The Lord Judges Sodom and Rescues Lot

19:1 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening while Lot was sitting in the city’s gateway. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face toward the ground. 19:2 He said, “Here, my lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house. Stay the night and wash your feet. Then you can be on your way early in the morning.” “No,” they replied, “we’ll spend the night in the town square.” 19:3 But he urged them persistently, so they turned aside with him and entered his house. He prepared a feast for them, including bread baked without yeast, and they ate. 19:4 Before they could lie down to sleep, all the men – both young and old, from every part of the city of Sodom – surrounded the house. 19:5 They shouted to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!” 19:6 Lot went outside to them, shutting the door behind him. 19:7 He said, “No, my brothers! Don’t act so wickedly! 19:8 Look, I have two daughters who have never had sexual relations with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do to them whatever you please. Only don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.” 19:9 “Out of our way!” they cried, and “This man came to live here as a foreigner, and now he dares to judge us! We’ll do more harm to you than to them!” They kept pressing in on Lot until they were close enough to break down the door. 19:10 So the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house as they shut the door. 19:11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, from the youngest to the oldest, with blindness. The men outside wore themselves out trying to find the door. 19:12 Then the two visitors said to Lot, “Who else do you have here? Do you have any sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or other relatives in the city? Get them out of this place 19:13 because we are about to destroy it. The outcry against this place is so great before the Lord that he has sent us to destroy it.” 19:14 Then Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were going to marry his daughters. He said, “Quick, get out of this place because the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was ridiculing them. 19:15 At dawn the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get going! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be destroyed when the city is judged!” 19:16 When Lot hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters because the Lord had compassion on them. They led them away and placed them outside the city. 19:17 When they had brought them outside, they said, “Run for your lives! Don’t look behind you or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains or you will be destroyed!” 19:18 But Lot said to them, “No, please, Lord! 19:19 Your servant has found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness by sparing my life. But I am not able to escape to the mountains because this disaster will overtake me and I’ll die. 19:20 Look, this town over here is close enough to escape to, and it’s just a little one. Let me go there. It’s just a little place, isn’t it? Then I’ll survive.” 19:21 “Very well,” he replied, “I will grant this request too and will not overthrow the town you mentioned. 19:22 Run there quickly, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” (This incident explains why the town was called Zoar.) 19:23 The sun had just risen over the land as Lot reached Zoar. 19:24 Then the Lord rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. It was sent down from the sky by the Lord. 19:25 So he overthrew those cities and all that region, including all the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation that grew from the ground. 19:26 But Lot’s wife looked back longingly and was turned into a pillar of salt. 19:27 Abraham got up early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 19:28 He looked out toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of that region. As he did so, he saw the smoke rising up from the land like smoke from a furnace. 19:29 So when God destroyed the cities of the region, God honored Abraham’s request. He removed Lot from the midst of the destruction when he destroyed the cities Lot had lived in.

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Genesis 19:1-29 shows Sodom’s deep corruption and the Lord’s just judgment. It also shows God’s mercy in rescuing Lot, not because Lot was strong, but because the Lord had compassion and heard Abraham’s prayer.

The angels came to Sodom, and Lot urged them to stay in his house. This showed hospitality, but Lot was still living in a corrupt city. Soon the men of Sodom surrounded the house and demanded to abuse the visitors. Their evil was open, violent, and widespread. Lot called their demand wicked, and the angels protected the house by striking the mob with blindness.

Then the angels told Lot that the city was about to be destroyed because the outcry against it had reached the Lord. Lot warned his family, but his sons-in-law did not take him seriously. At dawn the angels hurried Lot, his wife, and his two daughters out of the city. The text says clearly that the Lord had compassion on them. Lot hesitated, yet he was still led out of danger.

The angels commanded them to flee and not look back. Lot asked to go to the small town of Zoar, and the Lord granted that request. Then the Lord rained sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah and destroyed the cities and the whole region. Lot’s wife looked back longingly and became a pillar of salt. The chapter ends by returning to Abraham, showing that Lot’s rescue and Sodom’s destruction were tied to Abraham’s earlier intercession before the Lord.

• Sodom’s sin was severe, public, and widespread.
• The Lord judges evil with real and final judgment.
• Lot was rescued by God’s compassion, not by his own strength or goodness.
• Warning from God can be ignored or mocked by those who are hardened in sin.
• Lot’s wife looked back longingly, and the text presents this as a sign of attachment to the doomed city.
• The chapter closes by showing that Abraham’s intercession was connected to Lot’s rescue.

• Warnings: Do not treat God’s judgment lightly. Do not linger in a place under judgment. Do not look back in longing toward sin and destruction.
• Promises: The Lord can spare and rescue by his compassion.
• Commands: Turn from evil. Flee from judgment. Warn others when danger is near.

This passage belongs to the Abrahamic story. God judges a wicked city, yet he also shows mercy to Abraham’s relative Lot. The chapter highlights a pattern found across Scripture: God is holy and just, but he also rescues by mercy. Sodom becomes a lasting warning example of judgment, while Lot’s rescue points to God’s power to deliver those he chooses to spare.

We should not copy Lot’s compromise or his hesitation. We should fear sin, take God’s warnings seriously, and turn away from what leads to judgment. We should also remember that rescue comes from the Lord’s mercy, not from our own worthiness. This passage calls us to repentance, reverence, and trust in God’s compassion.

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