Genesis 19
1 Now the two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them, bowed facedown,
And at nightfall the two angels came to Sodom; and Lot was seated at the way into the town: and when he saw them he got up and came before them, falling down on his face to the earth.
2 and said, “My lords, please turn aside into the house of your servant; wash your feet and spend the night. Then you can rise early and go on your way.” “No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”
And he said, My masters, come now into your servant's house and take your rest there for the night, and let your feet be washed; and early in the morning you may go on your way. And they said, Not so, but we will take our night's rest in the street.
3 But Lot insisted so strongly that they followed him into his house. He prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
But he made his request more strongly, so they went with him into his house; and he got food ready for them, and made unleavened bread, of which they took.
4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, surrounded the house.
But before they had gone to bed, the men of the town, all the men of Sodom, came round the house, young and old, from every part of the town;
5 They called out to Lot, saying, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out to us so we can have relations with them!”
And crying out to Lot, they said, Where are the men who came to your house this night? Send them out to us, so that we may take our pleasure with them.
6 Lot went outside to meet them, shutting the door behind him.
And Lot went out to them in the doorway, shutting the door after him.
7 “Please, my brothers,” he pleaded, “don’t do such a wicked thing!
And he said, My brothers, do not this evil.
8 Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them to you, and you can do to them as you please. But do not do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”
See now, I have two unmarried daughters; I will send them out to you so that you may do to them whatever seems good to you: only do nothing to these men, for this is why they have come under the shade of my roof.
9 “Get out of the way!” they replied. And they declared, “This one came here as a foreigner, and he is already acting like a judge! Now we will treat you worse than them.” And they pressed in on Lot and moved in to break down the door.
And they said, Give way there. This one man, they said, came here from a strange country, and will he now be our judge? now we will do worse to you than to them; and pushing violently against Lot, they came near to get the door broken in.
10 But the men inside reached out, pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door.
But the men put out their hands and took Lot into the house to them, shutting the door again.
11 And they struck the men at the entrance, young and old, with blindness, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the door.
But the men who were outside the door they made blind, all of them, small and great, so that they were tired out with looking for the door.
12 Then the two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—a son-in-law, your sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here,
Then the men said to Lot, Are there any others of your family here? sons-in-law or sons or daughters, take them all out of this place;
13 because we are about to destroy this place. For the outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that He has sent us to destroy it.”
For we are about to send destruction on this place, because a great outcry against them has come to the ears of the Lord; and the Lord has sent us to put an end to the town.
14 So Lot went out and spoke to the sons-in-law who were pledged in marriage to his daughters. “Get up,” he said. “Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.
And Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were married to his daughters, Come, let us go out of this place, for the Lord is about to send destruction on the town. But his sons-in-law did not take him seriously.
15 At daybreak the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.”
And when morning came, the angels did all in their power to make Lot go, saying, Get up quickly and take your wife and your two daughters who are here, and go, for fear that you come to destruction in the punishment of the town.
16 But when Lot hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters. And they led them safely out of the city, because of the LORD’s compassion for them.
But while he was waiting, the men took him and his wife and his daughters by the hand, for the Lord had mercy on them, and put them outside the town.
17 As soon as the men had brought them out, one of them said, “Run for your lives! Do not look back, and do not stop anywhere on the plain! Flee to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”
And when they had put them out, he said, Go for your life, without looking back or waiting in the lowland; go quickly to the mountain or you will come to destruction.
18 But Lot replied, “No, my lords, please!
And Lot said to them, Not so, O my Lord;
19 Your servant has indeed found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness by sparing my life. But I cannot run to the mountains; the disaster will overtake me, and I will die.
See now, your servant has had grace in your eyes and great is your mercy in keeping my life from destruction, but I am not able to get as far as the mountain before evil overtakes me and death;
20 Look, there is a town nearby where I can flee, and it is a small place. Please let me flee there—is it not a small place? Then my life will be saved.”
This town, now, is near, and it is a little one: O, let me go there (is it not a little one?) so that my life may be safe.
21 “Very well,” he answered, “I will grant this request as well, and will not demolish the town you indicate.
And he said, See, I have given you your request in this one thing more: I will not send destruction on this town.
22 Hurry! Run there quickly, for I cannot do anything until you reach it.” That is why the town was called Zoar.
Go there quickly, for I am not able to do anything till you have come there. For this reason, the town was named Zoar.
23 And by the time the sun had risen over the land, Lot had reached Zoar.
The sun was up when Lot came to Zoar.
24 Then the LORD rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens.
Then the Lord sent fire and flaming smoke raining down from heaven on Sodom and Gomorrah.
25 Thus He destroyed these cities and the entire plain, including all the inhabitants of the cities and everything that grew on the ground.
And he sent destruction on those towns, with all the lowland and all the people of those towns and every green thing in the land.
26 But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
But Lot's wife, looking back, became a pillar of salt.
27 Early the next morning, Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD.
And Abraham got up early in the morning and went to the place where he had been talking with the Lord:
28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw the smoke rising from the land like smoke from a furnace.
And looking in the direction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the lowland, he saw the smoke of the land going up like the smoke of an oven.
29 So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham, and He brought Lot out of the catastrophe that destroyed the cities where he had lived.
So it came about that when God sent destruction on the towns of the lowland, he kept his word to Abraham, and sent Lot safely away when he put an end to the towns where he was living.
30 Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains—for he was afraid to stay in Zoar—where they lived in a cave.
Then Lot went up out of Zoar to the mountain, and was living there with his two daughters, for fear kept him from living in Zoar: and he and his daughters made their living-place in a hole in the rock.
31 One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to sleep with us, as is the custom over all the earth.
And the older daughter said to her sister, Our father is old, and there is no man to be a husband to us in the natural way:
32 Come, let us get our father drunk with wine so we can sleep with him and preserve his line.”
Come, let us give our father much wine, and we will go into his bed, so that we may have offspring by our father,
33 So that night they got their father drunk with wine, and the firstborn went in and slept with her father; he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up.
And that night they made their father take much wine; and the older daughter went into his bed; and he had no knowledge of when she went in or when she went away.
34 The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Look, I slept with my father last night. Let us get him drunk with wine again tonight so you can go in and sleep with him and we can preserve our father’s line.”
And on the day after, the older daughter said to the younger, Last night I was with my father; let us make him take much wine this night again, and do you go to him, so that we may have offspring by our father.
35 So again that night they got their father drunk with wine, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him; he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up.
And that night again they made their father take much wine; and the younger daughter went into his bed; and he had no knowledge of when she went in or when she went away.
36 Thus both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father.
And so the two daughters of Lot were with child by their father.
37 The older daughter gave birth to a son and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites of today.
And the older daughter had a son, and she gave him the name Moab: he is the father of the Moabites to this day.
38 The younger daughter also gave birth to a son, and she named him Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites of today.
And the younger had a son and gave him the name Ben-ammi: from him come the children of Ammon to this day.
