Discovery BoxGenesis 19:21-22 
Context19:21 “Very well,” he replied, 1 “I will grant this request too 2 and will not overthrow 3 the town you mentioned. 19:22 Run there quickly, 4 for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” (This incident explains why the town was called Zoar.) 5
Genesis 19:29
Context19:29 So when God destroyed 6 the cities of the region, 7 God honored 8 Abraham’s request. He removed Lot 9 from the midst of the destruction when he destroyed 10 the cities Lot had lived in.
1 tn Heb “And he said, ‘Look, I will grant.’” The order of the clauses has been rearranged for stylistic reasons. The referent of the speaker (“he”) is somewhat ambiguous: It could be taken as the angel to whom Lot has been speaking (so NLT; note the singular references in vv. 18-19), or it could be that Lot is speaking directly to the
2 tn Heb “I have lifted up your face [i.e., shown you favor] also concerning this matter.”
3 tn The negated infinitive construct indicates either the consequence of God’s granting the request (“I have granted this request, so that I will not”) or the manner in which he will grant it (“I have granted your request by not destroying”).
4 tn Heb “Be quick! Escape to there!” The two imperatives form a verbal hendiadys, the first becoming adverbial.
5 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).
6 tn The construction is a temporal clause comprised of the temporal indicator, an infinitive construct with a preposition, and the subjective genitive.
7 tn Or “of the plain”; Heb “of the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.
8 tn Heb “remembered,” but this means more than mental recollection here. Abraham’s request (Gen 18:23-32) was that the
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.
9 sn God’s removal of Lot before the judgment is paradigmatic. He typically delivers the godly before destroying their world.
10 tn Heb “the overthrow when [he] overthrew.”
