"veil" or "covering";[1] Greek: Λώτ Lṓt; Arabic: لُوط Lūṭ; Syriac: ܠܘܛ Lōṭ) was a man mentioned in the biblical Book of Genesis, chapters 11–14 and 19. Notable events in his life recorded in Genesis include his journey with his uncle Abraham; his flight from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, during which his wife became a pillar of salt, and being intoxicated by his daughters so they could have incestuous intercourse with him to continue their family line.

The following year Chedorlaomer's four armies returned and at the Battle of Siddim the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fell in defeat.

[7] When Abram heard what had happened to Lot, he led a force of three hundred and eighteen of his trained men and caught up to the armies of the four kings in Dan.

[9] God then tells Abraham his plan, "And the Lord said: 'Verily, the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and, verily, their sin is exceeding grievous.

Lot went out, closing the door behind him, and begged them to refrain from so wicked a deed, offering them instead his virgin daughters to do with as they pleased.

[12] Lot lingered in the morning so the angels forced him and his family out of the city, telling them to flee for the hills and not look back.

Fearful that the hills would not afford them sufficient protection from the impending destruction, Lot instead asked the angels if he and his might hide in the safety of a neighboring village.

When God rained fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot's wife looked back at the burning cities of the plain and was turned into a pillar of salt in recompense for her folly.

[15] After the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot was afraid to stay in Zoar and so he and his two daughters resettled into the hills, living in a cave.

[19] Along with the account of Tamar and Judah (Genesis 38:11–26), this is one instance of "sperm stealing" in the Bible, in which a woman seduces and has sex with her male relative under false pretenses in order to become pregnant.

He was commanded by God to go to the land of Sodom and Gomorrah to preach monotheism and to stop them from their lustful and violent acts.

The presumptive incest between Lot and his daughters has raised many questions, debates, and theories as to what the real motives were, who really was at fault, and the level of bias the author of Genesis Chapter 19 had.

However, such biblical scholars as Jacob Milgrom,[27] Victor P. Hamilton,[28] and Calum Carmichael[29] postulate that the Levitical laws could not have been developed the way they were, without controversial issues surrounding the patriarchs of Israel, especially regarding incest.

Carmichael even attributes the entire formulation of the Levitical laws to the lives of the founding fathers of the nation, including the righteous Lot (together with Abraham, Jacob, Judah, Moses, and David), who were outstanding figures in Israelite tradition.

According to the scholars mentioned above, the patriarchs of Israel are the key to understanding how the priestly laws concerning incest developed.

[34] Therefore, the patriarchal marriages surely mattered to lawgivers and they suggest a narrative basis for the laws of Leviticus, chapters 18 and 20.