The Meaning of Genesis 19:26 Explained

Genesis 19:26

KJV: But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

YLT: And his wife looketh expectingly from behind him, and she is -- a pillar of salt!

Darby: And his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

ASV: But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

But his wife  looked back  from behind him,  and she became a pillar  of salt. 

What does Genesis 19:26 Mean?

Context Summary

Genesis 19:24-29 - Lot And His Daughters Rescued
God had mercy on Lot for Abraham's sake. A missionary told me that when, on writing home to his mother, he narrated his miraculous deliverance from an infuriated mob, she replied by quoting a special entry in her diary to the effect that, during those exact hours, she was detained before God in a perfect agony of intercession for him. Lot was saved from Sodom, but took Sodom with him. He was saved so as by fire, but his life-work was burned up. See 1 Corinthians 3:15. Even his wife might have been saved, but her heart was inveterately wedded to the city. In modern cities there are traces of the sins that doomed Sodom. Let us bear witness against them, that we may arrest inevitable judgment. Jude tells us that in the fate of these cities we have an example of eternal fire. Have a place where you stand before God. Only from that eminence can you venture to look out on the awful retribution of human rebellion.
For Review Questions on Genesis see the e-Sword Book Comments. [source]

Chapter Summary: Genesis 19

1  Lot entertains two angels
4  The vicious Sodomites are smitten with blindness
12  Lot is warned, and in vain warns his sons-in-law
15  He is directed to flee to the mountains, but obtains leave to go into Zoar
24  Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed
26  Lot's wife looks back and becomes a pillar of salt
29  Lot dwells in a cave
31  The incestuous origin of Moab and Ammon

What do the individual words in Genesis 19:26 mean?

But looked his wife back and she became a pillar of salt
וַתַּבֵּ֥ט אִשְׁתּ֖וֹ מֵאַחֲרָ֑יו וַתְּהִ֖י נְצִ֥יב מֶֽלַח

וַתַּבֵּ֥ט  But  looked 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Hifil, Consecutive imperfect, third person feminine singular
Root: נָבַט  
Sense: to look, regard.
אִשְׁתּ֖וֹ  his  wife 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct, third person masculine singular
Root: אִשָּׁה  
Sense: woman, wife, female.
מֵאַחֲרָ֑יו  back 
Parse: Preposition-m, third person masculine singular
Root: אַחַר 
Sense: after the following part, behind (of place), hinder, afterwards (of time).
וַתְּהִ֖י  and  she  became 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Consecutive imperfect, third person feminine singular
Root: אֶהְיֶה 
Sense: to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out.
נְצִ֥יב  a  pillar 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: נְצִיב  
Sense: set over, something placed, pillar, prefect, garrison, post.
מֶֽלַח  of  salt 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: מֶלַח  
Sense: salt.

What are the major concepts related to Genesis 19:26?

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