Genesis 19 — Hebrew and Greek compared
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Same 3 Similar 13 Different 15 Divergent 3 Disparate 4
Disparate in this chapter: 19:16, 19:17, 19:19, 19:28
Each verse is rendered independently from the Hebrew (Rabbinic reading tradition) and from the Greek (Saints reading tradition). The badge classifies the relationship between the two readings; the note beneath records the source document’s comparison and attributed interpretation. Each column retains its own verse references where numbering differs.
The Angels Visit Sodom
19:1 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:1 The two messengers came to Sodom in the evening. Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom; when he saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed with his face to the ground.
Greek · Saints priority
19:1 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening. Lot was sitting beside the gate of Sodom; when he saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed with his face to the ground.
The location is expressed as in/beside the gate; the arrival and greeting correspond.
19:2 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:2 He said, “Please, my lords, turn aside to your servant's house, spend the night, and wash your feet. Then you may rise early and go on your way.” They said, “No, we will spend the night in the square.”
Greek · Saints priority
19:2 He said, “Look, lords, turn aside to your servant's house, lodge there, and wash your feet. Then you may rise early and go on your way.” They said, “No, we will lodge in the square.”
Both addresses are plural. The hospitality and initial refusal agree.
19:3 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:3 He urged them strongly, and they turned aside to him and entered his house. He prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
Greek · Saints priority
19:3 He pressed them, and they turned aside to him and entered his house. He prepared a drinking feast for them and baked unleavened bread for them, and they ate.
Both feast terms have associations with drinking. G explicitly repeats for them with the bread; the meal is not automatically designated a later festival observance.
The Sin of Sodom
19:4 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:4 Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, from young to old, all the people from every quarter.
Greek · Saints priority
19:4 Before they lay down, the men of the city, the Sodomites, surrounded the house, from young to old, all the people together.
H's from the extremity/every quarter emphasizes extent; G says together.
19:5 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:5 They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we may know them.”
Greek · Saints priority
19:5 They called Lot out and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we may have intercourse with them.”
H uses know as a sexual euphemism; G syngenomai can mean associate with or have intercourse with. The threatened sexual assault is established by the narrative context, including verse 8; G is not replaced with H's verb merely for uniformity.
19:6 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:6 Lot went out to them at the entrance and shut the door behind him.
Greek · Saints priority
19:6 Lot went out to them at the vestibule and closed the door behind him.
The protective closing of the door agrees; the threshold terms differ slightly.
19:7 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:7 He said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly.
Greek · Saints priority
19:7 He said to them, “By no means, brothers! Do not act wickedly.
The plea agrees; G adds a forceful opening refusal.
19:8 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:8 Look, I have two daughters who have not known a man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them what seems good to you. Only do nothing to these men, because they have come under the shadow of my roof.”
Greek · Saints priority
19:8 I have two daughters who have not known a man. I will bring them out to you, and use them as you please. Only do nothing unjust to these men, because they have come under the shelter of my roof beams.”
G says use them and qualifies the forbidden action as unjust; H says do to them and prohibits anything to the visitors. The text reports Lot's proposal without making it a divine command or approval.
19:9 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:9 They said, “Stand back!” Then they said, “This one came to sojourn, and now he acts as judge! We will treat you worse than them.” They pressed hard against the man, Lot, and drew near to break the door.
Greek · Saints priority
19:9 They said, “Stand back there! You came alone to sojourn; will you also pass judgment? Now we will mistreat you worse than them.” They pressed hard against the man, Lot, and drew near to smash the door.
H speaks about Lot in the third person; G directly addresses him and casts judging as a question. Both threaten greater violence.
19:10 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:10 The men reached out their hands, brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door.
Greek · Saints priority
19:10 The men stretched out their hands, pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door of the house.
The rescue agrees; G makes the pulling action and house-door relation explicit.
19:11 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:11 They struck the men at the house entrance with blindness, small and great alike, and they wore themselves out trying to find the entrance.
Greek · Saints priority
19:11 They struck the men at the house door with blindness, small and great alike, and they became helpless while seeking the door.
H emphasizes exhaustion; G uses a verb of weakening or disabling. This need not mean complete physical paralysis.
The Angels Take Lot’s Family
19:12 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:12 The men said to Lot, “Whom else do you have here? A son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and all who belong to you in the city—bring them out of this place.
