Discovery BoxGenesis 19:30-38 
Context19:30 Lot went up from Zoar with his two daughters and settled in the mountains because he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters. 19:31 Later the older daughter said 1 to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man anywhere nearby 2 to have sexual relations with us, 3 according to the way of all the world. 19:32 Come, let’s make our father drunk with wine 4 so we can have sexual relations 5 with him and preserve 6 our family line through our father.” 7
19:33 So that night they made their father drunk with wine, 8 and the older daughter 9 came and had sexual relations with her father. 10 But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up. 11 19:34 So in the morning the older daughter 12 said to the younger, “Since I had sexual relations with my father last night, let’s make him drunk again tonight. 13 Then you go and have sexual relations with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” 14 19:35 So they made their father drunk 15 that night as well, and the younger one came and had sexual relations with him. 16 But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up. 17
19:36 In this way both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. 19:37 The older daughter 18 gave birth to a son and named him Moab. 19 He is the ancestor of the Moabites of today. 19:38 The younger daughter also gave birth to a son and named him Ben-Ammi. 20 He is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today.
1 tn Heb “and the firstborn said.”
2 tn Or perhaps “on earth,” in which case the statement would be hyperbolic; presumably there had been some men living in the town of Zoar to which Lot and his daughters had initially fled.
3 tn Heb “to enter upon us.” This is a euphemism for sexual relations.
4 tn Heb “drink wine.”
5 tn Heb “and we will lie down.” The cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive is subordinated to the preceding cohortative and indicates purpose/result.
6 tn Or “that we may preserve.” Here the cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates their ultimate goal.
7 tn Heb “and we will keep alive from our father descendants.”
sn For a discussion of the cultural background of the daughters’ desire to preserve our family line see F. C. Fensham, “The Obliteration of the Family as Motif in the Near Eastern Literature,” AION 10 (1969): 191-99.
8 tn Heb “drink wine.”
9 tn Heb “the firstborn.”
10 tn Heb “and the firstborn came and lied down with her father.” The expression “lied down with” here and in the following verses is a euphemism for sexual relations.
11 tn Heb “and he did not know when she lay down and when she arose.”
12 tn Heb “the firstborn.”
13 tn Heb “Look, I lied down with my father. Let’s make him drink wine again tonight.”
14 tn Heb “And go, lie down with him and we will keep alive from our father descendants.”
15 tn Heb “drink wine.”
16 tn Heb “lied down with him.”
17 tn Heb “And he did not know when she lied down and when she arose.”
18 tn Heb “the firstborn.”
19 sn The meaning of the name Moab is not certain. The name sounds like the Hebrew phrase “from our father” (מֵאָבִינוּ, me’avinu) which the daughters used twice (vv. 32, 34). This account is probably included in the narrative in order to portray the Moabites, who later became enemies of God’s people, in a negative light.
20 sn The name Ben-Ammi means “son of my people.” Like the account of Moab’s birth, this story is probably included in the narrative to portray the Ammonites, another perennial enemy of Israel, in a negative light.
