New International Version
Genesis 19:26
26But Lot’s wife 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.
- 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.
- 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 down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. 25Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. 27Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 28He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from 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 had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”
- Proverbs 14:14The faithless will be fully repaid for their ways, and the good rewarded for theirs.
- Luke 17:31On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything.
- Hebrews 10:38And, “But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.”
- Numbers 16:38the censers of the men who sinned at the cost of their lives. Hammer the censers into sheets to overlay the altar, for they were presented before the Lord and have become holy. Let them 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
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