Genesis 19:12 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Then 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.

NIV: The two men said to Lot, "Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here,

NASB: Then the two men said to Lot, 'Whom else do you have here? A son-in-law and your sons and daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place;

CSB: Then the angels said to Lot, "Do you have anyone else here: a son-in-law, your sons and daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of this place,

NLT: Meanwhile, the angels questioned Lot. 'Do you have any other relatives here in the city?' they asked. 'Get them out of this place — your sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone else.

KJV: And 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:

NKJV: Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city— take them out of this place!

The angels have subdued the violent and rapacious mob seeking to break Lot's door down. Now they turn to Lot and those safe inside the house for the moment. The question asked by the two angels reveals that a greater danger is coming. They ask Lot if there is anyone else in town beside his wife and two daughters that he would hope to get out of the place. They list possibilities: sons, daughters, sons-in-law, anyone at all.

There may be two levels to this question. On the one hand, as the following verse will reveal, God is about to destroy the city (Genesis 19:24–25). The point of the question is an offer of safety: the angels seek to rescue anyone attached to Lot.

At the same time, the Lord had promised Abraham He would not destroy the city if as few as ten righteous people could be found (Genesis 18:32). Lot, his wife, and his two daughters make four, at the most. In the following verses, Lot's attempt to find anyone else to come with him will make it abundantly clear that not even ten righteous people were to be found in Sodom. Both God's justice and His mercy would be satisfied. No righteous people would be swept away with the wicked.

Genesis 19:1–22 describes what happens following the Lord's assurance to Abraham that He will not destroy Sodom if He finds ten righteous people there. Despite such a low standard, Sodom fails the test. Every man in the city attempts to rape two of the Lord's angels who are in human form. The angels intervene, eventually removing Lot and his family from the city by force, and out of God's mercy. The angels instruct the family to run to the hills, but Lot asks if they can flee to the tiny town of Zoar instead. The angels allow this.

Two angels, disguised as men, visit Abraham's nephew, Lot, in the city of Sodom. After the men of Sodom attempt to rape the angels in Lot's home, the angels rescue Lot and his family, forcibly removing them from the city. Then God sends fire and sulfur from heaven. This destroys all of the land and people in and around the cities. As stated in earlier verses, this is the result of their great and ongoing wickedness. Lot's wife is turned to a pillar of salt when she disobeys the angels by looking back on the destruction. Lot and his daughters flee first to Zoar, then to a cave in the hills. There, Lot's confused and frightened daughters get him drunk, have sex with him, and each become pregnant.

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.

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.