Old Testament · Law

Genesis 19:5

Sodom Destroyed

They called out to Lot, saying, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out to us so we can have relations with them!” Genesis 19:5 · Berean Standard Bible
What It Means

Genesis 19:5, in plain English

The men outside demand that Lot send out his guests so they can sexually assault them. They make their wicked intentions explicit.

Why it's here

The sin of Sodom, as you see it here, is sexual violence and the refusal to show hospitality or respect for strangers. The men want to violate Lot's guests—to dishonor both the visitors and the host by breaking the most sacred duty of hospitality. This is why the city's name became synonymous with sexual perversion throughout Scripture.

Who's speaking

The men of Sodom, shouting at Lot

Where it sits in the story

This is the moment that determines Sodom's fate. God sent messengers to see if there was any repentance, any goodness worth saving. Instead, the entire city rises up to commit a heinous crime. There's no ambiguity about why judgment is coming.

A Closer Look

The scholar's commentary

The Sodomites demand that Lot produce the visitors so they may engage in sexual relations with them—the crux of Sodom's condemnation and the expression of its perverted social order.

Language and setting

The Hebrew verb יָדַע (yada, 'to know') here is unambiguously sexual in context; this is not the intellectual knowing of God or covenant knowledge but sexual violation. The demand for 'relations' (וְנִדְעָ֖ה אֹתָ֑ם) represents not isolated homosexual behavior but the weaponization of sexuality as an instrument of domination and humiliation—a forcible assertion of power over strangers and outsiders. Philo of Alexandria interpreted this as the violation of xenia (guest-friendship), the sacred obligation binding ancient societies; more recent scholarship (following scholars like Phyllis Trible) emphasizes this as sexual violence writ large, an expression of Sodom's systematic injustice toward the vulnerable and the foreign.

Voice

The men of Sodom, speaking collectively

Significance

This revelation of Sodom's character justifies YHWH's determination to destroy the city expressed in 18:20; the 'outcry' (צְעָקָה, tseakah) of the oppressed receives concrete manifestation. The narrative demonstrates that Sodom's sin extends beyond sexual transgression to encompass the violent rejection of hospitality, community obligation, and human dignity.

In context

Genesis 19:3–7

3But Lot insisted so strongly that they followed him into his house. He prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

4Before they had gone to bed, all the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, surrounded the house.

5They called out to Lot, saying, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out to us so we can have relations with them!”

6Lot went outside to meet them, shutting the door behind him.

7“Please, my brothers,” he pleaded, “don’t do such a wicked thing!

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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