Font Size
Genesis 19:15-38
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Genesis 19:15-38
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
15 When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be consumed in the punishment of the city.”(A) 16 But 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 left him outside the city.(B) 17 When they had brought them outside, they[a] said, “Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the plain; flee to the hills, or else you will be consumed.”(C) 18 And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords; 19 your servant has found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life, but I cannot flee to the hills, for fear the disaster will overtake me and I die. 20 Look, that 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!” 21 He said to him, “Very well, I grant you this favor too and will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.(D) 22 Hurry, escape there, for I can do nothing until you arrive there.” Therefore the city was called Zoar.[b] 23 The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.
24 Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven,(E) 25 and he overthrew those cities and all the plain and all the inhabitants of the cities and what grew on the ground.(F) 26 But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.(G)
27 Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord,(H) 28 and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the plain and saw the smoke of the land going up like the smoke of a furnace.(I)
29 So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had settled.(J)
The Shameful Origin of Moab and Ammon
30 Now Lot went up out of Zoar and settled in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar, so he lived in a cave with his two daughters. 31 And 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 world.(K) 32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring through our father.”(L) 33 So 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 rose. 34 On the next day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Look, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine tonight also; then you go in and lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring through our father.” 35 So they made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger rose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she rose. 36 Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. 37 The firstborn bore a son and named him Moab;[c] he is the ancestor of the Moabites to this day. 38 The younger also bore a son and named him Ben-ammi;[d] he is the ancestor of the Ammonites to this day.(M)
Read full chapter
Genesis 19:15-38
New International Version
Genesis 19:15-38
New International Version
15 With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away(A) when the city is punished.(B)”
16 When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters(C) and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them.(D) 17 As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives!(E) Don’t look back,(F) and don’t stop anywhere in the plain!(G) Flee to the mountains(H) or you will be swept away!”
18 But Lot said to them, “No, my lords,[a] please! 19 Your[b] servant has found favor in your[c] eyes,(I) and you[d] have shown great kindness(J) to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains;(K) this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. 20 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.”
21 He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request(L) too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. 22 But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar.[e](M))
23 By the time Lot reached Zoar,(N) the sun had risen over the land. 24 Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur(O) on Sodom and Gomorrah(P)—from the Lord out of the heavens.(Q) 25 Thus he overthrew those cities(R) and the entire plain,(S) destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land.(T) 26 But Lot’s wife looked back,(U) and she became a pillar of salt.(V)
27 Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord.(W) 28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.(X)
29 So when God destroyed the cities of the plain,(Y) he remembered(Z) Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe(AA) that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.(AB)
Lot and His Daughters
30 Lot and his two daughters left Zoar(AC) and settled in the mountains,(AD) for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. 31 One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth. 32 Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line(AE) through our father.”(AF)
33 That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.(AG)
34 The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.”(AH) 35 So they got their father to drink wine(AI) that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.(AJ)
36 So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father.(AK) 37 The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab[f];(AL) he is the father of the Moabites(AM) of today. 38 The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi[g]; he is the father of the Ammonites[h](AN) of today.
Footnotes
- Genesis 19:18 Or No, Lord; or No, my lord
- Genesis 19:19 The Hebrew is singular.
- Genesis 19:19 The Hebrew is singular.
- Genesis 19:19 The Hebrew is singular.
- Genesis 19:22 Zoar means small.
- Genesis 19:37 Moab sounds like the Hebrew for from father.
- Genesis 19:38 Ben-Ammi means son of my father’s people.
- Genesis 19:38 Hebrew Bene-Ammon
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.