Come, let us get our father drunk with wine so we can sleep with him and preserve his line.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Come, let’s make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve our father’s family line.”
- KJV Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.
- NKJV Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve the lineage of our father.”
- NASB Come, let’s make our father drink wine, and let’s sleep with him so that we may keep our family alive through our father.”
- NLT Come, let’s get him drunk with wine, and then we will have sex with him. That way we will preserve our family line through our father.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The daughters plot to get their father drunk and conceive children by him.
Overview
This incestuous scheme is plainly sinful, and Scripture reports it as a sad consequence of Lot's compromised life and Sodom's influence. From these unions came the Moabites and Ammonites, later enemies of Israel, yet remarkably Ruth the Moabitess enters the line of Christ (Ruth 4; Matthew 1:5). The account warns against worldly compromise while testifying to God's grace working even through fallen human history.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Lev 18:6–7None of you are to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. I am the LORD.
- Gen 11:3And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” So they used brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar.
- Hab 2:15–16Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin until they are drunk, in order to gaze at their nakedness!
- Mark 12:19“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man is to marry his brother’s widow and raise up offspring for him.
- Prov 23:31–33Do not gaze at wine while it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.
- Gen 9:21But when he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 19:32 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.