Verses 4-11 reveal the way in which the city of Sodom and Canaanite culture in general was viewed by the narrator and later Israel. Ancient Canaan was known for its sexual misconduct, and particularly for its cult of the fertility gods Baal and Astarte. See Lev 18.22-30; 20.13-23. To nomadic Israelites, whose lives were controlled by strict regulations, the Canaanites were extremely evil, and Sodom became the most degenerate example. In many western languages today the term “Sodomite” refers to a male who indulges in unnatural sexual practices. 18.20-21 refers to the evil of Sodom in general terms, and 19.4-11 now gives a particular instance of it.

But before they lay down: the following events are presented as overtaking and interrupting the quiet hospitality in Lot’s house. The two guests had not yet gone to sleep when the clamor outside broke loose. In some languages the time clause may be more naturally placed after the main event.

In the sentences that follow, the narrator goes to some lengths to include every male in Sodom in the lustful events that unfold. To do this he uses four repetitions of the subject. The men of the city is repeated as the men of Sodom. Although the verb surrounded the house comes next in Hebrew, Revised Standard Version continues the expanded subject and places the verb at the end. Both young and old is literally “from the young man up to the old man,” an expression that includes all the men without distinction of age. This literal form of the Hebrew expression is more natural in some languages than the form of the English in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. All the people to the last man translates the Hebrew idiom “all people from the fringe,” but its sense is as in Revised Standard Version.

Translators may find it necessary to break up this compounded subject. Good News Translation provides one model: “The men of Sodom surrounded the house.” The repeated subjects are then placed in a second sentence: “All the men of the city, both young and old, were there.” The final expression in Revised Standard Version, all the people to the last man, is represented in Good News Translation as “all” in “all the men … city.” Other translations also link this to the earlier expressions, without reducing it quite as much as Good News Translation; a typical way of doing this is “all the old men and young fellows from that town, the whole lot of them, ….”

Surrounded the house: surrounded or “encircled” shows the intentions of the men to be hostile, and this element of meaning may need to be added. In some cultures it is the gathering of a crowd rather than forming a ring around the house that is regarded as threatening. So some translations say “crowded around the house” to add this element of threat.

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 .