Genesis 19:16
וַֽיִּתְמַהְמָהּ׀ וַיַּחֲזִקוּ הָאֲנָשִׁים בְּיָדוֹ וּבְיַד־אִשְׁתּוֹ וּבְיַד שְׁתֵּי בְנֹתָיו בְּחֶמְלַת יְהוָה עָלָיו וַיֹּצִאֻהוּ וַיַּנִּחֻהוּ מִחוּץ לָעִֽיר׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַֽיִּתְמַהְמָ֓הּ׀ וַיַּחֲזִ֨קוּ הָאֲנָשִׁ֜ים בְּיָד֣וֹ וּבְיַד־אִשְׁתּ֗וֹ וּבְיַד֙ שְׁתֵּ֣י בְנֹתָ֔יו בְּחֶמְלַ֥ת יְהוָ֖ה עָלָ֑יו וַיֹּצִאֻ֥הוּ וַיַּנִּחֻ֖הוּ מִח֥וּץ לָעִֽיר׃
καὶ ἐταράχθησαν· καὶ ἑ τησαν οἱ ἄγγελοι τῆς χειρὸς αὐτῶν καὶ τῆς χειρὸς τῆς γυναικὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν χειρῶν τῶν δύο θυγατέρων αὐτοῦ, ἐν τῷ φείσασθαι κύριον
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Dissimulante illo, apprehenderunt manum ejus, et manum uxoris, ac duarum filiarum ejus, eo quod parceret Dominus illi.
Como Lot se demoraba, los hombres lo tomaron de la mano, lo mismo que a su esposa y a sus dos hijas, y los sacaron de la ciudad, porque Yehová tuvo compasión de él.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y deteniéndose él, los varones asieron de su mano, y de la mano de su mujer, y de las manos de sus dos hijas, según la misericordia de Jehová para con él; y le sacaron, y le pusieron fuera de la ciudad.
But when Lot hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters. And they led them safely out of the city, because of the LORD ’s compassion for them.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse narrates Lot's hesitation and the intervention of "the men" (the visiting messengers), who physically seize Lot, his wife, and his two daughters by the hand and lead them out of the city. The text attributes this rescue to chemlat ("mercy/compassion of", H2551) Yehovah toward Lot.
Key words
- yit.mah.Mah ("he delayed", H4102) — hithpael (reflexive/intensive) verb with narrative vav, describing Lot's own hesitating action; the reflexive stem underscores that the delay originates from him.
- ya.cha.Zi.ku ("they took hold", H2388H) — hiphil (causative) verb, indicating the men actively force a grip, not a gentle touch — a causative "made [their hand] hold."
- yad ("hand", H3027G) — repeated three times in construct form (be-yado, u-ve-yad-ishto, u-ve-yad shtei venotav), each introducing a different possessor: his hand, his wife's hand, the hand of his two daughters.
- chem.Lat ("mercy/compassion of", H2551) — feminine singular construct, binding directly to Yehovah (H3068G) as "the compassion of Yehovah," explaining the motive behind the men's action.
- yo.tzi.'U ("they brought out", H3318H) and ya.ni.Chu ("they placed", H5117) — two consecutive hiphil narrative verbs describing the sequence: first extraction, then placement, both causative and both with 3rd person plural subject ("they") acting upon Lot (3rd masculine singular suffix "him").
What the text says
The Hebrew sentence is built as a chain of narrative (vav-consecutive) verbs, a typical structure for sequential action in biblical narrative prose: va-yitmahmah ("and he delayed"), va-yachaziqu ("and they seized"), va-yotzi'uhu ("and they brought him out"), va-yannichuhu ("and they placed him"). Each verb marks a discrete narrative beat, moving the action forward step by step without subordinate clauses.
The threefold repetition of yad ("hand") in construct chains — his hand, his wife's hand, his daughters' hand — creates a formulaic, almost ritual cadence, emphasizing that each family member is individually grasped, not the family as an undifferentiated group. Note that in construct forms 12 and 13, "hand" (yad) governs "wife" (ishto, H0802H) directly, and in 17-19 it governs "two daughters" (shtei venotav), with the dual numeral shtei (H8147) marking exactly two daughters.
The phrase be-chemlat Yehovah alav ("in/by the mercy of Yehovah upon him") functions as a causal clause explaining why the men acted with such urgency, syntactically embedded via the preposition be ("in/by") governing the construct noun chemlat.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders the subject not as unspecified "men" but explicitly as "the angels" (οἱ ἄγγελοι), specifying the identity implied but not lexically stated in the Hebrew ha-anashim ("the men", H0582). The LXX also shifts chemlat Yehovah ("mercy of Yehovah") into a verbal clause, "in that the Lord spared" (ἐν τῷ φείσασθαι κύριον), turning the Hebrew construct noun phrase into an infinitival construction. The Vulgate follows this verbal rendering with "eo quod parceret Dominus" ("because the Lord spared"), likewise converting the Hebrew noun chemlat into a finite verb form.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.