is it not a little one i.e. "is it not a trifle (miz-ar)?" It is a "small" concession to grant; or a "small" distance to go. Evidently a play on the pronunciation of the word Zoar. Lot's entreaty that he may take refuge in Zoar causes the exemption of that city from the catastrophe. For Bela, as an old name of Zoar, see Genesis 14:2.

and my soul shall live = "that my soul (I) may live." For "my soul" as a vivid way of expressing the personal pronoun, see Genesis 12:13.

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