Bible Strands
Genesis 19:22
Hurry! Run there quickly, for I cannot do anything until you reach it.” That is why the town was called Zoar.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — An angel speaks to Lot, instructing him to flee to a nearby settlement before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah begins. The command occurs immediately after Lot negotiates to spare a specific town (Genesis 19:21).
The words — The text highlights מַהֵר (ma.Her) as “hurry” and אוּכַל (u.Khal) as “I will be able,” framing the angel’s statement that divine action remains suspended until Lot arrives safely.
The thread — Zoar appears in Genesis 13:10 as the boundary toward which the Jordan plain extends, and in Genesis 14:2 as the territory of a king allied with Sodom. The narrative treats the location as a known geographical marker rather than a theological symbol.
Why it lands — The verse demands immediate obedience to a time-bound command, showing that divine judgment proceeds only after the instructed flight is completed. It requires the reader to recognize that urgency in Scripture is tied to specific, completed actions rather than abstract promises.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
Cross-references
- Genesis 13:10 And Lot looked out and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan, all the way to Zoar, was well watered like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)
- Genesis 14:2 went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).
- Genesis 32:25 When the man saw that he could not overpower Jacob, he struck the socket of Jacob’s hip and dislocated it as they wrestled.
- Exodus 32:10 Now leave Me alone, so that My anger may burn against them and consume them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
- Deuteronomy 9:14 Leave Me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. Then I will make you into a nation mightier and greater than they are.”
- Psalms 91:1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
- Mark 6:5 So He could not perform any miracles there, except to lay His hands on a few of the sick and heal them.
- Isaiah 15:5 My heart cries out over Moab; her fugitives flee as far as Zoar, as far as Eglath-shelishiyah. With weeping they ascend the slope of Luhith; they lament their destruction on the road to Horonaim.
- Isaiah 65:8 This is what the LORD says: “As the new wine is found in a cluster of grapes, and men say, ‘Do not destroy it, for it contains a blessing,’ so I will act on behalf of My servants; I will not destroy them all.
- Jeremiah 48:34 There is a cry from Heshbon to Elealeh; they raise their voices to Jahaz, from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah; for even the waters of Nimrim have dried up.