God’s Word Translation
Genesis 19:26
26Lot’s wife looked back and turned into a column 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.
- English Standard Version (ESV)But Lot's wife, behind him, 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.
Context of Genesis 19:26
24Then the Lord made burning sulfur and fire rain out of heaven on Sodom and Gomorrah. 25He destroyed those cities, the whole plain, all who lived in the cities, and whatever grew on the ground. Lot’s wife looked back and turned into a column of salt. 27Early the next morning Abraham came to the place where he had stood in front of the Lord. 28When he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land in the plain, he saw smoke rising from the land like the thick 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 19:17As soon as they were outside, one ⌞of the angels⌟ said, “Run for your lives! Don’t look behind you, and don’t stop on the plain. Run for the hills, or you’ll be swept away!”
- Proverbs 14:14A heart that turns ⌞from God⌟ becomes bored with its own ways, but a good person is satisfied with God’s ways.
- Luke 17:31“On that day those who are on the roof shouldn’t come down to get their belongings out of their houses. Those who are in the field shouldn’t turn back.
- Hebrews 10:38The person who has God’s approval will live by faith. But if he turns back, I will not be pleased with him.”
- Numbers 16:38The incense burners of these men who sinned and lost their lives are holy, because they were offered to the Lord. Hammer them into thin metal sheets to cover the altar. This will be a sign to the Israelites.”
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
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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