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Genesis 19:1–11, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Genesis 19:1–11
Sodom's Mob Threatens Lot's Guests and Daughters
A mob at the door
Two messengers enter Sodom and receive Lot's urgent hospitality. Before they sleep, the city's men surround the house and demand that the visitors be brought out so the crowd may 'know' them. The controlling acts are coercion and threatened rape, not a consensual relationship or a modern identity debate.
Lot offers real protection to his guests and then grievously offers his daughters instead. The crowd threatens Lot as an outsider and tries to break the door. The messengers pull him inside and disable the attackers. Hospitality never makes the transfer of danger to less powerful people righteous.
How this should shape us
Protect guests, women, children, and every vulnerable person together. Treat threats of sexual violence as violence, not as evidence about orientation, and never preserve an institution by offering a less powerful person to harm.
Teach it back
Explain how Genesis 19:1–11 turns the outcry of Genesis 18 into a narrated test of Sodom. Include Lot's hospitality, why 'know' is sexual and coercive here, the moral failure of offering his daughters, the crowd's treatment of Lot as an outsider, the visitors' intervention, and two conclusions the passage does not permit.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Best judgment:
How certain? very strongBest judgment:
How certain? very strongBest judgment:
How certain? very strongBest judgment:
How certain? strongResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Displayed wording, unit movement, violence, daughters, rescue, and canonical Sodom reception.
Genesis 19:1–11 in the pinned eng-kjv2006 source; compared with Genesis 13:10–13; 14:12; 18:16–33; 19:12–29; Judges 19; Isaiah 1; Ezekiel 16:49–50; Matthew 10:14–15; Luke 10:10–12; 2 Peter 2:6–9; Jude 7
Supports: Messenger, gate, square, press, surround, yada, brother, evil, roof shadow, sojourn, emphatic judging, threat, door, sanwerim, and weariness.
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible, wlc/Gen.xml, Genesis 19:1–11; lemma cross-checks with Genesis 4:1, 17, 25; 24:16 and 2 Kings 6:18
Supports: Gate and square, invitation syntax, repeated patsar, mob description, sexual sense of yada, daughters, roof protection, resident-alien language, emphatic judgment, threat, and blindness.
NET Bible, Genesis 19:1–11 and translator notes 1–26
Supports: Final-form placement, Sodom investigation, rescue, and canonical storyline.
Genesis commentary, discussion of Genesis 18:16–19:29
Supports: Critical and ethical counterpoint for the ancestral narrative; no passage-specific Genesis 19 claim attributed beyond inspected scope.
Genesis 16 and 22: Abraham and Isaac study guide and course context for the Abraham cycle
Supports: Literary placement and commentary navigation only.
Genesis, official Cambridge contents and introduction; commentary locator for Genesis 18:16–19:38
Supports: Narrative shift from men to messengers and the continuity of the Mamre-Sodom visit.
Old Testament Essays 36.3, pp. 709–735, especially the visitor identity movement across Genesis 18–19
Supports: Hospitality contrast, gate and alien-status caution, wider Sodom traditions, Lot's daughters, and refusal to reduce the scene to one sin.
In die Skriflig 53.1, article sections 'Do not do such an evil thing,' 'Lot—A resident alien,' 'Inhospitality as evidence of wickedness,' and conclusion
Supports: Non-biological use of brother, Lot's appeal to solidarity, outsider rejection, and critique of sacrificing daughters while protecting guests.
Old Testament Essays 32.1, sections 'Brotherhood as solidarity in the Old Testament' and 'Ironic understanding of Genesis 19:1–11'
Supports: Righteousness-and-justice context, sexual violence, Lot's immigrant status, daughter endangerment, Sodom interpretations, and Judges 19 comparison.
Old Testament Essays 34.1, pp. 68–88, especially literary context and close reading of Genesis 19:1–11
Supports: Reception-history warning that rape myths confuse sexual violence with gay identity and minimize the threatened violence against Lot's daughters; no claim beyond the accessible abstract treated as inspected.
Interpretation 71.3, pp. 274–283; accessible abstract and official publication metadata
Supports: Strongest nonsexual-interrogation and legal-hostage alternative, used as a disputed reading rather than established background.
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 27.4, pp. 461–485; official abstract and accessible journal-page notes
Supports: Queer reception counterpoint emphasizing harmful anti-LGBTQ reception, hospitality, and the wider Abraham narrative.
Torah Queeries, chapter 4, pp. 29–33; complete accessible chapter in the Swarthmore College repository
Supports: Documented breadth of disputes involving sexuality, outsider stereotyping, hospitality, justice, fathers and daughters, residents and aliens; no unseen chapter claim treated as verified.
Universalism and Particularism at Sodom and Gomorrah, SBL Press official description and table of contents
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Displayed wording, unit movement, violence, daughters, rescue, and canonical Sodom reception.
Exact location: Genesis 19:1–11 in the pinned eng-kjv2006 source; compared with Genesis 13:10–13; 14:12; 18:16–33; 19:12–29; Judges 19; Isaiah 1; Ezekiel 16:49–50; Matthew 10:14–15; Luke 10:10–12; 2 Peter 2:6–9; Jude 7
Open source ↗hebrew text morphology and lemma data
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible — Genesis
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project
Open Scriptures, Version 2.2 released 2021; repository inspected 2026
Supports: Messenger, gate, square, press, surround, yada, brother, evil, roof shadow, sojourn, emphatic judging, threat, door, sanwerim, and weariness.
