Genesis 19:18

Summary

Genesis 19:18 opens Lot's response to the two visitors who have just told him to flee to the mountains. The verse is introduced by a narrative verb of speech, followed by the direct address itself, which begins with a polite negation and an honorific title directed at his hearers.

Key words

• va-yomer ("and he said", H0559) — qal wayyiqtol form; the narrative vav plus prefixed verb marks this as the next sequential event in the story ("and then Lot said").
• alehem ("to them", H0413 + H9038) — preposition with third-person masculine plural suffix; the plural object shows Lot is addressing more than one hearer (the two visitors).
• al ("not", H0408) — negative particle used here not as a simple prohibition but as part of a polite request formula.
• na ("please", H4994) — enclitic particle of entreaty; attached to al it softens the negation into a courteous plea rather than a blunt refusal.
• Adonai ("my Lord/O Lord", H0136) — vocative title; its specific vocalization is the same form elsewhere reserved for addressing the divine name, though here it stands as an address within a scene involving two visitors.

What the text says

The verse is built on a simple narrative chain: the vav-prefixed va-yomer moves the story forward from the preceding command to flee, naming Lot (H3876) as subject and alehem ("to them") as the audience of his coming speech. The plural suffix in alehem confirms that Lot's words are directed at both visitors together, even though the following vocative appears in a singular-looking form.

The direct speech itself opens with the combination al + na, a recognized pattern in which the negative particle is softened by the entreaty particle, producing a tone of respectful pleading rather than flat refusal — something like "please, do not" as an introductory gesture before the actual request (which continues beyond this verse). The address that follows, Adonai, is grammatically a vocative title. Its written form matches the special vocalization otherwise used for the divine name, which creates an ambiguity in how the address is understood grammatically as either honoring a single figure or the two hearers collectively.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew Adonai is rendered as singular in the LXX (κύριε, "Lord") and in the Vulgate (domine mi, "my lord"), both addressing one figure. The Reina-Valera 1909, SBLIBRE, and BSB instead translate it as plural — "señores míos" / "my lords" — treating the address as directed at both visitors named in alehem. The Hebrew consonantal and vocalized form itself is identical to the customary spelling of the divine title, without the text specifying grammatically which reading is intended.