^19:31Later the older daughter said⁸⁵ to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man anywhere nearby⁸⁶ to have sexual relations with us,⁸⁷ according to the way of all the world. ^19:32Come, let’s make our father drunk with wine⁸⁸ so we can have sexual relations⁸⁹ with him and preserve⁹⁰ our family line through our father.”⁹¹

^19:33So that night they made their father drunk with wine,⁹² and the older daughter⁹³ came and had sexual relations with her father.⁹⁴ But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up.⁹⁵^19:34So in the morning the older daughter⁹⁶ said to the younger, “Since I had sexual relations with my father last night, let’s make him drunk again tonight.⁹⁷ Then you go and have sexual relations with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.”⁹⁸^19:35So they made their father drunk⁹⁹ that night as well, and the younger one came and had sexual relations with him.¹⁰⁰ But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up.¹⁰¹

^19:36In this way both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. ^19:37The older daughter¹⁰² gave birth to a son and named him Moab.¹⁰³ He is the ancestor of the Moabites of today.

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Footnotes

85 Heb “and the firstborn said.”
86 Or perhaps “on earth,” in which case the statement would be hyperbolic; presumably there had been some men living in the town of Zoar to which Lot and his daughters had initially fled.
87 Heb “to enter upon us.” This is a euphemism for sexual relations.
88 Heb “drink wine.”
89 Heb “and we will lie down.” The cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive is subordinated to the preceding cohortative and indicates purpose/result.
90 Or “that we may preserve.” Here the cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates their ultimate goal.
91 Heb “and we will keep alive from our father descendants.” For a discussion of the cultural background of the daughters’ desire to preserve our family line see F. C. Fensham, “The Obliteration of the Family as Motif in the Near Eastern Literature,” 10 (1969): 191–99.
92 Heb “drink wine.”
93 Heb “the firstborn.”
94 Heb “and the firstborn came and lied down with her father.” The expression “lied down with” here and in the following verses is a euphemism for sexual relations.
95 Heb “and he did not know when she lay down and when she arose.”
96 Heb “the firstborn.”
97 Heb “Look, I lied down with my father. Let’s make him drink wine again tonight.”
98 Heb “And go, lie down with him and we will keep alive from our father descendants.”
99 Heb “drink wine.”
100 Heb “lied down with him.”
101 Heb “And he did not know when she lied down and when she arose.”
102 Heb “the firstborn.”
103 The meaning of the name Moab is not certain. The name sounds like the Hebrew phrase “from our father” (מֵאָבִינוּ, me’avinu) which the daughters used twice (vv. 32, 34). This account is probably included in the narrative in order to portray the Moabites, who later became enemies of God’s people, in a negative light.