Genesis 19
King James Version (KJV)
Alternate Word Pictures with Reiterations (AWPR) -- my translation
1 And
there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of
Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself
with his face toward the ground; (KJV)
1) And entered – went – came in the two angels / messengers
into Sodom at the setting – going
down of the sun / at evening.
And Lot was sitting and remaining
in his dwelling seat at the
breaking / splitting open [of the
Wall or Entrance] – at the gate
(as a gate-keeper or porter).
And Lot looked at and saw (their
appearance with the eyes)
and rose up (from his sitting
down),
(Rushing out) to meet / encounter
them,
and bowed / descended into
prostration,
his face into the Land – into the
Earth. (AWPR)
2) And
he called and said,
‘Behold, and look on now, lord*;
withdraw from and turn aside, I pray /
beseech now,
into your bond-slave’s / servant’s home
and
lodge – stay/spend the night
and wash to overflowing / bathe your feet;
and rise and get up early
and make motion- travel / journey / go
/ walk
to your ways / roads / highways (of
journey).’
And they spoke and said,
‘No.
For / Because certainly in the broad and wide way / in the
open and wide public area of the
street**
we will stop and stay (all night). (AWPR)
3 And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat. (KJV)
3) And he attempted to press and prescribe them,
urging them exceedingly in mind and strength
[of words].
And they turned aside into him,
for they came – arrived – entered into his
house / his home.
And he made – fashioned –
accomplished – did / had
a drinking feast / a drinking
celebration,
and did bake – cook Matzot /
Unleavened Breads,
and they consumed – ate –
devoured. (AWPR)
4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: (KJV)
4) When
that they had not yet and before (they could)
have laid down,***
the men of the (protected) settlement, the men of Sodom
encircled and turned their minds – gave attention to
the house, from the youthful boys to the eldest (of old age),
all the people – paternal kinsmen – troops from the
extremities – limits [of Sodom’s district or territory]. (AWPR)
5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. (KJV)
5) And
they called out aloud – summoning to Lot,
and said / spoke to him
[mockingly as though not expecting an answer]:
‘Where are the men who came – arrived
–entered
into you this night?
Bring them forth out and produce them
to us,
that we may know them (through sexual
intercourse).’
(AWPR)
6 And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, (KJV)
6) And
Lot came forth out from the opening of the door
unto them, and the door [of the house]
he shut – closed – dammed up behind the back / after him.
(AWPR)7 And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. (KJV)
7) And
he said – and he spoke saying,
‘No, please - I pray.
My brothers do wickedly – very badly
(without understanding).
(AWPR)
8 Behold
now, I have two daughters which have not known man;
let me, I pray you,
bring them out unto you,
and do ye to them as is good in your eyes:
only unto these men do nothing;
for therefore came they under the shadow
of my roof. (KJV)
8) Behold,
look and see now:
to me (are) two daughters who have not known
(in sexual intercourse) a man.
Let me bring forth out them (to be)
together with you,
and do and squeeze to them
as you see fit – as you see as
(being) best in your eyes.
Only to these men, do not do
–fashion – accomplish
be behind / command;
for this (reason) / for this firmly
– rightly –truly
they entered – went – came in under
the shadow – shade
(temporary shelter – protection) of
my rafter beam / roof.’
(AWPR)9 And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. (KJV)
9) And
they commanded,
‘Remove from coming near – Get back and away!’
And they said,
‘This one entered – went – came in,
turning aside
to temporarily lodge as a stranger and
sojourner;
and must he put – place – appoint
himself
as the appointed (one) [ as a judge
over us]?
Henceforth – now at this time
we will do evil – harm –injury –
wickedness to
you and to them.’
