Genesis 19:32

Old Testament Law (Torah) ASV (1901)

What does Genesis 19:32 say?

The American Standard Version records this verse as: “come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.” Read the surrounding verses and the named sources below before drawing broader conclusions.

The verse

come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.
Genesis 19:32 — American Standard Version

Context — Genesis 19

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. Click any verse for its study page.
32come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

What do historical commentaries say?

John Gill's Exposition
John Gill (1697–1771) · Exposition of the Old and New Testament · 18th-century historical commentary
“Come, let us make our father drink wine, etc.] Meaning to excess, so as to be inebriated with it, and not know what he did: this wine might be brought with them from Sodom, with other provisions for their refreshment and support; or it may be rather from Zoar, where they furnished themselves with a quantity for their support in the mountain they betook themselves unto: and we will lie with him, that we may preserve the seed of our father; have children by him, and propagate and preserve the human species; this they might think lawful, such incestuous copulations being usual among their neighbours the Arabs, as appears from Strabo f1191 and other writers, and especially when there seemed to…”
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Barnes' Notes
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) · Notes on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“- The Destruction of Sodom and Amorah 9. גשׁ־הלאה 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, because it consists in punishment, and because it is foreign to the covenant of grace. Yet it is closely connected with Abraham’s history, inasmuch as it is a signal chastisement of wickedness in his neighborhood, a memorial of the righteous…”
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Related study paths

Sources and verification