Greek · Saints priority
19:12 The men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone here—sons-in-law, sons, or daughters? If you have anyone else in the city, bring them out of this place.
H has singular son-in-law in its list; G plural sons-in-law and alternative questions. Both order removal of the household.
19:13 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:13 We are destroying this place, for their outcry has grown great before YHWH, and YHWH sent us to destroy it.”
Greek · Saints priority
19:13 We are destroying this place, for their outcry has risen before the Lord, and the Lord sent us to wipe it out.”
The mission and reason correspond; G emphasizes the outcry's rising.
19:14 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:14 Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were taking his daughters, and said, “Get up and leave this place, for YHWH is destroying the city!” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be joking.
Greek · Saints priority
19:14 Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had taken his daughters, and said, “Get up and leave this place, for the Lord is wiping out the city!” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be joking.
H's participle can refer to men marrying or engaged to the daughters; G uses a completed taking. The Greek is not silently changed to betrothed.
19:15 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:15 As dawn rose, the messengers urged Lot, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the city's punishment.”
Greek · Saints priority
19:15 As dawn came, the angels urged Lot, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters whom you have, and go out, lest you perish along with the city's lawless deeds.”
G adds an explicit go out. H's iniquity/punishment term and G's plural lawless deeds express the danger differently.
19:16 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:16 He lingered, so the men grasped his hand, his wife's hand, and his two daughters' hands, because YHWH had compassion on him. They brought him out and set him outside the city.
Greek · Saints priority
19:16 They were troubled, and the angels grasped his hand, his wife's hand, and his two daughters' hands, because the Lord spared him.
H has Lot's singular lingering and an explicit placement outside the city; G has plural distress and calls the rescuers angels. G's bringing-out clause follows in verse 17, without H's separate placement statement.
19:17 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:17 When they had brought them outside, he said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you or stop anywhere in the region. Escape to the hill country, lest you be swept away!”
Greek · Saints priority
19:17 When they had brought them outside, they said, “Save your own life! Do not look back or stop anywhere in the surrounding region. Escape to the mountain, lest you be swept away with them!”
H gives the command through a singular speaker; G through plural speakers. G also emphasizes saving one's own life. The verse division continues the rescue described in verse 16.
19:18 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:18 Lot said to them, “No, please, Lord!
Greek · Saints priority
19:18 Lot said to them, “I beg you, Lord:
H explicitly refuses; G petitions. Both address them while using a singular Lord in the following appeal.
19:19 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:19 Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in preserving my life. But I cannot escape to the hill country, lest disaster overtake me and I die.
Greek · Saints priority
19:19 Your servant has found mercy before you, and you have magnified your righteousness in what you do for me to preserve my life. But I cannot escape to the mountain, lest calamities overtake me and I die.
H describes favor and kindness; G mercy and righteousness. The theological description of the rescue differs, though both concern Lot's survival.
19:20 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:20 Look, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please let me escape there—is it not small?—so that my life may be preserved.”
Greek · Saints priority
19:20 Look, this city is near enough for me to flee there, and it is small. I will be saved there—is it not small?—and my life will be preserved.”
H requests permission to escape; G states prospective safety there. The small-city argument agrees.
19:21 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:21 He said to him, “I have granted you favor in this matter also: I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.
Greek · Saints priority
19:21 He said to him, “I have regarded your person in this matter also: I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.
The Hebrew lifting-the-face idiom and Greek regarding-the-face expression grant the same request; G does not require aesthetic admiration of Lot's appearance.
19:22 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:22 Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the city was called Zoar.
Greek · Saints priority
19:22 “Therefore hurry to safety there, for I will not be able to do anything until you enter there.” Therefore the city was called Zoar.
The delay and naming agree. The name's smallness wordplay is clearer in Hebrew than in the Greek transliteration.
19:23 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:23 The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar.
Greek · Saints priority
19:23 The sun rose over the earth, and Lot entered Zoar.
The dawn and arrival correspond; the connective is expressed differently.
Destruction of the Plain
19:24 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:24 YHWH rained sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from YHWH out of the heavens.
Greek · Saints priority
19:24 The Lord rained sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of heaven.
Both repeat the divine designation. Later theological interpretations must not be presented as a Hebrew/Greek difference in this verse.