And they pressed, pushing upon the
man,
wholly – exceedingly – greatly upon
Lot and approached
and drew near to break in pieces –
smash down and
destroy the (swinging) door. (AWPR)
10 But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. (KJV)
10) And the men stretched
out their hands
and brought / pulled Lot toward /
into the house,
and shut – closed – dammed
up the door. (AWPR)
11 And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door. (KJV)
11) And the men (that were) at the door of the
house,
they smote – struck with sudden
blindness****,
(from the) small – young and insignificant –
youngest
to the great in size – importance –
height;
and they were very grieved and offended,
wearying
(themselves) as they toiled and struggled
to
find – to reach and attain (to arrive at) the door. (AWPR)
12 And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: (KJV)
12) And said – commanded the men to Lot,
‘Whoso (is) still here with –
to you,
sons-in-law and sons and
daughters,
and whosoever (are / belong)
to you
in the (protected)
settlement, bring them
forth out of this place /
this place of nothing. (AWPR)
13 For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it. (KJV)
13) For we are about to sink it down [as a pit]
and destroy*****
[and send to the after-life]
this
place / this place of nothing,
for great (is) the outcry of them
[as though a sound of thunder] before YHVeH,
and YHVeH has sent us
to sink it down [as a pit] and destroy
it. (AWPR)
14 And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law. (KJV)
14) And
came forth – went out Lot to
speak – converse (a legal matter)[cf. Akkadian “dababu”]
to – with his sons-in-law,
those taking – receiving – espoused
by marriage [contract]
to taking his daughters, and said commandingly,
‘Arise up (from your sitting or lying down),
and go forth out from this place – from such a
place as this,
for YHVeH is about to sink down [as a
pit] –
bow down and destroy the (protected)
settlement.’
And he [Lot] became as if – seemed as if
as one laughing – joking – jesting in
the eyes of his sons-in-law.
(AWPR)
15 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. (KJV)
15)
And when the breaking of the day before dawn arose,
then the two angels /
messengers
urged, hurrying and
pressing Lot,
saying – commanding,
‘Rise up – Get up!
Lay hold of –
take and bring
your wife and
your two daughters who are found,
lest you be
heaped together and swept away
(and lifted, being carried
away as the [incinerated] dust)
in the bending –
twisting – ruination punishment
for the guilt /
for the iniquity of the (protected) settlement.’
(AWPR)
16) And he delayed – began waiting – lingered,
and with strength – (brute) force the men laid hold of – seized of
his hand and his wife’s hand,
and upon the hand of his two daughters,
YHVeH having sorrowful love / mercy on him;
and they brought him forth out with care – guiding
[them as Shepherds taking up into their bosom young lambs
carrying and leading them to a pasture]
and let go [of the hands / wrists] / left him
outside – at the outer parts just beyond [the district of]
the (protected) settlement / city (limits).
(AWPR)
17 And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.
17) And it
was as the led them forth out
outside – at the outer parts just beyond [the district of Sodom],
he said commandingly,
‘Be saved – Flee – Escape – Slip
Away above
for your soul – for your life!
Do not look with the eye to regard what is
behind – after you,
nor stand – remain –stay
in all the Kikkar – in all the encircling
plain.
To
the hill (country) – to the mountain
be
saved – flee – escape – slip away above to,
lest you be heaped
together and swept away
(and
lifted, being carried away as the [incinerated] dust).
(AWPR)
18 And Lot
said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord:
(KJV)
18) And said - spoke Lot to them,
‘No, please / I pray, Lord – Master!’ (AWPR)
19 Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy
sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in
saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me,
and I die: (KJV)
19)
Behold, look and see, I pray / please.
Your servant – slave has
found – reached –caught – attained – held
Grace and favor in the eyes
of you,
And you have made with ever
growing greatness –
And you have magnified your
holy loving-kindness
Which you have done –
accomplished – shown to me
Saving – sustaining –
preserving my soul – my life.
And I am not able to
prevail – overcome
(so as to) escape and be
delivered
to the hill (country) – to the
mountain,
lest the distressing evil – misery
follow closely – overtake – join
(to) – catch me and I die.
(AWPR)
20 Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and
it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my
soul shall live. (KJV)
20) Behold, look
and see, I pray / please.
This (neighboring) settlement is near
To give flight to – to flee
to there;
And it (is) a small thing – a little
insignificant (place).
