Genesis 19
Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed
The messengers who left Abraham’s tent reach Sodom at evening. Lot takes them in, the men of the city surround his house, and at dawn the messengers lead Lot and his family out by the hand before the LORD overthrows the cities of the plain. Lot’s wife looks back; Lot and his daughters end in a cave, where Moab and Ammon begin.
Start reading Background
Genesis 19 is the second half of a story that begins at Abraham’s tent. In chapter 18 the visitors ate with Abraham, promised Sarah a son, and turned toward Sodom, whose “cry” had come up before the LORD, while Abraham stayed to plead for the city (Gen. 18:20–33). Chapter 19 opens that same evening as the messengers reach Sodom. Who they were is discussed at Gen. 18:2; Joseph Smith’s revision counts three of them, not two, and calls them “holy men.”
Lot had come here by stages. He chose the well-watered plain and “pitched his tent toward Sodom” (Gen. 13:10–12); he was living in the city when he was carried off as a captive (Gen. 14:12); now he has a house there, a wife, daughters, and sons-in-law.
Sodom became scripture’s standing example of a city ripe for judgment. Isaiah calls the leaders of Jerusalem “rulers of Sodom” (Isa. 1:10), the prophets measure later destructions by Sodom’s overthrow (see the note on verse 24), and in the New Testament the Savior and Peter both look back to it (Luke 17:28–32; 2 Pet. 2:6–9).
The chapter has five parts: Lot takes in the messengers (verses 1–3), the men of Sodom at his door (4–11), the warning and the flight to Zoar (12–22), the overthrow of the cities (23–29), and Lot’s daughters (30–38).
The thread through the chapter
Genesis 19 is a story of rescue as much as of destruction, and it turns on hands and eyes. The messengers “put forth their hand” to pull Lot inside when the mob comes at the door (verse 10). At dawn, when he lingers, they take him, his wife, and his daughters by the hand and set them outside the city, “the LORD being merciful unto him” (verse 16). Then comes the command, “look not behind thee” (verse 17). Lot’s wife looks back and perishes with the city (verse 26). Abraham, who had pleaded for Sodom the day before, looks down on the plain from the place where he had stood before the LORD and sees only smoke (verse 28). The narrator tells what neither of them could see: “God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow” (verse 29).
The chapter also answers chapter 18. There Abraham ran to meet strangers, offered water for their feet, and fed them; here Lot does the same, and the men of his city surround the house to abuse his guests. There Abraham asked whether the Judge of all the earth would “slay the righteous with the wicked” (Gen. 18:25); here the answer comes in the event. The city falls, but not before Lot is out. The messenger can do nothing “till thou be come thither” (verse 22).
Tap any highlighted phrase to open a note beneath its versein the margin.
Lot takes in the messengers
The two angels came to Sodom in the evening while Lot was sitting at the city gate. When Lot saw them he got up to meet them and bowed low to the ground. “Please, my lords,” he said, “turn aside to your servant’s house. Spend the night, wash your feet, and you can be on your way early in the morning.” “No,” they said, “we will spend the night in the square.” But he urged them so strongly that they came with him into his house. He made them a meal, baked bread without yeast, and they ate.
1 And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;
2 And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night.
3 And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.
The men of Sodom at the door
Before they had gone to bed, the men of Sodom, young and old, from every part of the city, surrounded the house. They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we can have our way with them.” Lot went out to them, shut the door behind him, and said, “Please, my brothers, do not do this wicked thing.” In the King James text he then offers them his two unmarried daughters instead, if only they will leave his guests alone, since the men have come under the shelter of his roof.
“Get out of the way!” they said. “This fellow came here as a stranger, and now he wants to be our judge! We will treat you worse than them.” They pushed hard against Lot and moved in to break down the door. But the men inside reached out, pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. Then they struck the men at the door, small and great, with blindness, so that they wore themselves out trying to find the doorway.
4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:
5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.
6 And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him,
7 And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.
8 Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.
9 And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door.
10 But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door.
11 And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.
The warning and the flight to Zoar
The men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here, sons-in-law, sons, daughters, anyone in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of this place, because we are going to destroy it. The outcry against its people has grown so great before the LORD that he has sent us to destroy it.” So Lot went out and spoke to the men engaged to (or married to) his daughters: “Hurry, get out of this place, because the LORD is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.
As dawn broke, the angels urged Lot on: “Hurry! Take your wife and the two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the city’s iniquity.” When he hesitated, the men took him, his wife, and his two daughters by the hand, because the LORD was merciful to him, and they brought him out and left him outside the city. Once they were out, one of them said, “Run for your life! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain. Flee to the mountains, or you will be swept away.”
