Come, let us make our father …: Come is here used as a command to set a thought into action, and it appeals for the younger sister’s participation. New Jerusalem Bible, Good News Translation say “Come on,” New English Bible, Revised English Bible “Come now.” In some languages this may be expressed “Help me now,” “Let’s go together.” For a similar usage see 11.4.

Make … drink wine translates a causative form of the Hebrew verb to drink; but the purpose is not merely to get Lot to drink, but to get him to drink so much that he will become drunk and unaware of what he is doing. Therefore in translation it is often necessary to make this point clear by saying something like Good News Translation “Let’s get our father drunk,” or “Let’s make our father drink wine until he gets drunk.” If the translation of wine is a problem, the Good News Translation model may be better to follow.

And we will lie with him: that is, “we will sleep with him” or “we will have sex with him.” This expression is used five times in verses 32-35 and should most often be rendered by an equivalent figurative or indirect phrase that will be acceptable for public reading.

That we may preserve offspring through our father: this clause states the purpose of the older daughter’s proposal. Her desire is to preserve their father’s line, and the plan was to be carried out without the father’s awareness.

Preserve offspring is literally “keep seed alive.” We may render this clause “so we can give birth to his children,” “so that we can give him descendants,” or “so that we will have children by means of our father.” A typical translation of the last part of this verse is “In this way we-two can give birth to children to continue his name.”

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 .