Please / I pray, let me escape and be
delivered there.
Is it not a small thing – a little
insignificant (place)
That my soul may live?
(AWPR)
21 And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee
concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which
thou hast spoken. (KJV)
21) And He said –
commanded to him,
‘Behold
and see, I have raised – lifted up
Your face – your countenance.
Also, as to this thing, making*the*exception*
/ without
Turning over – overturning / churning
[as when plowed, the soil
of – the land of]
The settlement
which you have spoken – declared.
(AWPR)
22 Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do
anything till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called
Zoar. (KJV)
22) Hasten quickly – hurry speedily, escape and
be delivered there,
Escape and be delivered there,
For I am not able to prevail
and overcome
To do and accomplish the word of command
As far as – until
You have come – arrived at – entered in
there.
So was called – read and recited
The name of the settlement: Zoar.
(AWPR)
23 The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered
into Zoar. (KJV)
23) The sun had
gone forth out upon the land / upon the Earth,
[sometime
after 9 am, but NOT within an hour of noon]
And Lot entered into Zoar. (AWPR)
24 Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah
brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; (KJV)
24) And YHVeH
rained down upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah
Goprit
– lightning charged Brimstone – fired chalky
[and gaseous] Sulphur
and
Fire from YHVeH out of the heavens. (AWPR)
25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain,
and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the
ground. (KJV)
25) And he
overturned - turned over / churned (the
land – the Earth and)
those settlements – cities and all the
Kikkar – the encircling plain,
and all those living in the settlements
and that which sprouted and grew forth
out of the ground.
(AWPR)
26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she
became a pillar of salt. (KJV)
26) And his wife
with regard looked back to see from behind / after him,
and she became an upright standing
pillar of Salt.
(AWPR)
27 And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the
place where he stood before the Lord:
(KJV)
27) And Abraham
(also) arose early [in the morning]
to the place where he stood there
[by the oak of Mamre: Genesis 18:1-2
supporting Genesis 18:8b]
before YHVeH. (AWPR)
28 And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and
toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country
went up as the smoke of a furnace.
(KJV)
28) And he looked
out and down facing toward Sodom and
Gomorrah, and facing toward all the
land of the
Kikkar – the encircling plain.
And he saw – beheld – inspected –
looked carefully,
and behold, look and see:
went up- climbed up and ascended
[like a
burnt offering – like a burning sacrifice]
the thick
smoke of the land the country,
as the thick smoke of a (billowing) furnace.
(AWPR)
29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the
cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst
of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.
(KJV)
29) And when GOD
sunk down [as a pit] and destroyed
the settlements – cities of the plain,
GOD thought about – remembered –
recollected Abraham;
and He sent Lot away out from the
midst – out from the
middle of the crooked churning –
overturning – turning over
in the overthrowing –throwing
over (of) the
settlements – cities, which lived in
them, Lot. (AWPR)
30 (a) And
Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with
him; (KJV)
30a) And went –
climbed up and ascended
Lot out of Zoar,
and lived in the hill country – mountain. (AWPR)
Disclaimer: The Alternate Word Pictures with Reiterations (AWPR) translation should be used as a Bible Study Aid only, and it is recommended that a direct literal translation or the King James Bible be used for regular and ecclesiastical purposes, and that the AWPR be used in association only as a Bible study aid so as to help the reader / user in their Bible Studying to clarify context and Scriptural Intent. Thanks. -- Brianroy
END-Notes
*
Verse 2. The Notes left us on the
Massoretic Texts lists the use of Adonai in this chapter as originally being
the Tetragrammaton (4 letter) Name of YHVeH, and changed post 500 A.D. by
the Massoretes to ADNY, a four
letter substitute meaning the same thing when used in prayers of the Jews. Our oldest Hebrew Copy of the texts in
question is the circa 900 A.D. Leningrad Codex.
We must accept the historical veracity to the claim of the Massorete
notes in the absence of a pre-Massorete copy in regard to this claim.
