Genesis 19
1 The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening. Lot happened to be sitting at the entrance to Sodom, and when he saw them he stood up to meet them, and bowed low with his face to the ground.
And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of the city. And seeing them, he rose up and went to meet them: and worshipped prostrate to the ground,
2 “Sirs, please come and stay with me for the night,” he said. “You can wash your feet and then be on your way early in the morning.” They replied, “No, it's fine. We'll spend the night here in the square.”
And said: I beseech you, my lords, turn in to the house of your servant, and lodge there: wash your feet, and in the morning you shall go on your way. And they said: No, but we will abide in the street.
3 But Lot insisted, and they went with him to his house. He made them a meal and baked bread for them to eat.
He pressed them very much to turn in unto him: and when they were come into his house, he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread and they ate:
4 But they hadn't even gone to bed before the men of Sodom, young and old, from every part of town, came and surrounded the house.
But before they went to bed, the men of the city beset the house both young and old, all the people together.
5 They shouted out to Lot, “Where are the men who came to stay with you tonight? Bring them out here to us so we can have sex with them.”
And they called Lot, and said to him: Where are the men that came in to thee at night? bring them out hither that we may know them:
6 Lot went out to talk to them in the doorway, closing the door behind him.
Lot went out to them, and shut the door after him, and said:
7 “My friends, please don't do such an evil thing!
Do not so, I beseech you, my brethren, do not commit this evil.
8 Listen, I've got two virgin daughters. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do to them whatever you want, but please don't do anything to these men. It's my responsibility to look after them.”
I have two daughters who as yet have not known man: I will bring them out to you, and abuse you them as it shall please you, so that you do no evil to these men, because they are come in under the shadow of my roof.
9 “Out of our way!” they shouted. “Who do you think you are, coming to live here and now trying to judge us? We'll do even worse things to you than we were going to do to these men!” They rushed forward at Lot and tried to break down the door.
But they said: Get thee back thither. And again: Thou camest in, said they, as a, stranger, was it to be a judge? therefore we will afflict thee more than them. And they pressed very violently upon Lot: and they were even at the point of breaking open the doors.
10 But the men inside reached out and grabbed Lot, dragged him inside, and slammed the door shut.
And behold the men put out their hand, and drew in Lot unto them, and shut the door:
11 Then they made all the men in the doorway, young and old, suddenly go blind so they couldn't find the door.
And them that were without, they struck with blindness from the least to the greatest, so that they could not find the door.
12 The two men asked Lot, “Is there anyone else here who's part of your family—sons-in-law, or sons or daughters, or anyone else in the town? If there are, make sure they leave,
And they said to Lot: Hast thou here any of thine? son in law, or sons, or daughters, all that are thine bring them out of this city:
13 because we are about to destroy this place. The complaints that have reached the Lord about its people have become so bad that he has sent us to destroy it.”
For we will destroy this place, because their cry is grown loud before the Lord, who hath sent us to destroy them.
14 Lot went immediately to speak to the men who were engaged to marry his daughters. “Get up quickly and leave,” he said, “because the Lord is about to destroy the town!” But they thought it was just a joke.
So Lot went out, and spoke to his sons in law that were to have his daughters, and said: Arise: get you out of this place, because the Lord will destroy this city. And he seemed to them to speak as it were in jest.
15 At dawn, the angels begged Lot to be quick, telling him, “Hurry up! Leave right now with your wife and your two daughters here, otherwise you'll be wiped out when the city is punished.”
And when it was morning, the angels pressed him, saying: Arise, take thy wife, and the two daughters which thou hast: lest thou also perish in the wickedness of the city.
16 But Lot hesitated. The men grabbed his hand, and those of his wife and two daughters, and dragged them along, leaving them outside the town. The Lord was kind to them to do this.
And as he lingered, they took his hand, and the hand of his wife, and of his two daughters, because the Lord spared him.
17 As soon as they were outside, one of the men said, “Run for your lives! Don't look back, and don't stop anywhere in the valley! Run to the mountains otherwise you'll be destroyed!”
