< Genesis 19 >
1 And the two angels came to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom; and Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them; and he fell down on his face to the earth;
That evening, the two angels arrived in Sodom. Lot was sitting at the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to greet them, and prostrated himself with his face on the ground.
2 and he said: 'Behold now, my lords, turn aside, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your way.' And they said: 'Nay; but we will abide in the broad place all night.'
He said to them, “Gentlemen, please stay in my house tonight. You can wash your feet, and tomorrow you can continue your journey.” But they said, “No, we will just sleep in the city square.”
3 And he urged them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.
But Lot kept insisting strongly that they sleep in his house. So they entered his house with him, and he prepared a meal for them. He baked some bread without yeast, and they ate it.
4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both young and old, all the people from every quarter.
After they finished eating, before they went to bed, the men of Sodom [city], all of them, from the young ones to the old ones, surrounded the house.
5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him: 'Where are the men that came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.'
They called out to Lot, saying, “Where are the men who came to your house this evening? Bring them out, so that we can have sex with them!” [EUP]
6 And Lot went out unto them to the door, and shut the door after him.
Lot went outside the house and shut the door behind him, so that they could not go inside.
7 And he said: 'I pray you, my brethren, do not so wickedly.
He said to them, “My friends, don’t do such an evil thing!
8 Behold now, I have two daughters that have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes; only unto these men do nothing; forasmuch as they are come under the shadow of my roof.'
Listen to me. I have two daughters who have never had sex with any man. Let me bring them out to you now, and you can do with them whatever pleases you. But don’t do anything to these men, because they are guests in my house, [so I must protect them]!”
9 And they said: 'Stand back.' And they said: 'This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs play the judge; now will we deal worse with thee, than with them.' And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and drew near to break the door.
But they replied, “Get out of our way! You are a foreigner; so you have no right to tell us what is right! [If you don’t get out of our way], we will do worse things to you than we will do to them!” Then they lunged towards Lot, and tried forcefully to break down the door.
10 But the men put forth their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and the door they shut.
But the two angels opened the door carefully, reached out their hands, and pulled Lot to them inside the house. Then they quickly shut the door.
11 And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great; so that they wearied themselves to find the door.
Then they caused all the men who were outside the door of the house, young and old, to become blind, so that they could not find the door.
12 And the men said unto Lot: 'Hast thou here any besides? son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whomsoever thou hast in the city; bring them out of the place;
Then the two angels said to Lot, “Who else is with you here? If you have sons or sons-in-law or daughters or anyone else in the city who is related to you, take them out of the city,
13 for we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxed great before the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it.'
because we are the ones who are going to destroy this place. Yahweh considers that these people are so evil that he sent us to destroy the city.”
14 And Lot went out, and spoke unto his sons-in-law, who married his daughters, and said: 'Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy the city.' But he seemed unto his sons-in-law as one that jested.
So Lot went and spoke to the men who had pledged to marry his daughters. He said to them, “Hurry! Get out of this city, because Yahweh is about to destroy it!” But his future sons-in-law thought he was joking.
15 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying: 'Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters that are here; lest thou be swept away in the iniquity of the city.'
As it was about to dawn the next morning, the two angels urged Lot, saying, “Get up quickly! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here with you and leave! If you don’t, you will die when [we destroy/Yahweh destroys] the city!”
16 But he lingered; and the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him. And they brought him forth, and set him without the city.
When Lot hesitated, the angels grasped his hand and his wife’s hand and the hands of his two daughters. They led them outside the city safely. The angels did that because Yahweh was acting mercifully toward them.
17 And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said: 'Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the Plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be swept away.'
When they were outside the city, one of the angels said, “[If you want to remain alive], run away quickly! Don’t look back! And don’t stop anywhere in the valley! Flee to the hills! If you don’t, you will die!”
18 And Lot said unto them: 'Oh, not so, my lord;
But Lot said to one of the angels, “No, sir, don’t make me do that!
19 behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shown unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest the evil overtake me, and I die.
Please, listen. You have been pleased with me and have been very kind to me and spared my life. But I cannot flee to the mountain. If I try to do that, I will die in this disaster [PRS].
20 Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one; oh, let me escape thither — is it not a little one? — and my soul shall live.'
But listen to me. There is a town nearby. Let me run to that small town. Let me go there now. It is a small town, but our lives will be saved if we go there.”
21 And he said unto him: 'See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which thou hast spoken.
One of the angels said to Lot, “I will allow you to do what you have requested [MTY]. I will not destroy the little town you are speaking about.
22 Hasten thou, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither.' — Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. —
But hurry! Run there, because I cannot destroy anything until you arrive there.” People later called the name of the town Zoar [which means ‘small’, ] because Lot said it was small.
23 The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot came unto Zoar.
As the sun was rising, Lot and his family arrived in the town which is now called Zoar.
24 Then the LORD caused to rain upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;
Then Yahweh caused fire and [burning] sulfur to fall down on Sodom and Gomorrah like rain.
25 and He overthrow those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
In that way, he destroyed those cities and all the people who were living in those cities. He also destroyed everything in the valley, including all the plants/vegetation.
26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
But Lot’s wife stopped and looked back [to see what was happening], so she died, and her body [later] became a pillar of salt.
27 And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD.
That morning, Abraham got up and went to the place where he had stood in front of Yahweh.
28 And he looked out toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the Plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace.
He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and he [was surprised to] see that all over the valley, smoke was rising, like the smoke of a huge furnace.
29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the Plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt.
So, when God destroyed those cities in the valley, he remembered what he had promised Abraham, and he rescued Lot from the disaster that occurred in the cities where Lot had lived.
30 And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar; and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.
Lot was afraid to stay in Zoar, so he left there and moved with his two daughters to the mountain, and they lived in a cave.
31 And the first-born said unto the younger: 'Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth.
One day the older daughter said to (the younger daughter/her sister), “Our father is old, and there is no man in this area who can have sex [EUP] with us, as people all over the earth do.
32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.'
Let’s make our father drink wine until he gets drunk. Then we can have sex with him [EUP] [without him knowing it]. In that way [he will cause us to become pregnant] and we can bear children.”
33 And they made their father drink wine that night. And the first-born went in, and lay with her father; and he knew not when she lay down, nor when she arose.
So that night they caused their father to become drunk. And the older daughter went in and lay in bed with her father, and he had sex with her, but he was so drunk that he did not know when she lay down with him or when she got up.
34 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the first-born said unto the younger: 'Behold, I lay yesternight with my father. Let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.'
The next day, his older daughter said to (his younger daughter/her sister), “Listen to me. Last night I slept with our father. Let’s cause him to become drunk again tonight! This time you can go and sleep with him. If he has sex with you, you can become pregnant, and that way you can have a child, too.”
35 And they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose, and lay with him; and he knew not when she lay down, nor when she arose.
So that night, they caused their father to become drunk with wine again, and then his younger daughter went and slept with him. But again, he was so drunk that he did not know when she lay down with him or when she got up.
36 Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.
So Lot caused his two daughters to become pregnant.
37 And the first-born bore a son, and called his name Moab — the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day.
The older one later gave birth to a son, whom she named Moab. He became the ancestor of the Moab people-group.
38 And the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi — the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.
The younger one also gave birth to a son, whom she named Ben-Ammi. He became the ancestor of the Ammon people-group.