What Does Genesis 19:2 Mean?
And he said, Look now, my lords, turn aside, I pray you, into your servant's house, and lodge all night, and wash your feet, and rise early and go on your way. And they said, No, but we will lodge in the street all night.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night.THE KEY
The Hebrew word for “street” grows from רחב, “wide,” so the visitors choose the open public space even as shelter is offered.
THE MEANING
Welcome takes concrete form here: a house, a place to rest, water for the feet, and a way onward. The visitors still choose the street; shelter can be offered without being accepted. Invitation and refusal meet at the same threshold.
THE ROOT
בָּרְחוֹב
bāreḥōv
GROWS FROM
רחב
To be broad or wide; to make spacious.
The Hebrew word for street carries the root of breadth and open space. The guests stand between the shelter of a house and the street’s public openness, and their refusal leaves that contrast unresolved.
ALSO GROWS
rāḥāb: Wide, broad.
רָחָב
It shares the root רחב and makes the spatial sense inside “street” audible.
merḥāb: A broad place, an open space.
מֶרְחָב
It carries the same root into another word for open space.
hirḥîb: To make wide or enlarge.
הִרְחִיב
This form shows the root describing the act of opening space.
וְרַחֲצוּ
weraḥaṣû
GROWS FROM
רחץ
To wash or bathe.
“wash” in this verse is weraḥaṣû. The offer of water is part of the welcome’s practical care for the travelers’ feet. The same root names washing and bathing, keeping the act connected to bodily refreshment.
ALSO GROWS
reḥîṣāh: Washing, bathing.
רְחִיצָה
This noun carries the same root consonants into the act of washing.
hitraḥēṣ: To bathe, wash oneself.
הִתְרַחֵץ
This form shows the root applied to washing one’s own body.
לְדַרְכְּכֶם
ledarkekhem
GROWS FROM
דרך
To tread, travel, or follow a path.
“ways” in this verse is ledarkekhem. The same root names a path and the act of treading it. Feet are washed before the travelers rise and continue along their way, linking bodily movement with the road ahead.
ALSO GROWS
déreḵ: Way, road, path.
דֶּרֶךְ
It is the same noun-family as “your ways” in the verse.
dāraḵ: To tread, step, or travel.
דָּרַךְ
It shows the movement contained in the word for a way.
midrāḵ: A place to step; a foothold or track.
מִדְרָךְ
It brings the path back to the ground and the feet that move across it.
THE PATTERN
Hospitality becomes real through a place to enter, rest, and receive practical care.
Let a little water be taken, please, and wash your feet, and lean yourselves under the tree.And the man came into the house; and he unbound his camels, and gave straw and fodder for the camels, and waters to wash his feet, and the feet of the men who were with him.But they pressed him, saying, Stay with us, for it is toward evening, and the day has already leaned. And he went in to stay with them.THE THREAD
From the narrow place I call out to the LORD, and the LORD answers me in a wide place.The Hebrew רְחוֹב (reḥōv, “street”) and מֶרְחָב (merḥāb, “large place”) share רחב (r-ḥ-b, “be broad”). The shared root lets the street’s openness echo a different experience of breadth: a place of exposure here, and room after distress in the psalm.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us