Discovery BoxGenesis 19:17 
Context19:17 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 19:19-20
Context19:19 Your 5 servant has found favor with you, 6 and you have shown me great 7 kindness 8 by sparing 9 my life. But I am not able to escape to the mountains because 10 this disaster will overtake 11 me and I’ll die. 12 19:20 Look, this town 13 over here is close enough to escape to, and it’s just a little one. 14 Let me go there. 15 It’s just a little place, isn’t it? 16 Then I’ll survive.” 17
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 The second person pronominal suffixes are singular in this verse (note “your eyes,” “you have made great,” and “you have acted”). Verse 18a seems to indicate that Lot is addressing the angels, but the use of the singular and the appearance of the divine title “Lord” (אֲדֹנָי, ’adonay) in v. 18b suggests he is speaking to God.
6 tn Heb “in your eyes.”
7 tn Heb “you made great your kindness.”
8 sn The Hebrew word חֶסֶד (khesed) can refer to “faithful love” or to “kindness,” depending on the context. The precise nuance here is uncertain.
9 tn The infinitive construct explains how God has shown Lot kindness.
10 tn Heb “lest.”
11 tn The Hebrew verb דָּבַק (davaq) normally means “to stick to, to cleave, to join.” Lot is afraid he cannot outrun the coming calamity.
12 tn The perfect verb form with vav consecutive carries the nuance of the imperfect verbal form before it.
13 tn The Hebrew word עִיר (’ir) can refer to either a city or a town, depending on the size of the place. Given that this place was described by Lot later in this verse as a “little place,” the translation uses “town.”
14 tn Heb “Look, this town is near to flee to there. And it is little.”
15 tn Heb “Let me escape to there.” The cohortative here expresses Lot’s request.
16 tn Heb “Is it not little?”
17 tn Heb “my soul will live.” After the cohortative the jussive with vav conjunctive here indicates purpose/result.
