Stand back! or “Get out of our way” (Good News Translation). The crowd orders Lot to get away from the door so that they can go in and grab the two men. Some translations say “Don’t stop us!”

This fellow is literally “This one.” The mob now speaks not to Lot but about him. In some languages this kind of shift from second to third person may require some adjusting. For example, it may be necessary to introduce the shift with “Then they said to each other….” Perhaps a better way is to retain the second person as Good News Translation does, since the final sentence in this verse returns to you (singular). Some translations handle the shift by changing the order of the clauses in the first part of the verse: “This fellow… Stand back, Lot, or we will….”

Came to sojourn means “came to Sodom as a foreigner,” or “came here as an alien,” or “came to live here as an outsider.” The point of this comment is that Lot has no rights as a citizen in Sodom; so some translations have “You are only a foreigner” or “You don’t belong here!”

And he would play the judge!: Revised Standard Version translates this as an exclamation. Others prefer it as a rhetorical question: “and does he now take it upon himself to judge us?” (New English Bible, Revised English Bible). This may also be rendered, for example, “Certainly you are not our judge,” or “you should not think you have become our boss,” “you have no right to tell us what to do,” or “Why [angry form] are you talking like that to us?”

Now we will deal worse with you than with them: Now does not refer to time but to consequence. Because Lot the alien resident has interfered with the local men, they are angry and threaten him. Deal worse with translates the same verb used in verse 7, “act wickedly” (Revised Standard Version). The mob threatens to treat Lot worse than they plan to treat the two men—in other words, to use him for their sexual object in a still more wicked manner. In most cases, however, this may safely be left to the imagination of the readers.

Pressed hard against the man Lot: this is well expressed by Good News Translation “They pushed Lot back.” We may also say “Then the crowd pushed Lot aside.”

Drew near to break the door: the crowd moved forward to break down the door or, as New English Bible says, “pressed close to smash in the door.”

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 .