Genesis 19:21

21 The LORD said to Lot, "All right. I will also give you what you are asking for. I will not destroy the town you are talking about.

Genesis 19:21 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 19:21

And he said unto him, see, I have accepted thee concerning
this thing also
Accepted thy prayer and granted thy request, as well as in other things; shown grace and mercy to thee: or, "have lifted up thy face" F5; alluding to the custom of the eastern countries, where persons, when they come into the presence of their superiors, used to prostrate their faces to the ground; when, as a token of their acceptance of them, and good will to them, they used to order them to be lifted up, or them to lift up their faces, and stand before them:

that I will not overthrow this city for the which thou hast spoken;
for, though he had not in express words petitioned that the city might be spared, yet he had tacitly done it, insomuch as he had requested he might flee unto it, where he could not have been safe had it been destroyed.


FOOTNOTES:

F5 (Kynp ytavn) "suscepi faciem tuam", Pagninus, Moatanus, Vatablus, Drusius, Piscator.

Genesis 19:21 In-Context

19 You have done me a big favor. You have been very kind to me by sparing my life. But I can't run to the mountains. This horrible thing that's going to happen will catch up with me. And then I'll die.
20 "Look, here's a town near enough to run to. It's small. Let me run to it. It's very small, isn't it? Then my life will be spared."
21 The LORD said to Lot, "All right. I will also give you what you are asking for. I will not destroy the town you are talking about.
22 But run there quickly. I can't do anything until you reach it." The town was named Zoar. Zoar means "small."
23 By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land.
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