Génesis 19

VBL · Chapter 19/50

1Los dos ángeles llegaron esa noche a Sodoma. Lot estaba sentado en la puerta de la ciudad. Y cuando vio a los hombres se levantó para recibirlos, y se inclinó con su rostro en tierra.

2“Señores, por favor, entren y quédense en mi casa esta noche”, les dijo. “Pueden lavar sus pies y seguir su camino temprano por la mañana”.

3Pero Lot insistió y los dos hombres fueron con él a su casa. Les preparó alimentos y coció pan para que comieran.

4Pero ellos ni siquiera se habían ido aún a la cama cuando unos hombres de Sodoma, jóvenes y adultos, de cada parte de la ciudad, vinieron y rodearon la casa.

5Entonces le gritaron a Lot: “¿Dónde están los hombres que se hospedaron en tu casa esta noche? Tráelos, pues queremos tener sexo con ellos”.

6Entonces Lot salió a hablar con ellos en la entrada de su casa, cerrando la puerta al salir.

7“¡Amigos, por favor, no cometan tal perversidad!

8Como verán, tengo dos hijas vírgenes. Puedo traerlas para que hagan con ellas lo que quieran, pero por favor no le hagan nada a estos hombres. Yo soy responsable de cuidarlos”.

9“¡Apártate de nuestro camino!” gritaron. “¿Quién crees que eres, que vienes a vivir aquí, y ahora tratas de juzgarnos? ¡A ti te haremos peores cosas que las que íbamos a hacerles a ellos!” Entonces empujaron a Lot y trataban de derribar la puerta.

10Pero los hombres que estaban dentro de la casa salieron y tomaron a Lot, lo trajeron dentro y cerraron la puerta de golpe.

11Entonces hicieron que todos los hombres que estaban en la entrada de la casa, jóvenes y adultos, quedasen ciegos, así que no podían encontrar la puerta.

12Entonces los dos hombres le preguntaron a Lot: “¿Hay alguien más en tu familia, como yernos, hijos e hijas, o alguna otra persona en la ciudad? Si es así, asegúrate de que se vayan,

13porque estamos a punto de destruir este lugar. Las quejas que han subido hasta el Señor son tan graves que él nos ha enviado a destruirla”.

14De inmediato Lot fue a hablar con los hombres que estaban comprometidos con sus hijas. “¡Levántense y salgan de aquí!” les dijo, “porque el Señor está a punto de destruir la ciudad!” Pero ellos pensaron que se trataba de una broma.

15Al atardecer, los ángeles le rogaron a Lot que se apresurara, diciéndole: “¡Apúrate! Sal ahora mismo con tu esposa y con tus dos hijas de aquí, de lo contrario serán destruidas cuando caiga el castigo sobre la ciudad”.

16Pero Lot dudó. Entonces los hombres tomaron a Lot, a su esposa y a sus hijas por la mano, y los arrastraron hasta llevarlos fuera de la ciudad. El Señor fue misericordioso en hacer esto con ellos.

17Tan pronto salieron de la ciudad, uno de los hombres dijo: “¡Corran y salven sus vidas! ¡No miren hacia atrás y no se detengan en ninguna parte para ir por el valle! ¡Corran hacia las montañas, o serán destruidos!”

18“¡Señor, por favor, no me hagas esto!” respondió Lot.

19“Si bien te parece, ya que has sido tan misericordioso en salvar mi vida, no me hagas correr hacia las montañas, pues no podré lograrlo. ¡La destrucción me alcanzará y moriré!

20Hay una ciudad cerca, a la cual puedo correr y es muy pequeña. Por favor, déjame correr hasta allí, pues es muy pequeña y así podré salvar mi vida”.

21“Está bien. Haré lo que me pides”, respondió el Señor. “No destruiré la ciudad que me has mencionado.

22Pero apresúrate y vete allí rápidamente, porque no podré continuar hasta que estés allí”. (Por esto esta ciudad se llamó Zoar).

23Cuando Lot llegó a Zoar ya había salido el sol.

24Entonces el Señor hizo llover fuego y azufre desde el cielo sobre Sodoma y Gomorra.

25Y destruyó las ciudades por completo con todos sus habitantes, así como el valle y todos los cultivos que estaban creciendo allí.

26Pero la esposa de Lot, que se había quedado atrás, miró hacia atrás y de inmediato se convirtió en una estatua de sal.

27A la mañana siguiente, Abraham se levantó temprano y regresó al lugar donde había hablado con el Señor.

28Y miró en dirección de Sodoma y Gomorra, así como todo el valle, y vio la tierra ardiendo en llamas, expulsando humo como si fuera un horno.

29Cuando Dios destruyó las ciudades del valle, no se olvidó de la promesa que le había hecho a Abraham, y salvó a Lot de la destrucción de las ciudades donde él vivía.