And they brought him forth, and set him without the city: and there they spoke to him, saying: Save thy life: look not back, neither stay thou in all the country about: but save thyself in the mountain, lest thou be also consumed.
18 “Please sir, not that!” Lot replied.
And Lot said to them: I beseech thee my Lord,
19 “If you don't mind, since you have already been so kind to me by saving my life, don't make me run to the mountains—I just can't make it. The destruction will overtake me and I'll die!
Because thy servant hath found grace before thee, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewn to me, in saving my life, and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil seize me, and I die:
20 Look, there's a town nearby that's close enough to run to, and it's so small. Please let me run there—it's really very small. It would save my life.”
There is this city here at hand, to which I may flee, it is a little one, and I shall be saved in it: is it not a little one, and my soul shall live?
21 “Fine—I'll do as you ask,” he replied. “I won't destroy this town you've mentioned.
And he said to him: Behold also in this, I have heard thy prayers, not to destroy the city for which thou hast spoken.
22 But hurry up and run there quickly, because I can't do anything until you get there.” (This is why the town was called Zoar.)
Make haste and be saved there, because I cannot do any thing till thou go in thither. Therefore the name of that city was called Segor.
23 The sun had already risen by the time Lot reached Zoar.
The sun was risen upon the earth, and Lot entered into Segor.
24 Then the Lord rained down fire and burning sulfur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah.
And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven.
25 He completely destroyed the towns and all their inhabitants, the whole valley and everything growing there.
And he destroyed these cities, and all the country about, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the earth.
26 But Lot's wife, who was lagging behind, looked back, and she turned into a pillar of salt.
And his wife looking behind her, was turned into a statue of salt.
27 Abraham got up early the next morning and went back to where he had stood before the Lord.
And Abraham got up early in the morning and in the place where he had stood before with the Lord,
28 He looked down at Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole valley floor, and saw the land burning, sending up smoke like from a furnace.
He looked towards Sodom and Gomorrha, and the whole land of that country: and he saw the ashes rise up from the earth as the smoke of a furnace.
29 When God destroyed the towns of the valley he didn't forget the promise he made Abraham, and he saved Lot from the destruction of the towns where Lot was living.
Now when God destroyed the cities of that country, remembering Abraham, he delivered Lot out of the destruction of the cities wherein he had dwelt.
30 Lot was afraid to stay in Zoar, so he left town and went to live in a cave in the mountains with his two daughters.
And Lot went up out of Segor, and abode in the mountain, and his two daughters with him, (for he was afraid to stay in Segor, ) and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters with him.
31 Sometime later the older daughter said to the younger one, “Our father is growing old, and there's no men left to give us children like everyone does.
And the elder said to the younger Our father is old, and there is no man left on the earth, to come in unto us after the manner of the whole earth.
32 Come on, let's get our father drunk with wine and sleep with him so we can keep his family line going.”
Come, let us make him drunk with wine, and let us lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.
33 So they got their father drunk with wine that night. The older daughter went and slept with him, and he didn't notice when she lay down or when she got up.
And they made their father drink wine that night: and the elder went in and lay with her father: but he perceived not neither when his daughter lay down, nor when she rose up.
34 The next day the older daughter said to the younger one, “Last night I slept with our father. Let's get him drunk with wine again tonight and you can go and sleep with him so we can keep his family line going.”
And the next day the elder said to the younger: Behold I lay last night with my father, let us make him drink wine also to night, and thou shalt lie with him, that we may save seed of our father.
35 So once again that night they got their father drunk with wine and the younger daughter went and slept with him, and he didn't notice when she lay down or when she got up.
They made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in, and lay with him: and neither then did he perceive when she lay down, nor when she rose up.
36 This is how both Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father.
So the two daughters of Lot were with child by their father.
37 The older daughter had a son, and she called him Moab. He is the ancestor of the Moabites of today.
And the elder bore a son, and she called his name Moab: he is the father of the Moabites unto this day.
38 The younger daughter had a son too, and she called him Ben-ammi. He is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today.
The younger also bore a son, and she called his name Ammon, that is, the son of my people: he is the father of the Ammonites unto this day.
