Genesis 19:9

Summary

The men of Sodom respond to Lot with two hostile statements: first ordering him to move aside, then accusing "the one" who came as a resident alien of setting himself up as a judge. They conclude by threatening to harm Lot more than his guests, then press against him and move to break down the door.

Key words

• gesh ("approach", H5066G) — qal imperative; paired with halah ("beyond", H1973) to form an idiomatic command, literally "approach onward."
• ha'echad ("the one", H0259) — cardinal number with definite article, referring to Lot as a single outsider among the townspeople.
• gur ("sojourn", H1481A) — qal infinitive; denotes temporary residence as a resident alien, not permanent citizenship.
• yishpot shafot ("he has judged / continuously judge", H8199) — finite verb followed by infinitive absolute of the same root; this doubling intensifies the verbal idea, emphasizing that Lot has fully taken on the role of judge.
• nara ("we will do harm", H7489A) — hiphil imperfect, causative form: "we will cause harm," directed against Lot personally, compared explicitly to "them" (mehem, H9038).

What the text says

The verse opens with two instances of vayomeru ("and they said", H0559), marking a two-part speech. The first utterance is short: gesh halah — an imperative "approach" combined with the adverb "beyond," an idiomatic phrase directing Lot to move. The second utterance shifts to a longer accusation built on the definite phrase ha'echad, "the one," with the article marking Lot out as the single foreigner among them. The clause ba lagur ("he came to sojourn") uses the infinitive of gur, a root specifically tied to temporary, non-native residence, underscoring Lot's outsider status as the basis of the complaint.

The accusation intensifies through the infinitive absolute construction yishpot shafot — the verb "to judge" repeated in two grammatical forms back-to-back, a construction that in Biblical Hebrew emphasizes or intensifies the verbal action. Here it stresses that Lot has definitively acted as a judge, not merely attempted it. The threat that follows, nara lekha mehem ("we will do more harm to you than to them"), uses the hiphil (causative) stem of ra'a, framing the harm as something the men will actively cause, with the comparative preposition me- ("more than") sharpening the threat against Lot specifically.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew presents "the one" (ha'echad) and "he came" (ba) in the third person, describing Lot indirectly. The LXX renders this in the second person — "εἰσῆλθες παροικεῖν" ("you entered to sojourn") — addressing Lot directly, and the Vulgate follows this pattern with "Ingressus es... ut advena" ("You entered as a foreigner"). Additionally, the idiomatic Hebrew gesh halah ("approach onward") is rendered by the LXX as "Ἀπόστα ἐκεῖ" ("Stand back there") and by the Vulgate as "Recede illuc" ("Go back there"), both conveying a retreat rather than the literal "approach" found in the Hebrew gloss.