30Lot tuvo miedo de quedarse en Zoar, así que salió de la ciudad y se fue a vivir con sus dos hijas en una cueva, en las montañas.

31Algún tiempo después, la hija mayor de Lot le dijo a su hermana menor: “Nuestro padre está envejeciendo, y no queda ningún hombre que nos pueda dar hijos como a las demás.

32Emborrachemos a nuestro padre con vino, y acostémonos con él para que podamos hacer crecer esta familia”.

33Así que esa noche emborracharon a su padre con vino. La hija mayor se acostó con él, y él no se dio cuenta cuando ella se acostó, ni cuando se levantó.

34Al día siguiente, la hija mayor le dijo a la hija menor : “Anoche yo me acosté con nuestro padre. Emborrachémoslo esta noche otra vez para que tú puedas acostarte con él y podamos hacer crecer esta familia”.

35Así que una vez más, esa noche emborracharon a su padre con vino, y la hija menor fue y se acostó con él. Y Lot no se dio cuenta cuando ella se acostó ni cuando se levantó.

36Fue así como ambas hijas de Lot quedaron embarazadas de su propio padre.

37La hija mayor tuvo un hijo, al que llamó Moab. Él es el ancestro de los moabitas hasta hoy.

38La hija menor también tuvo un hijo, al que llamó Ben-ammi. Él es el ancestro de los amonitas hasta hoy.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Two angels visit Lot in Sodom; the city is destroyed by fire and brimstone because of its wickedness, Lot's wife turns into a pillar of salt after looking back, and his daughters later have children by him through deception.

Explanation

This chapter shows the fulfillment of the judgment announced in the previous chapter: the extreme wickedness of Sodom (portrayed in the violent attempt of the city's men against Lot's visitors) leads to the complete destruction of the region. Lot, despite his earlier questionable choices (Genesis 13), is rescued by God's mercy, showing that salvation often comes in spite of our failures, not because of our merit. Lot's wife, by disobeying the order not to look back, becomes a symbol of attachment to what must be left behind — recalled by Jesus in Luke 17:32 ('remember Lot's wife'). The disturbing ending of the chapter, with Lot's daughters getting him drunk in order to have children, shows how the corrupted environment of Sodom had deeply affected even the values of his own family, without the text approving or glorifying the act.

