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Genesis 19

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Part of Abraham📖 Genesis introduction

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1Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he stood up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. ✦ 2And he said, “Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” They said, “No, but we shall spend the night in the public square.” ✦ 3Yet he strongly urged them, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. ✦ 4Before they lay down, the men of the city—the men of Sodom—surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter; ✦ 5and they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them.” ✦ 6But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him, ✦ 7and said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. ✦ 8Now look, I have two daughters who have not had relations with any man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them whatever you like; only do not do anything to these men, because they have come under the shelter of my roof.” ✦ 9But they said, “Get out of the way!” They also said, “This one came in as a foreigner, and already he is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them!” So they pressed hard against Lot and moved forward to break the door. ✦ 10But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. 11Then they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, from the small to the great, so that they became weary of trying to find the doorway. ✦ 12Then 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; ✦ 13for we are about to destroy this place, because their outcry has become so great before the Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” ✦ 14So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, and said, “Up, get out of this place, for the Lord is destroying the city.” But he appeared to his sons-in-law to be joking. ✦ 15When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.” ✦ 16But he hesitated. So the men grasped his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, because the compassion of the Lord was upon him; and they brought him out and put him outside the city. ✦ 17When they had brought them outside, one said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the surrounding area; escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away.” ✦ 18But Lot said to them, “Oh no, my lords! ✦ 19Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your compassion, which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, for the disaster will overtake me and I will die; ✦ 20now 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.” ✦ 21And he said to him, “Behold, I grant you this request also, not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken. ✦ 22Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the town was named Zoar. ✦ 23The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. 24Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of heaven, ✦ 25and He overthrew those cities, and all the surrounding area, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. ✦ 26But Lot’s wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. ✦ 27Now Abraham got up early in the morning and went 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 surrounding area; and behold, he saw the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace. ✦ 29So it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the surrounding area, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the destruction, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived. ✦ 30Now Lot went up from Zoar with his two daughters and stayed in the mountains, because he was afraid to stay in Zoar; and he stayed in a cave, he and his two daughters. ✦ 31Then the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to have relations with us according to the custom of all the earth. ✦ 32Come, let’s make our father drink wine, and let’s sleep with him so that we may keep our family alive through our father.” ✦ 33So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and slept with her father; and he did not know when she lay down or got up. ✦ 34On the following day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Look, I slept last night with my father; let’s make him drink wine tonight too, then you go in and sleep with him, so that we may keep our family alive through our father.” ✦ 35So they had their father drink wine that night too, and the younger got up and slept with him; and he did not know when she lay down or got up. ✦ 36And so both of the daughters of Lot conceived by their father. ✦ 37The firstborn gave birth to a son, and named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. ✦ 38As for the younger, she also gave birth to a son, and named him Ben-ammi; he is the father of the sons of Ammon to this day. ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

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

Where this chapter connects

Gen 19 ·18Gen 18 ·11Gen 13 ·72 Pet 2 ·7Num 16 ·6Rev 18 ·5Jude 1 ·5Judg 19 ·5

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 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.

Resources, by level

Lay

  • ★ Start hereDocumentaryExpedition BibleJoel Kramer · Free · evangelical

    On-location biblical archaeology from a credentialed archaeologist (M.A., excavated in Israel) — the best free place to start on "did it really happen?"

  • ★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical

    A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

  • ★ Start hereVideoOverview: Genesis 1–11BibleProject · 9 min · Free

    The single best free starting point for Genesis 1–11 — clear, visual, and faithful to the literary design.

  • VideoSpoken GospelSpoken Gospel · Free · evangelical

    Short, gospel-centered videos and spoken-word poems showing how each passage points to Jesus — especially strong on the Old Testament.

  • ReferenceBook of Genesis — Visual GuideBibleProject · Free

    A free structured guide to the whole book — outline, themes, and links to each video.

  • DocumentaryIs Genesis History?Del Tackett · Free · evangelical

    A young-earth-creationist case for a literal Genesis, free on YouTube. (YEC is one view held by faithful Christians; others read Genesis differently — see the genre guide on how to read it.)

Pastoral

  • SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical

    Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Seminary

  • ★ Start hereCommentaryGenesis (Word Biblical Commentary)Gordon J. Wenham · Paid · evangelical

    For decades the gold-standard commentary on Genesis — technical but rich. (See the ranked list for alternatives like Hamilton, NICOT.)

  • BookThe Pentateuch as NarrativeJohn H. Sailhamer · ~560 pp · Library · evangelical

    A literary-theological reading that makes Genesis's design visible.

Commentaries & study tools

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