Restored English Translation of Genesis: Chapter 19

Here is the Restored English Translation (RET) of the 19th chapter of Beresheet, known in English as Genesis.  As usual, it contains the Hebrew names, with a glossary of them at the end.  Also included at the end is a list of where the Aleph/Tavs occur (as they are not included in the main text).

Chapter 19 recounts the famous destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (which when I was younger was one of my favourite Bible stories, and one of my favourite Superbook episodes).

Chapter 19 ends when Lot’s daughters get him drunk and sleep with him – both becoming pregnant with sons.  As horrific an action as that was, it is interesting that King David and Messiah Yehoshua (Jesus) both descended from the resulting sons.

This chapter also contains a serious lesson about obedience.

CHAPTER 19

1 And the two messengers arrived at Sedom in the evening. And Lot sat in the gate of Sedom. And seeing them, Lot rose up to meet them, and bowed himself with his face toward the ground. 2 And he said, “Behold now, my masters, please turn in into your servant’s house, and stay all night, and wash your feet. And you shall rise up early and go on your ways.” And they said, “No, but we will stay in the street all night.” 3 And he urged them greatly, and they turned in to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. 4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sedom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from the extremities. 5 And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them!” 6 And Lot went out to them at the door and shut the door behind him. 7 And he said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. 8 Behold now, I have two daughters who have not had sex with a man. Please let me bring them out to you and you do to them as is good in your eyes; only don’t do anything to these men, for this reason they came under the shadow of my roof.” 9 And they replied, “Stand back!” And they said, “This one came in to sojourn, and must he always judge? Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” And they pressed greatly on the man, on Lot, and came near to break the door. 10 But the men put out their hands and pulled Lot to them, into the house, and the door shut. 11 And they struck the men at the door of the house with blindness, from the small to the great; and they struggled to find the door. 12 And the men said to Lot, “Do you have any here besides? Bring your sons-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whoever belongs to you in the city. 13 For we are about to destroy this place; for great is the cry of them before YEHOVAH, and YEHOVAH has sent us to destroy it.” 14 And Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were marrying his daughters, and said, “Up, get out of this place, for YEHOVAH is about to destroy this city.” But he seemed as one joking in the eyes of his sons-in-law. 15 And when the morning came, then the messengers urged Lot, saying, “Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are found, lest you be consumed in the perversity of the city.” 16 And he lingered; and the men lay hold of his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, YEHOVAH being merciful to him. And they led him out and let him go outside the city. 17 And it happened when they led them out that he said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, neither stay in all the plain. Escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed!” 18 And Lot replied to them, “Oh no, YEHOVAH! 19 Behold now, your servant has found grace in your sight, and you have magnified your mercy, which you showed by in saving my life. And I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die. 20 Behold now, this city is near to flee to and it is a little one. Please let me escape there (isn’t it a little one?) and my being shall live.” 21 And he said to him, “See, I have lifted up your face concerning this thing also, without overthrowing the city which you have spoken about. 22 Go quickly, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you have come there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Tsoar. 23 The sun had risen on the earth when Lot entered into Tsoar. 24 Then YEHOVAH rained brimstone and fire on Sedom and Amorrah from YEHOVAH out of the heavens. 25 And He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all those living in the cities, and the increase of the ground. 26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. 27 And Avraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood there before YEHOVAH. 28 And he looked toward Sedom and Amorrah and toward all the land of the plain. And he saw, and behold, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. 29 And it happened, when ELOHIM destroyed the cities of the plain, ELOHIM remembered Avraham; and He sent Lot out from the overthrow in overturning the cities in which Lot lived. 30 And Lot went up out of Tsoar and lived in the mountain, and his two daughters with him, for he feared to live in Tsoar. And he lived in a cave, he and his two daughters. 31 And the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old and there is not a man in the earth to come in to us, as is the way of all the earth. 32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and let us have sex with him, that we may preserve the seed of our father.” 33 And they made their father drink wine that night; and the firstborn went in and had sex with her father. And he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. 34 And it happened the next day that the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I had sex with my father last night. Let us make him drink wine tonight as well, and you go in and have sex with him, that we preserve seed of our father.” 35 And they also made their father to drink wine that night; and the younger rose up and had sex with him. And he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. 36 Thus both daughters of Lot were pregnant by their father. 37 And the firstborn gave birth to a son and called his name Moav (he is the ancestor of the Moavim to this day). 38 And the younger, she also gave birth to a son and named him Ben-Ammi (he is the ancestor of the Ammonim to this day).

Glossary

Sedom – Sodom

YEHOVAH – The Lord

Tsoar – Zoar

Amorrah – Gomorrah

Avraham – Abraham

ELOHIM – God

Moav – Moab

Moavim – Moabites

Ammonim – Ammonites

Where the Aleph/Tavs occur

Verse 10: But put out the men את their hands and pulled את Lot to them, into the house, and את the door shut.

Verse 11: And את the men at the door of the house they struck with blindness, from the small to the great; and they struggled to find the door.

Verse 13: For about to destroy are we את place this; for great is the cry of them את before YEHOVAH, and YEHOVAH has sent us to destroy it.”

Verse 14: And Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were marrying his daughters, and said, “Up, get out of this place, for is about to destroy YEHOVAH את this city.” But he seemed as one joking in the eyes of his sons-in-law.

Verse 15: And when the morning came, then the messengers urged Lot, saying, “Arise, take את your wife and את your two daughters who are found, lest you be consumed in the perversity of the city.”

Verse 19: Behold now, your servant has found grace in your sight, and you have magnified your mercy, which you showed by in saving את my life. And I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die.

Verse 21: And he said to him, “See, I have lifted up your face concerning this thing also, without overthrowing את the city which you have spoken about.

Verse 25: And He overthrew את the cities those, and את all the plain, and את all those living in the cities, and the increase of the ground.

Verse 27: And Avraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood there את before YEHOVAH.

Verse 29: And it happened, when destroyed ELOHIM את cities of the plain, remembered ELOHIM את Avraham; and He sent Lot out from the overthrow in overturning את the cities in which Lot lived.

Verse 32: Come, let us make drink את our father wine, and let us have sex with him, that we may preserve the seed of our father.”

Verse 33: And they made drink את their father wine that night; and the firstborn went in and had sex with her father. And he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.

Verse 34:  And it happened the next day that the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I had sex last night with את my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight as well, and you go in and have sex with him, that we preserve seed of our father.”

Verse 35: And they also made to drink night that את their father wine; and the younger rose up and had sex with him. And he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.