Fun facts

  • The region where Sodom and Gomorrah stood is generally associated by archaeologists with the area south of the Dead Sea, a region rich in deposits of sulfur and bitumen, which may explain elements of the description of 'fire and brimstone' in the destruction.
  • Moab and Ammon, nations mentioned repeatedly throughout the rest of the Old Testament, originate, according to this chapter, from the sons born to Lot's daughters — showing how this painful episode connects to future conflicts and relations between Israel and its neighboring peoples.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Génesis 19:1The “two angels” who arrive at Sodom are two of the three visitors who had appeared to Abraham in the previous chapter—the third, understood to be the LORD Himself, had stayed behind talking with Abraham about the city’s fate. Here they arrive disguised as ordinary travelers, and that’s how Lot receives them.
  2. Génesis 19:2Lot invites the two disguised angels to spend the night safely at his house instead of sleeping in the street—the same generous hospitality Abraham had shown in the previous chapter.
  3. Génesis 19:3Lot insists so much that the visitors agree to come in, and he prepares a quick meal with unleavened bread—a simple dish, made in a hurry, showing the urgency of his hospitality.
  4. Génesis 19:4Even before they lie down to sleep, men from all over the city surround Lot’s house—“both old and young” shows this wasn’t an isolated group, it was the whole city gathered.
  5. Génesis 19:5Asking to “know” the visitors is a biblical euphemism for sexual relations—the men of the city want to sexually assault the two strangers Lot had welcomed into his home. It’s this group attack, driven by hostility toward outsiders, that confirms the city’s wickedness already mentioned back in chapter 13.
  6. Génesis 19:6Lot goes out to try to stop the violence, shutting the door behind him—an attempt to protect the visitors by facing the crowd alone, without exposing them.
  7. Génesis 19:7Lot calls the crowd “brethren” in an attempt to calm the situation, asking them not to harm the visitors staying in his house.
  8. Génesis 19:8Lot goes so far as to offer his own daughters to the crowd to protect the visitors—a gesture that shocks any reader today, but that reflects how seriously hospitality toward a guest was taken in the culture of the time: protecting whoever was under your roof was seen as an almost sacred duty, even above the safety of one’s own family. The text doesn’t praise Lot’s choice, it simply records it.
  9. Génesis 19:9The crowd turns its hostility against Lot himself, calling him a foreigner with no authority to judge anyone—and moves to break down the door, making clear that the violence won’t stop with words.
  10. Génesis 19:10It’s the visitors themselves, not Lot, who resolve the situation: they pull Lot inside and shut the door, showing they had power to act beyond anything any human there could manage.
  11. Génesis 19:11The visitors strike the crowd outside with blindness, keeping them from finding the door—the first concrete proof, for Lot, that these were no ordinary travelers.
  12. Génesis 19:12The angels ask Lot if he has any more relatives in the city, because their intention is to get everyone who belongs to his family out before the destruction.
  13. Génesis 19:13The angels openly reveal to Lot the reason for their visit: they were sent to destroy the city, because of how great the outcry against its wickedness had become.
  14. Génesis 19:14Lot warns his sons-in-law about the coming destruction, but they don’t believe him and think he’s joking—no one in Lot’s extended family takes the warning seriously.
  15. Génesis 19:15At daybreak, the angels press Lot to leave at once with his wife and two daughters, warning that he too will be destroyed if he keeps hesitating inside the city.
  16. Génesis 19:16Even after the warning, Lot is slow to act, and it’s the angels themselves who take the family by the hand and pull them out of the city by force—the text credits this to God’s mercy, not to any initiative on Lot’s part.
  17. Génesis 19:17Outside, the angels give a clear instruction: flee without looking back and without stopping in the plain, seeking refuge in the mountains.
  18. Génesis 19:18Lot responds by asking not to have to follow that instruction exactly, opening the way for the alternative request he makes in the verses that follow.
  19. Génesis 19:19Lot acknowledges the mercy he has already received, but argues he won’t be able to reach the mountains in time to escape the danger.
  20. Génesis 19:20Lot asks to flee to a small, nearby town instead of the distant mountains—a request for an exception to the original instruction.
  21. Génesis 19:21The angel accepts Lot’s request and agrees to spare that small town as well, granting what he asked.
  22. Génesis 19:22The angel hurries Lot to move quickly, explaining that the destruction can only begin once he’s safe—and the text explains that this is why the city receives the name Zoar, tied to the word for “little.”
  23. Génesis 19:23Marks the exact moment: the sun had already risen when Lot finally enters Zoar, safe.
  24. Génesis 19:24Describes the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah with brimstone and fire from the sky—an image of total, sudden judgment upon the cities.
  25. Génesis 19:25The destruction reaches not only the cities but the whole surrounding region, including the vegetation—nothing in the area was left standing after this judgment.
  26. Génesis 19:26Lot’s wife looks back, disobeying the order not to look, and turns into a “pillar of salt”—likely a popular, ancient explanation for salt-rock formations that really do exist in the Dead Sea region. The point of the story is the disobedience to the order to flee without looking back, more than the physical mechanism of the transformation.
  27. Génesis 19:27Abraham returns to the very place where he had negotiated with God in the previous chapter, looking out the next morning to see what had happened to Sodom.
  28. Génesis 19:28Abraham sees smoke rising from the region like from a furnace—visual confirmation, from a distance, that the destruction really happened.
  29. Génesis 19:29The text clarifies that Lot was spared because of Abraham, not on his own merit—God remembers the relationship between the two of them when it comes time to pull Lot out of the destruction.
  30. Génesis 19:30Afraid to stay in Zoar, Lot ends up going to the mountains anyway, living in a cave with his two daughters—the very fate he had tried to avoid earlier.
  31. Génesis 19:31Lot’s daughters, isolated in the mountains, believe there’s no man left in the world to father children with them—a fear that leads to the plan told through the rest of the chapter.
  32. Génesis 19:32Lot’s daughters get pregnant by their own father after getting him drunk, believing there were no more men available to father children after Sodom’s destruction. It’s one of the harshest episodes in the book of Genesis, and the text neither approves nor explicitly condemns it—it simply narrates what happened and why, without moral comment.
  33. Génesis 19:33On the first night, the older daughter carries out the plan: she gets her father drunk and lies with him without his realizing anything, either at the time or afterward.
  34. Génesis 19:34The next day, the older daughter proposes repeating the plan with her younger sister, keeping the same justification of preserving their father’s line.
  35. Génesis 19:35The second night repeats the first: the father is made drunk, and the younger daughter lies with him without his realizing it.
  36. Génesis 19:36Confirms the outcome of the two sisters’ plan: both become pregnant by their own father.
  37. Génesis 19:37The names given to the two sisters’ sons, Moab and Ben-ammi, sound in Hebrew like “from father” and “son of my people”—a way of explaining, through the names themselves, the origin of the Moabite and Ammonite peoples, who will later appear as Israel’s neighbors further on in the Bible. It’s an origin legend told through wordplay on names, a common device in this kind of ancient narrative.
  38. Génesis 19:38The younger daughter also has a son, Ben-ammi, who gives rise to the Ammonite people—together with the Moabite people mentioned in the previous verse, these two nations neighboring Israel are born from this episode.

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