English Standard Version
Genesis 19:26
26But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
Genesis 19:26 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
- New International Version (NIV)But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
- New King James Version (NKJV)But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
- New Living Translation (NLT)But Lot’s wife looked back as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of salt.
Context of Genesis 19:26
24Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. 25And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. 27And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 28And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.
Read all of Genesis 19Genesis 19:26 word by word
וַתַּבֵּ֥ט אִשְׁתּ֖וֹ מֵאַחֲרָ֑יו וַתְּהִ֖י נְצִ֥יב מֶֽלַח׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Genesis 19:26
- Genesis 19:17And as they brought them out, one said, "Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away."
- Proverbs 14:14The backslider in heart will be filled with the fruit of his ways, and a good man will be filled with the fruit of his ways.
- Luke 17:31On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back.
- Hebrews 10:38but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him."
- Numbers 16:38As for the censers of these men who have sinned at the cost of their lives, let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar, for they offered them before the Lord, and they became holy. Thus they shall be a sign to the people of Israel."
Commentaries on Genesis 19:26
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 26She became a pillar of salt - The vast variety of opinions, both ancient and modern, on the crime of Lot's wife, her change, and the manner in which that change was effected, are in many cases as unsatisfactory as they are ridiculous. On this point the sacred Scripture says little. God had commanded Lot and his family not to look behind them; the wife of Lot disobeyed this command; she looked back from behind him - Lot, her husband, and she became a…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 1-38Verses 1-38 - The Destruction of Sodom and Amorah 9. גשׁ־ gesh -hāl'âh “approach to a distant point,” stand back. 11. סנורים sanevērı̂ym “blindness,” affecting the mental more than the ocular vision. 37. מואב mô'āb Moab; מאב mē'āb “from a father.” בן־עמי ben -‛amı̂y Ben-ammi, “son of my people.” עמון ‛amôn Ammon, “of the people.” This chapter is the continuation and conclusion of the former. It records a part of God‘s strange work - strange…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 26looked back: The verb form indicates intense gazing at the world she loved, not just a curious look (15:5; Exodus 33:8; Numbers 21:9; 1 Samuel 2:32; compare Exodus 3:6). Lot’s wife had become too attached to Sodom to follow God's calling. So God judged her as she lingered on the valley slopes. Christ’s return to judge the world will be as sudden and devastating as Sodom's destruction (Luke 17:32–37). Those who desire the life of this wicked world will…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2626. Lot was accompanied by his wife and two daughters. But whether it was from irresistible curiosity or perturbation of feeling, or that she was about to return to save something, his wife lingered, and while thus disobeying the parting counsel, "to look not back, nor stay in all the plain" [Ge 19:17], the torrent of liquid lava enveloped her so that she became the victim of her supine indolence or sinful rashness.Read the comment
Topics related to Genesis 19:26
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Genesis 19
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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Commentaries