Genesis 19:15

Summary

At daybreak, the two malakhim ("angels", H4397H) press Lot to leave immediately, telling him to take his wife and his two daughters who are present, warning that he could otherwise be swept away in the punishment coming upon the city.

Key words

• 'a.Lah ("it came up", H5927L) — qal perfect describing the dawn's ascent as a completed event, setting the time frame that triggers the angels' urgency.
• i.ya.'I.tzu ("they urged/hurried", H0213) — hiphil narrative form; the causative stem indicates the angels actively caused Lot to move, not merely spoke to him.
• nim.tza.'Ot ("are found", H4672) — niphal participle, feminine plural, describing the daughters as those "being found" present — a passive/stative nuance implying their location at that moment, not necessarily elsewhere.
• ti.sa.Peh ("you should be swept away", H5595) — niphal imperfect, passive sense: Lot is the one acted upon by the sweeping-away, not the agent.
• 'a.Von ("punishment of", H5771I) — construct noun linking the destruction directly to "the city," so the phrase reads literally "in the punishment/iniquity of the city."

What the text says

The verse opens with a temporal clause, u-khemo ha-shachar 'alah ("and when the dawn came up"), using the qal perfect 'alah to mark the moment as already accomplished, which grammatically justifies the urgency that follows. The main clause introduces the narrative vav on va-ya'itzu, a hiphil form of the root behind "hurry/urge," showing that the angels caused action rather than simply advised — the causative stem intensifies the pressure implied by the English "hurried."

The angels' speech is introduced by the infinitive le'mor ("saying," H0559), a standard formula. The commands qum ("arise") and qach ("take") are both qal imperatives, direct and unmitigated. The object marked by 'et before 'ishtekha ("your wife") and again before shtei venotekha ("two of your daughters") uses construct chains (shtei... venotekha) meaning literally "the two of your daughters," specifying number tightly bound to possession. The participle ha-nimtza'ot ("the ones being found," niphal) modifies the daughters, describing their present state of being located there — a passive/stative form that some translations render as "who are here."

The final clause uses pen ("lest") with the niphal imperfect tissapheh ("you would be swept away"), a passive construction placing Lot as recipient of the sweeping, followed by ba-'avon ha-'ir, construct phrase "in the punishment of the city," tying the potential destruction to the city as its source.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the final clause with a purpose construction, "ἵνα... συναπόλῃ" ("so that you may perish together with"), pairing it with ταῖς ἀνομίαις ("the iniquities," plural) of the city, differing from the Hebrew's singular construct 'avon ha-'ir ("punishment/iniquity of the city," singular). The Vulgate similarly reads "ne et tu pariter pereas in scelere civitatis" ("lest you likewise perish in the crime of the city"), using "scelere" (singular, "crime") closer to the Hebrew singular noun than the LXX's plural.