Old Testament · Law

Genesis 19:14

Sodom Destroyed

So Lot went out and spoke to the sons-in-law who were pledged in marriage to his daughters. “Get up,” he said. “Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking. Genesis 19:14 · Berean Standard Bible

What It Means

Genesis 19:14, in plain English

Lot rushes to warn his sons-in-law—the men engaged to marry his daughters—telling them to flee immediately. But they think he's joking and don't take him seriously.

Why it's here

Lot's sons-in-law don't believe him because warning of a supernatural judgment sounds absurd. It also shows that Lot doesn't have authority or credibility in Sodom—even his own family connections don't respect his word. His status in the city is lower than he might have thought, which makes his earlier position at the gate seem less significant.

Who's speaking

The narrator

Where it sits in the story

This is tragic—Lot is trying to save his family, but they won't listen. It shows how isolated righteous people become in a wicked society. Nobody believes Lot because nobody in Sodom takes moral warnings seriously anymore. The city is too far gone for half-measures and polite suggestions.

A Closer Look

The scholar's commentary

Lot attempts to warn his sons-in-law, who are betrothed to his daughters, but they dismiss his urgent appeal as joking—a failure that seals their fate and demonstrates how Sodom's moral perversion extends even to those peripherally connected to Lot.

Language and setting

The Hebrew term חָתְנָיו (chathnav, 'his sons-in-law' or more precisely 'those married/promised to his daughters') refers to men with contractual obligations to Lot's family; their presence would suggest Lot retained some social standing and potential leverage. Yet their dismissal of Lot's warning as צְחוֹק (tsekhok, 'laughter' or 'mockery') reveals their complete spiritual imperviousness. They cannot conceive that cosmic order could be overturned; their materialistic framework renders apocalyptic warning absurd. Calvin emphasized this as the characteristic response of those who've lost eschatological awareness—YHWH's judgment becomes narratively unthinkable to those immersed in present prosperity.

Voice

The Yahwist narrator, describing Lot's failed warning to his sons-in-law

Significance

This episode illustrates the text's concern with generational transmission of wisdom and warning; it foreshadows the later prophetic books' recurring theme that warnings go unheeded. The sons-in-law represent those spiritually close to salvation (through family connection) yet incapable of receiving it.

In context

Genesis 19:12–16

12Then the two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—a son-in-law, your sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here,

13because we are about to destroy this place. For the outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that He has sent us to destroy it.”

14So Lot went out and spoke to the sons-in-law who were pledged in marriage to his daughters. “Get up,” he said. “Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

15At daybreak the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.”

16But 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.

Read all of Genesis 19 — Fire falls from the sky. A city is erased. And Lot's wife looks back — a small act of longing with permanent consequences.

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