Genesis 19:19

Summary

Lot addresses his rescuers, acknowledging the favor and loyalty already shown to him in sparing his life, then explains that he is unable to flee to the hill country, fearing that disaster will overtake him and he will die.

Key words

• chen ("favor", H2580) — masculine singular noun, the thing Lot's servant-self has "found" in the eyes of the addressee; part of the idiom matza chen be'einei ("to find favor in the eyes of").
• chasde.kha ("your loyalty/kindness", H2617A) — construct noun with 2nd person suffix, object of the verb tagDel ("you have made great", H1431), a hiphil causative describing an enlarging action performed on this loyalty.
• ha.cha.Yot ("preserving alive", H2421) — hiphil infinitive with prefixed le- ("to/by"), expressing purpose or result: the loyalty was shown "by preserving alive" Lot's nafshi ("my life", H5315H).
• hi.ma.Let ("to escape", H4422) — niphal infinitive (passive/reflexive stem) with prefixed le-, following lo' ukhal ("I am not able", H3808 + H3201), forming the negated modal clause "I am not able to escape."
• pen-tidbaKani ("lest it cling to me", H6435 + H1692) — pen introduces a feared outcome; tidbaKa is a qal imperfect (3rd feminine singular, referring to ha.ra'ah, "the calamity") with a 1st-person object suffix -ni ("me").

What the text says

The verse opens with the double interjection hi.neh-na' ("here! please", H2009 + H4994), a formula that draws attention and softens the following request, typical of direct speech addressed to a superior. The first clause, matza' 'avdekha chen be'einekha ("your servant has found favor in your eyes"), uses the construct chain 'avde-kha ("servant of you" = "your servant") as the grammatical subject of the verb matza' ("he has found", H4672, qal perfect), even though the referent is Lot speaking of himself in the third person — a common self-deferential form of address.

The second clause is joined by the narrative vav on tagDel ("and you have made great"), a hiphil (causative) form indicating that the addressee actively enlarged his chesed ("loyalty/kindness"). This loyalty is qualified by the relative clause 'asher 'asita 'immadi ("which you have done with me") and further specified by the purpose infinitive lehachayot 'et-nafshi ("to preserve alive my life"), where the hiphil infinitive construct expresses the causative action of keeping something alive, distinct from a simple qal "to live."

The final section shifts to Lot's own inability: lo' ukhal lehimalet ("I am not able to escape") uses a niphal infinitive, a stem often carrying passive or reflexive nuance ("to be delivered/escape"), paired with the directional he on haHarah ("toward the hill country", H2022G + H9011), marking motion toward a destination. The clause introduced by pen ("lest") sets up a feared consequence: tidbaKani ha-ra'ah ("the calamity will cling to me"), using the qal imperfect of davaq ("cling", H1692) with a feminine subject (ha-ra'ah, "the calamity") agreeing grammatically with the verb's feminine form, followed by the sequential perfect vamatti ("and I will die", H4191), which continues the chain of anticipated events.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the Hebrew matza' chen ("has found favor") as εἶπεν ... ἔλεος ("said ... mercy"), shifting from a "finding" idiom to a statement about mercy. Where the Hebrew has chasdekha ("your loyalty/kindness"), the LXX uses τὴν δικαιοσύνην σου ("your righteousness"), a different semantic field than "kindness." The Vulgate's misericordiam tuam ("your mercy") stays closer to a kindness/mercy sense. For the directional phrase haHarah ("toward the hill country"), the LXX has εἰς τὸ ὄρος ("into the mountain," singular), while the BSB gives "to the mountains" (plural), diverging from the Hebrew's singular ha-har with directional suffix.