19:25 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:25 He overthrew those cities, the whole region, all the inhabitants of the cities, and the growth of the ground.
Greek · Saints priority
19:25 He overthrew those cities, the whole surrounding region, all who lived in the cities, and everything that grew from the earth.
The scope of destruction corresponds; G explicitly has everything in the vegetation clause.
19:26 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:26 His wife looked back from behind him and became a pillar of salt.
Greek · Saints priority
19:26 His wife looked backward and became a pillar of salt.
H locates her behind him; G states the backward direction without that relative location.
19:27 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:27 Abraham rose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before YHWH.
Greek · Saints priority
19:27 Abraham rose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord.
The return to the place of intercession agrees.
19:28 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:28 He looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah and over all the land of the region. He saw smoke rising from the land like the smoke of a furnace.
Greek · Saints priority
19:28 He looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah and over the land of the surrounding region. He saw a flame rising from the land like the vapor of a furnace.
H describes smoke rising; G describes a flame compared with furnace vapor. The observed imagery differs.
19:29 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:29 When God destroyed the cities of the region, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out from the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.
Greek · Saints priority
19:29 When the Lord wiped out all the cities of the surrounding region, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out from the midst of the overthrow, when the Lord overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.
RH distinguishes Lord in the destruction clauses and God in remembrance, and adds all. H uses God and a subsequent pronoun.
The Origin of Moab and Ammon
19:30 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:30 Lot went up from Zoar and lived in the hill country with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. He lived in the cave, he and his two daughters.
Greek · Saints priority
19:30 Lot went up from Zoar and stayed in the mountain with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. He lived in the cave, he and his two daughters with him.
The refuge and fear agree; G repeats with him at the end.
19:31 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:31 The firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to come in to us according to the way of all the earth.
Greek · Saints priority
19:31 The older said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no one on the earth who will come in to us as is customary in all the earth.
This is the daughters' stated assessment, not the narrator's assertion that all other humans died. Land/earth is context-dependent in both languages.
19:32 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:32 Come, let us give our father wine to drink and lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring from our father.”
Greek · Saints priority
19:32 Come, let us give our father wine to drink and lie with him, so that we may raise up offspring from our father.”
H emphasizes preserving life or lineage; G raising up offspring. G's verb does not by itself introduce resurrection theology.
19:33 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:33 They gave their father wine to drink that night. The firstborn went in and lay with her father; he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
Greek · Saints priority
19:33 They gave their father wine to drink that night. The older went in and lay with her father that night; he did not know when she lay down or arose.
G repeats that night with the intercourse clause. Both explicitly state the father's unawareness.
19:34 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:34 The next day the firstborn said to the younger, “Look, I lay with my father last night. Let us give him wine tonight also; go in and lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring from our father.”
Greek · Saints priority
19:34 The next day the older said to the younger, “Look, I lay with our father yesterday. Let us give him wine tonight also; go in and lie with him, so that we may raise up offspring from our father.”
H has my father and last night; G our father and yesterday. Preserve/raise up repeats verse 32.
19:35 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:35 They gave their father wine to drink that night also. The younger arose and lay with him; he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
Greek · Saints priority
19:35 They gave their father wine to drink that night also. The younger went in and lay with her father; he did not know when she lay down or arose.
H has arose and with him; RH has went in and with her father. Both repeat his unawareness.
19:36 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:36 Both daughters of Lot conceived by their father.
Greek · Saints priority
19:36 Both daughters of Lot conceived by their father.
The pregnancies and paternity agree.
19:37 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:37 The firstborn bore a son and named him Moab; he is the father of Moab to this day.
Greek · Saints priority
19:37 The older bore a son and named him Moab, saying, “From my father.” He is the father of the Moabites to this day.
G adds the explicit explanation From my father. The draft omitted this naming clause from its polished text.
19:38 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
19:38 The younger also bore a son and named him Ben-ammi; he is the father of the sons of Ammon to this day.
Greek · Saints priority
19:38 The younger also bore a son and named him Amman, “Son of my kin.” He is the father of the Ammanites to this day.
H names Ben-ammi; G gives Amman with an explicit kinship explanation. Both explain the origin of the corresponding people, but the naming formulas differ.
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Saints Translation · Companion comparison edition · working draft awaiting specialist review.