**
Verse 2 Some translators offer
the wide street as a public square or wide place to this effect. I believe the context simply means a very
wide street in which vendors could set up their camels or tents and sell from
the side to any who passed by to go out or come in the opening or gate of the
wall. It is uncertain as to whether or
not this was a natural enclosure or man-made fortifications. The Babylonian Talmud in Shabbos 11a claims
Sodom was only 52 years old as a settlement when it was destroyed.
***
Verse 4 This statement is to
remove all claim that there was any misconduct whatsoever on the part of these Angels /Messengers
or YHVeH in theophany.
****
Verse 11 You will notice that GOD
alone in the Bible smites men with blindness in 2 Kings 6:18. GOD in the person and form of Jesus Christ,
did on at least two occasions, do the same to his enemies, smiting them with
blindness in Luke 4:28-31 and John 8:59, and in so doing, was able to walk
right past and through the midst of those seeking his death.
***** The Hebrew word here for “sink down (as a pit) and destroy” is
also used in the same context and translated the same way in Psalm 7:15 [Psalm
7:16 in the Hebrew] , and in Psalm 35:7.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Based on the Biblical and extra-biblical texts, I
believe there was a combination effect of natural gases – oil/asphalt ignition
– and volcanic pressures and resultant gases which combined to explode beneath
the surface of the plain on which the Sodomic Alliance sat, collapsing it, and
turning it into magma flows. That is, an
extremely rare and very violent lava eruption and series of sharp intense
earthquakes at the volcanic fault-line that runs through the Dead Sea region
blew up a chasm below the plain which collapsed the plain and made it into a
depression we now know as the Dead Sea.
Because of the very high content of salt and salt caves and strata in
the mountains / hills of the Dead Sea,
hot globs of
salt (as well as lava) weighing many hundreds of pounds were very conceivably
and also cast through the air many miles, just as magma was, and that is what
landed on Lot’s wife. I believe that the
entire plain of what is now the Dead Sea bottom, covered over since with great
layers of ash and salt, was entirely molten when Lot left it and reached Zoar
(possibly to us called Bab edh-dhra).
Frederick G. Clapp
and Geo-tech G. M. Harris and Geologist A. P. Beardow
concluded that the great Salt mountains, and the melting at
the upper strata are the clues to where Sodom and Gomorrah were. There is a
Volcanic Fault which extends from southern Turkey and onward through the Dead
Sea and onward,
It is my contention
that the Dead Sea did not exist until AFTER the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The pre-Dead sea Plain controlled by the
Sodomic alliance was likely a fresh water paradise and Bread-basket region in
heavy trade with Egypt, with Bronze Era copper and sulfur mines (in the eastern
mountain hill range that runs south of the Lisan Peninsula almost to the gulf
of Aqaba), and bitumen or asphalt pits would have been collected for boat (and
other forms of) sealing.
Based on the reading of the text of Genesis 19,
I have come to conclude based on the texts, that the Dead Sea’s bottom was
called the Kikkar – the encircling plain – the encircling disk. The name of the Kikkar was a biblical
nomination based on its observation point, and the observation one has of the
Dead Sea’s shape from the Lisan Peninsula to the East of the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea, therefore, is the plain that
sunk away, by both earthquakes and volcanic lava churnings of the earth. Kikar in the Akkadian is equated with the word
used for a "talent" of weight.
That is, ‘kikar” is equated to a
heavy weight of measuring prosperity that drives a scale
"down". This in turn is linked
to a prison, and a form of separation from the rest of the world through the
corresponding Hebrew word Kele. But lest
I lose 99% of my reading audience, I will stop there and move on.
The Dead
Sea is itself called the lake of Sodom in the historical tradition left to the
Babylonian Talmud (Shabbos / Shabbat 108b, 109a).
