Комментарий к Берешит 19:18

אל נא אדני OH NOT SO, MY LORD — Our Rabbis said, that this name (Lord) is holy (i. e. refers to God; Shevuot 35b), since it is said regarding him (i.e. regarding the one who was addressed by this name) (v. 19) “[and thou hast magnified thy mercy …] in keeping alive my soul”. Therefore it must refer to Him who has the power to kill or keep alive. Indeed the Targum renders it, “I beg of thee, O Lord)”

ויאמר...אל נא, he begged them not to make him rush up the mountain as he was physically unable to move so quickly.

Our Sages said that this Name is holy. In light of this we must understand Rashi’s next comments: אַל נָא אל תאמרו אלי וכו', נָא לשון בקשה. Rashi is saying that this verse is split delicately into two parts. Lot says to the angels [only one word]: אַל. By this, Lot conveys: “Do not tell me to flee to the mountain.” Then begins his prayer to Hashem: נָא ה', הנה מצא עבדך. And this is what Rashi means by, “נָא. It has the meaning of making a request.” In other words, Lot’s request to Hashem begins with the word נָא, as Rashi said before: “The Targum also translates it בבעו כען ה'.” I.e., בבעו is the translation of נָא, and expresses a request. This is why Rashi first explains that this Name is holy, and only then explains אַל נָא, contrary to the verse’s order. Rashi is telling us that since our Sages said this Name is holy, we must separate אַל from נָא. And אַל means: “[O angels,] do not tell me to flee to the mountain,” while נָא begins Lot’s prayer to Hashem. (R. Meir Stern)

אל נא אדוני, “not so my lord.” The word: adoni here is not sacred (attribute of Divinity). This is why the verse ends with this word. Subsequently, Lot turns to G-d, and prays: “seeing that Your servant has found favour in Your eyes, etc. “ (Talmud, Shavuot, 35) According to our tradition, the word אדני is sacred, according to that version, we vocalise the letter נ with a kametz.

אל נא OH NOT SO — do not tell me to escape to the mountain.

אדוני, the word is used in the secular sense, as proved by the fact that it concludes the sentence. Onkelos also translates it in this sense, writing בבבעו כען רבוני. [this may be so in the edition at Kimchi’s disposal; in our editions the words are rendered as בבעו י-י. Ed.] Our sages in Shevuot 35 claim that every time the word א-דני appears in connection with Avraham it is invariably a reference to G’d, i.e. is a sacred word. Every time the word occurs in connection with Lot it is secular, except here. The reason it is understood to be sacred in this instance is that Lot attributed to these angels the power to kill or to keep alive. The words of our sages are astounding, seeing Lot addressed them in the plural mode, something not appropriate when addressing G’d. Besides, when an angel is on a mission from G’d, he can obviously kill or bring to life just as his Master can. Moreover, the power to revive the dead was exercised even by such prophets as Elijah and Elisha.

נא — This word is used when a request is being made.