Genesis 19:29-31

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Genesis 19:29 tn The construction is a temporal clause comprised of the temporal indicator, an infinitive construct with a preposition, and the subjective genitive.
2. Genesis 19:29 tn Or “of the plain”; Heb “of the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.
3. Genesis 19:29 tn Heb “remembered,” but this means more than mental recollection here. Abraham’s request (Gen 18:23-32) was that the Lord not destroy the righteous with the wicked. While the requisite minimum number of righteous people (ten, v. 32) needed for God to spare the cities was not found, God nevertheless rescued the righteous before destroying the wicked.sn God showed Abraham special consideration because of the covenantal relationship he had established with the patriarch. Yet the reader knows that God delivered the “righteous” (Lot’s designation in 2 Pet 2:7) before destroying their world—which is what he will do again at the end of the age.
4. Genesis 19:29 sn God’s removal of Lot before the judgment is paradigmatic. He typically delivers the godly before destroying their world.
5. Genesis 19:29 tn Heb “the overthrow when [he] overthrew.”
6. Genesis 19:31 tn Heb “and the firstborn said.”
7. Genesis 19:31 tn Or perhaps “on earth,” in which case the statement would be hyperbolic. sn Presumably there had been some men living in the town of Zoar to which Lot and his daughters had initially fled. Perhaps they feared that the destruction was more widespread than it really was, or perhaps they feared some sort of stigma following the disaster that fell on their former town.
8. Genesis 19:31 tn Heb “to come over us according to the manner of the whole world.” “To come over us” is a euphemism for sexual relations. “According to the manner of the whole world” is an idiom for what is customary and normal, elsewhere (Josh 23:14; 1 Kgs 2:2) used to describe dying.