Old Testament · Law

Genesis 19:36

Sodom Destroyed

Thus both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. Genesis 19:36 · Berean Standard Bible

What It Means

Genesis 19:36, in plain English

Both of Lot's daughters become pregnant from their father. The daughters have achieved their stated goal, but at a terrible moral cost that echoes through history.

Why it's here

The scheme 'worked' in a biological sense—both women are now pregnant. From their perspective, they've secured the family line and their own futures. But look at what it took. These pregnancies are born from deception, intoxication, and incest. There's no blessing here, only consequences.

Who's speaking

The narrator (Moses)

Where it sits in the story

This moment marks the end of one chapter and the beginning of another. Two nations will spring from these pregnancies—Moab and Ammon. Throughout Israel's history, these will be rival nations, sometimes enemies. What began in a cave in desperation will shape international relations for centuries. This is how far-reaching the consequences of our moral choices can be.

A Closer Look

The scholar's commentary

Both daughters become pregnant from their respective encounters with Lot, fulfilling their stated objective of preserving the paternal line despite the transgressive means.

Language and setting

The narrator's straightforward report of the pregnancies suggests biological success, even if moral catastrophe. The Hebrew uses a simple declarative structure (וַתִּהַרְיֶן שְׁתֵּי בְנוֹת־לוֹט, vattihareyn shtei benot-lot), presenting the result as inevitable consequence of the preceding actions—no moral hedging, no divine judgment interrupting the procreative result. This biological success is narratively crucial; it means the daughters will achieve their stated objective, complicating our moral judgment of their actions.

Voice

The narrator summarizing the consequences of the incestuous acts

Significance

This verse marks the transition from narrative action to genealogical consequence—the shift from 'what happened' to 'who resulted.' The pregnancies establish that the transgression will generate legitimate descendants (in the daughters' own understanding) who will populate the ancient world as Moabites and Ammonites, peoples with whom Israel will have complex relations: sometimes hostile (Numbers 22), sometimes intermarried (Ruth 3:11, the Moabite Ruth), sometimes allied. The biological success complicates the moral evaluation.

In context

Genesis 19:34–38

34The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Look, I slept with my father last night. Let us get him drunk with wine again tonight so you can go in and sleep with him and we can preserve our father’s line.”

35So again that night they got their father drunk with wine, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him; he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up.

36Thus both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father.

37The older daughter gave birth to a son and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites of today.

38The younger daughter also gave birth to a son, and she named him Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites of today.

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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