Lot answered, “Oh no, my lord! You have been kind to your servant and shown me great mercy in saving my life, but I cannot run to the mountains; disaster will catch me and I will die. Look, this town is near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me escape there. It is only a small place, isn’t it? Then I will live.” He answered, “Very well, I grant this request too. I will not overthrow the town you speak of. Hurry, escape there, because I can do nothing until you arrive.” That is why the town was called Zoar.
12 And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place:
13 For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it.
14 And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.
15 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.
16 And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.
17 And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.
18 And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord:
19 Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:
20 Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.
21 And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken.
22 Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
The overthrow of the cities
The sun had risen over the land when Lot reached Zoar. Then the LORD rained burning sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the LORD out of heaven. He overthrew those cities and the whole plain, everyone living in the cities, and everything that grew from the ground. But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
Early the next morning Abraham went back to the place where he had stood before the LORD. He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole land of the plain, and he saw smoke rising from the land like the smoke of a furnace. So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.
23 The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.
24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;
25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
27 And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD:
28 And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.
29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.
Lot’s daughters
Lot went up from Zoar and settled in the mountains with his two daughters, because he was afraid to stay in Zoar; he and his two daughters lived in a cave. The older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to marry us, as people do everywhere. Let us make our father drunk and sleep with him, so that we can keep our father’s family line alive.” On two nights they made him drunk, first the older and then the younger lay with him, and he did not know it. So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. The older bore a son and named him Moab; he is the ancestor of the Moabites to this day. The younger also bore a son and named him Ben-ammi; he is the ancestor of the Ammonites to this day.
30 And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.
31 And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth:
32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.
33 And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.
34 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.
35 And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.
36 Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.
37 And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day.
38 And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Ben-ammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.
Seeing Christ in Genesis 19
The LORD who rains judgment on the cities of the plain is Jehovah, and “Jehovah is the premortal Jesus Christ.” In mortality He told this story Himself. “As it was in the days of Lot,” He said, people ate, drank, bought, sold, planted, and built, “But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed” (Luke 17:28–30). He also used Sodom to measure the guilt of those who had seen His own works: “if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day” (Matt. 11:23–24).
The chapter shows His mercy as plainly as His judgment. Lot lingered, and the messengers took him by the hand, “the LORD being merciful unto him” (verse 16; see the notes on verses 16 and 29).
Worth exploring next
- Two hosts. Read Gen. 18:1–8 beside Gen. 19:1–3, and Heb. 13:2.
- Sodom in the prophets. Ezek. 16:46–56; Isa. 1:9–10; Jer. 23:14.
- The days of Lot. Luke 17:20–37; 2 Pet. 2:4–9; D&C 133:4–15.
- Moab and Ruth. Deut. 2:9–19; Ruth 1:16–17; Ruth 4:13–22; Matt. 1:5–6.
- Lot himself. “Lot: Likened to Noah,” in From Creation to Sinai (BYU Religious Studies Center), reads the whole of Lot’s story with Joseph Smith’s revision and the Book of Abraham and argues for Peter’s “just Lot.”
Sources & further reading
- The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- Westminster Leningrad Codex (the Masoretic Hebrew text), Read in the Hebrew–English interlinear on Bible Hub.
- Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.
- The Septuagint (Rahlfs Greek text, with Brenton’s English translation), Elpenor Bilingual Septuagint.
- New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, National Council of Churches, 2021; on BibleGateway.
- “Jehovah”, Bible Dictionary.
- “Moab”, Bible Dictionary.
- Joseph Smith Translation, Genesis 19, Gospel Library.
- Old Testament Revision 2, The Joseph Smith Papers.
- Joseph Smith, Discourse, 22 January 1843, as Reported by Wilford Woodruff, The Joseph Smith Papers, p. [4].
- Genesis 18–23, Scripture Helps: Old Testament (2025).
- Genesis 18–23: Abraham—A Model of Faith and Righteousness, Old Testament Student Manual: Genesis–2 Samuel (Church Educational System, 2003).
- Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Best Is Yet to Be”, Ensign, Jan. 2010, 22–27 (from a BYU devotional address, Jan. 13, 2009).
- RoseAnn Benson, “Lot: Likened to Noah”, In From Creation to Sinai: The Old Testament through the Lens of the Restoration, ed. Daniel L. Belnap and Aaron P. Schade (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book), 311–34.
- Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Genesis, In Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub.