not only where mankind has come from, but why the world is in its present form. The book also presents the establishment of Israel, God's chosen people. Many of the principles given in other parts of Scripture depend on the basic ideas presented here in the book of Genesis. Within the framework of the Bible, Genesis explains the bare-bones history of the universe leading up to the captivity of Israel in Egypt, setting the stage for the book of Exodus.

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Chapter Context
In the previous chapter, Abraham had bargained with God on behalf of his nephew Lot and the people of Sodom. The Lord assured Abraham He would not destroy the cities if He found ten righteous people there. Chapter 19 immediately demonstrates no righteous people are to be found. Every man of Sodom attempts to attack two visitors, who are God's angels in human form. As the angels rescue Lot, God's judgment falls, utterly destroying everything in the area around Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot and his daughters end up in a cave in the hills, where the daughters scheme to conceive children by making their father drunk. This ends Lot's role in the story of Genesis, with future chapters focusing exclusively on the life and descendants of Abraham.

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What is the Gospel?

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