So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law: So marks Lot’s action as a consequence or result of the instructions given to him by the angels in verse 12. Lot went from his house to wherever these young men were. According to verse 4 these men must have been included in the mob at Lot’s door, as the narrator makes no exceptions. But the mob has now gone away, and it is quite likely that the sons-in-law would not have been together in the same place, and so some translators make it clear that he went and spoke to each of them.

These young men are called sons-in-law as in verse 12. Revised Standard Version describes them as who were to marry his daughters. The Hebrew text has a participle meaning “the takers of his daughters.” Apparently some form of betrothal or mutual promise had taken place to mark them as future husbands, and in Hebrew society such couples were already considered husband and wife before they began to live together. Some translations like King James Version have “which married his daughters,” while others like Good News Translation have “his daughters were going to marry,” referring to the future. Septuagint has the past and Vulgate the future.

Assuming that Lot has only the two virgin daughters mentioned in verse 8, it is best to consider these young men as future sons-in-law: they have not yet taken Lot’s daughters as their wives. Translations that follow the recommendation given here do so in various ways. For example, Good News Translation avoids the expression sons-in-law and says “Lot went to the men his daughters were going to marry,” Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “Lot went to see his sons-in-law, that is, to those engaged to his daughters,” New English Bible “… went to his intended sons-in-law,” New Jerusalem Bible “… to his future sons-in-law.” In other languages and cultures this may be expressed in the terms that are appropriate for engagement and marriage. In some languages, for instance, the terms “promised” and “marked” are used for both males and females who are formally engaged; in other languages the actual terms for “son-in-law” and “daughter-in-law” are used from the time of engagement.

Up, get out of this place: this is literally “Rise, go out.” If this speech immediately follows the earlier events, this suggests that the young men are in bed, and so can be taken to mean “Get out of bed!” We may then translate “Get up, let’s leave this place” or “Hurry, get up! We’re leaving this place”; New Jerusalem Bible has “On your feet!” However, the Hebrew word qum “get up” is often used in the imperative to emphasize initiating the action of another verb of movement without any literal sense of “up.” In this case it conveys the same sense of urgency that runs right through this section of text. New International Version translates “Hurry and get out of this place,” while Revised English Bible, using an indirect quotation, says “Lot … urged his sons-in-law to get out of the place at once.”

In some languages the fact that Lot himself is also going to get out of the town will influence the pronoun forms used here. One typical example of what is required is “You [singular] come quickly! Let us [plural inclusive] get out of this place.”

For the LORD is about to destroy the city: in verse 13 the angels said “we are about to destroy this place.” Lot now appears ready to accept the angels’ mission on behalf of the LORD.

But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting: jesting is making a joke or doing something so that people will laugh. The words or actions are assumed to be intentional. Jesting is the opposite of being serious, and so Revised English Bible says “They did not take him seriously,” and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “But Lot’s sons-in-law did not take seriously what he was telling them.” Good News Translation and a number of other versions say “But they thought he was joking.” We may also say, for example, “But they … thought he was trying to make them laugh” or “… was saying something funny.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .