Genesis 19:20 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Behold, 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!”

NIV: Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it--it is very small, isn't it? Then my life will be spared.'

NASB: now behold, this town is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please, let me escape there (is it not small?) so that my life may be saved.'

CSB: Look, this town is close enough for me to flee to. It is a small place. Please let me run to it--it's only a small place, isn't it?--so that I can survive."

NLT: See, there is a small village nearby. Please let me go there instead; don’t you see how small it is? Then my life will be saved.'

KJV: Behold 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.

NKJV: See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one; please let me escape there ( is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.”

Over the last few hours, the Lord has shown great mercy to Lot and his family. The angels have saved them from an angry and rapacious mob in Sodom, have physically removed them from the doomed city, and have now told them to run for the hills without stopping to save their very lives. At every step along the way, these angels have acted with extraordinary grace and patience with Lot and his family.

Despite all of this, Lot rejects their commands to run into the hills. He apparently does not believe they will make it in time. Now Lot asks if the Lord would maybe allow them to flee to a small city nearby. This is not only a request that he seek shelter in a closer place, but it also implies God withholding judgment on that tiny town, as well. The implication in the request is that this little village was likely going to be destroyed if Sodom was annihilated.

Lot has been saved, along with his family, from the judgment of God on a wicked city which he called home for many years. This makes Lot's request seem extremely bold. Abraham had asked the Lord to spare Sodom if as many as ten righteous people could be found—which, as it turned out, was more than Sodom could muster. Lot asks God not to destroy this presumably wicked but much smaller city, simply so he and his family can shelter there.

Neither the Lord nor the angels rebuke Lot for this request, as we'll see in the following verse.

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.