The Lisan settlement of Bab edh-dhra (often
misdated to circa 2300 B.C. when it is more than 300 years newer at its demise)
was covered with some 3 feet of ash and this led to its abandonment. Modern excavations recorded that
approximately 50% of the populations there perished prior to age 21 in those
two settlements. Syphillis as well as
other diseases were at high percentages among the dead as the likely cause of
death. It is my opinion that Bab edh-dhra is likely
our biblical Zoar, although it is not a total certainty.
Another
essential text in understanding the location of Zoar is the definition
of the Israel’s boundary lines and the biblical citation of the southern
boundary of Canaan. The discussion that
is of interest in Jewish scholarship is that of: Rashi, Maskil LeDavid, and
Minchas Yehuda; in regard to Numbers 34:3-4. The gist of the commentaries cited and the
Scripture for us here is that the precise line of boundary is somewhat obscure,
but what is agreed by the three Jewish commentaries, is that the boundary of
Canaan runs from the southern boundary of Gaza to somewhere beneath (south of,
even around the base of ) the Dead Sea. This
directs us to at least the location of Zoar as not far from the river Arnon,
and at least on the Lisan Peninsula itself, it seems to me. The Hebrews were not above using “curves” and
“horizontals”, “slanting lines”, “ascents”, “graduals”, “expands”, ‘broadens”,
“narrows, “passes” to express their borders sense of direction, as if
expressing their thoughts like using a stick drawing in the dirt to describe
them (as an examination of Numbers 34 will show).
In
effect, there may have been more than just a beach-line claim to the eastern
boundary of the Salt Sea, but something of a narrow border encompassing a strip
of land, even as Israel in 1949 had an armistice strip of land that encompassed
the sea of Galilee from many hundreds to as little as only 33 feet wide as a
border on the East (by modern example for possible border size). That would place Zoar in the approximate proximity
of ancient Bab edh-dhra on the Lisan peninsula.
I do not believe that Bab Edh-dhra is Sodom, as
believed at Harvard University
and by others (e.g.) http://www.nd.edu/~mchesson/newedsphome.html
The location of Bab edh-dhra fails on its face
because it is an elevated place, and not a sunken down place as the Hebrew of
Genesis 19 informs us that it was.
Further, Bab edh-dhra was not immediately dis-inhabited and made into a
place of salt and covered by salt marshes, as a location under the Dead Sea
floor itself would so qualify. Further,
Sodom is a place never to be inhabited again…not even by excavators, according
to the Biblical texts referring back to it by specificity and example.
Isaiah 1:9 implies total
annihilation:
“Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.”
Deuteronomy 29:23 translates the destruction
of Sodom as in the present tense, and on-going:
“the whole land thereof IS brimstone, and salt, and burning, that IT IS
NOT sown, NOR beareth, NOR any grass groweth therein, LIKE the overthrow
of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the LORD overthrew in
his anger, and in his wrath:”“Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.”
Jeremiah 49:18 implies total annihilation:
“As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the LORD, no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it.” and implies, no man shall dwell in it ever again.
Jeremiah 50:40 implies total annihilation:
“As G-D overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the LORD; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.” (again, "ever again" is implied by the text)
Jesus testifies that Sodom ceased existence, and implies having ceased existence in the Day it was judged:
“But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.” (Luke 17:29) -- with -- “And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.” (Matthew 11:23)
2 Peter 2:6 testifies that it ceased in existence:
“And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;”
Jude 7 testifies that Sodom ceased to exist: “Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”
The plain text readings support the permanent annihilation of Sodom, and these plain text interpretations are clearly supported by Jesus, Peter, and Jude in the NT.
Because the Scriptures say in Jeremiah 49:18 that no man
shall ever dwell there again, I believe it will remain under 30 or more feet of
ash at its location about 18 -22 miles or so South-South West of Lisan, the approximate distance I believe Lot
traveled in his 4.5 to 6..5 hour journey from the first breaking of light in
the yet to dawn sky and his arrival after 9 a.m. in the morning…and there under
30 feet or more of volcanic ash and layers of salt on top, there it will remain
undiscovered, until the Judgment Day of Christ after the end of His Millennial
Reign. Or so it seems to me.
That’s my input.
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