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Which peoples were said to descend from Lot's two daughters?
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Sodom and Gomorrah
Landscape with the Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, oil on wood by Joachim Patinir, c. 1520; in the collection of the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
According to the Book of Genesis, the two daughters of Lot are said to be the ancestors of two distinct peoples:
- The Moabites: The firstborn daughter gave birth to Moab, who became the ancestor of the Moabites.
- The Ammonites: The second daughter gave birth to Ben-ammi, who became the ancestor of the Ammonites.1
These groups are frequently mentioned in the Old Testament as periodic enemies of the Israelites, though the biblical narrative also notes that the Moabite woman Ruth was an ancestor of King David and, by extension, Jesus.12