Exact location: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible, wlc/Gen.xml, Genesis 19:1–11; lemma cross-checks with Genesis 4:1, 17, 25; 24:16 and 2 Kings 6:18
Open source ↗Translation and textual notes
NET Bible — Genesis with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, Digital edition accessed 2026
Supports: Gate and square, invitation syntax, repeated patsar, mob description, sexual sense of yada, daughters, roof protection, resident-alien language, emphatic judgment, threat, and blindness.
Exact location: NET Bible, Genesis 19:1–11 and translator notes 1–26
Open NET Genesis 19 ↗modern open whole book commentary
Genesis
T. Desmond Alexander
The Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary, 2023
Supports: Final-form placement, Sodom investigation, rescue, and canonical storyline.
Exact location: Genesis commentary, discussion of Genesis 18:16–19:29
Open source ↗modern critical open study guide
Genesis 16 and 22: Abraham and Isaac — Study Guide
Joel S. Baden and Yale Bible Study
Yale Divinity School, 2021 course; page inspected 2026
Supports: Critical and ethical counterpoint for the ancestral narrative; no passage-specific Genesis 19 claim attributed beyond inspected scope.
Exact location: Genesis 16 and 22: Abraham and Isaac study guide and course context for the Abraham cycle
Open source ↗modern scholarly commentary publisher material
Genesis
Bill T. Arnold
Cambridge University Press, 2009
Supports: Literary placement and commentary navigation only.
Exact location: Genesis, official Cambridge contents and introduction; commentary locator for Genesis 18:16–19:38
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access narrative study
The Narrative Significance of the Role of Abraham in the Identity of the Visitors in Genesis 18–19
Michael Ndele
Old Testament Essays 36.3, 2024
Supports: Narrative shift from men to messengers and the continuity of the Mamre-Sodom visit.
Exact location: Old Testament Essays 36.3, pp. 709–735, especially the visitor identity movement across Genesis 18–19
Open source ↗peer reviewed specialist narrative and ethical study
A Home for All: The Story of the Inversion of Hospitality in Genesis 19
Friday S. Kassa
In die Skriflig / In Luce Verbi 53(1), article a2493, 2019
Supports: Hospitality contrast, gate and alien-status caution, wider Sodom traditions, Lot's daughters, and refusal to reduce the scene to one sin.
Exact location: In die Skriflig 53.1, article sections 'Do not do such an evil thing,' 'Lot—A resident alien,' 'Inhospitality as evidence of wickedness,' and conclusion
Open source ↗peer reviewed specialist literary and contextual study
Who Is My Brother? An Ironic Reading of Genesis 19:1–11
Friday S. Kassa
Old Testament Essays 32(1), pages 84–100, 2019
Supports: Non-biological use of brother, Lot's appeal to solidarity, outsider rejection, and critique of sacrificing daughters while protecting guests.
Exact location: Old Testament Essays 32.1, sections 'Brotherhood as solidarity in the Old Testament' and 'Ironic understanding of Genesis 19:1–11'
Open source ↗peer reviewed specialist narrative and canonical study
Homosexuality and Liminality in Sodom: The Quests for Home, Fun and Justice (Gen 19:1–29)
Cephas T. A. Tushima
Old Testament Essays 34(1), pages 68–88, 2021
Supports: Righteousness-and-justice context, sexual violence, Lot's immigrant status, daughter endangerment, Sodom interpretations, and Judges 19 comparison.
Exact location: Old Testament Essays 34.1, pp. 68–88, especially literary context and close reading of Genesis 19:1–11
Open source ↗peer reviewed specialist reception and sexual violence study
Reading Sodom through Sexual Violence Against Women
Sonia E. Waters
Interpretation 71(3), pages 274–283, 2017
Supports: Reception-history warning that rape myths confuse sexual violence with gay identity and minimize the threatened violence against Lot's daughters; no claim beyond the accessible abstract treated as inspected.
Exact location: Interpretation 71.3, pp. 274–283; accessible abstract and official publication metadata
Open source ↗peer reviewed specialist legal historical alternative
‘Hospitality’, Hostiles and Hostages: On the Legal Background to Genesis 19.1–9
Scott Morschauser
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 27(4), pages 461–485, 2003
Supports: Strongest nonsexual-interrogation and legal-hostage alternative, used as a disputed reading rather than established background.
Exact location: Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 27.4, pp. 461–485; official abstract and accessible journal-page notes
Open source ↗scholarly Jewish queer reception reading
Looking Back to Look Forward: Parashat Vayera (Genesis 18:1–22:24)
Gwynn Kessler
New York University Press, in Torah Queeries, pages 29–33, 2009
Supports: Queer reception counterpoint emphasizing harmful anti-LGBTQ reception, hospitality, and the wider Abraham narrative.
Exact location: Torah Queeries, chapter 4, pp. 29–33; complete accessible chapter in the Swarthmore College repository
Open source ↗peer reviewed multi author specialist volume
Universalism and Particularism at Sodom and Gomorrah: Essays in Memory of Ron Pirson
Diana Lipton, editor
Society of Biblical Literature, Ancient Israel and Its Literature 11, 2012
Supports: Documented breadth of disputes involving sexuality, outsider stereotyping, hospitality, justice, fathers and daughters, residents and aliens; no unseen chapter claim treated as verified.
Exact location: Universalism and Particularism at Sodom and Gomorrah, SBL Press official description and table of contents
Open source ↗