Genesis 19:17

19:17 When they had brought them outside, they 1  said, “Run 2  for your lives! Don’t look 3  behind you or stop anywhere in the valley! 4  Escape to the mountains or you will be destroyed!”

Genesis 19:22

19:22 Run there quickly, 5  for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” (This incident explains why the town was called Zoar.) 6 

1 tn Or “one of them”; Heb “he.” Several ancient versions (LXX, Vulgate, Syriac) read the plural “they.” See also the note on “your” in v. 19.

2 tn Heb “escape.”

3 tn The Hebrew verb translated “look” signifies an intense gaze, not a passing glance. This same verb is used later in v. 26 to describe Lot’s wife’s self-destructive look back at the city.

4 tn Or “in the plain”; Heb “in the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.

5 tn Heb “Be quick! Escape to there!” The two imperatives form a verbal hendiadys, the first becoming adverbial.

6 tn Heb “Therefore the name of the city is called Zoar.” The name of the place, צוֹעַר (tso’ar) apparently means “Little Place,” in light of the wordplay with the term “little” (מִצְעָר, mits’ar) used twice by Lot to describe the town (v. 20).