Genesis 19
1 And two of the messengers come toward Sodom at evening, and Lot is sitting at the gate of Sodom, and Lot sees, and rises to meet them, and bows himself—face to the earth,
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.
2 and he says, “Now behold, my lords, please turn aside to the house of your servant, and lodge, and wash your feet—then you have risen early and gone on your way”; and they say, “No, but we lodge in the broad place.”
“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.”
3 And he presses on them greatly, and they turn aside to him, and come into his house; and he makes a banquet for them, and has baked unleavened things; and they eat.
But Lot insisted, and they went with him to his house. He made them a meal and baked bread for them to eat.
4 Before they lie down, the men of the city—men of Sodom—have surrounded the house, from young even to aged, all the people from the extremity;
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.
5 and they call to Lot and say to him, “Where [are] the men who have come to you tonight? Bring them out to us, and we know them.”
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.”
6 And Lot goes out to them, to the opening, and the door has shut behind him,
Lot went out to talk to them in the doorway, closing the door behind him.
7 and says, “Please, my brothers, do not do evil;
“My friends, please don't do such an evil thing!
8 now behold, I have two daughters who have not known anyone; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them as [is] good in your eyes; only do nothing to these men, for therefore they have come in within the shadow of my roof.”
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.”
9 And they say, “Come near here”; they also say, “This one has come to sojourn, and he certainly judges! Now, we do evil to you more than [to] them”; and they press against the man, against Lot greatly, and come near to break the door.
“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.
10 And the men put forth their hand, and bring in Lot to them, into the house, and have shut the door;
But the men inside reached out and grabbed Lot, dragged him inside, and slammed the door shut.
11 and the men who [are] at the opening of the house they have struck with blindness, from small even to great, and they weary themselves to find the opening.
Then they made all the men in the doorway, young and old, suddenly go blind so they couldn't find the door.
12 And the men say to Lot, “Whom have you here still? Son-in-law, your sons also, and your daughters, and all whom you have in the city, bring out from this place;
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,
13 for we are destroying this place, for their cry has been great [before] the face of YHWH, and YHWH does send us to destroy it.”
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.”
14 And Lot goes out and speaks to his sons-in-law, those taking his daughters, and says, “Rise, go out from this place, for YHWH is destroying the city”; and he is as [one] mocking in the eyes of his sons-in-law.
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.
15 And when the dawn has ascended, then the messengers press on Lot, saying, “Rise, take your wife, and your two daughters who are found present, lest you are consumed in the iniquity of the city.”
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.”
16 And he lingers, and the men lay hold on his hand, and on the hand of his wife, and on the hand of his two daughters, through the mercy of YHWH to him, and they bring him out, and cause him to rest outside the city.
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.
17 And it comes to pass, when he has brought them outside, that he says, “Escape for your life; do not look behind you, nor stand in all the circuit; escape to the mountain, lest you are consumed.”
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!”
18 And Lot says to them, “Oh not [so], my lord;
“Please sir, not that!” Lot replied.
19 now behold, your servant has found grace in your eyes, and you make great your kindness which you have done with me by saving my life, and I am unable to escape to the mountain, lest the evil cleave [to] me and I have died;
“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!
20 now behold, this city [is] near to flee there, and it [is] little; please let me escape there (is it not little?) that my soul may live.”
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.”
21 And he says to him, “Behold, I have also accepted your face for this thing, without overthrowing the city [for] which you have spoken;
“Fine—I'll do as you ask,” he replied. “I won't destroy this town you've mentioned.
22 hurry, escape there, for I am not able to do anything until your entering there”; therefore he calls the name of the city Zoar.
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.)
23 The sun has gone out on the earth, and Lot has entered into Zoar,
The sun had already risen by the time Lot reached Zoar.
24 and YHWH has rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah brimstone and fire from YHWH, from the heavens;
Then the Lord rained down fire and burning sulfur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah.
25 and He overthrows these cities, and all the circuit, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which is shooting up from the ground.
He completely destroyed the towns and all their inhabitants, the whole valley and everything growing there.
26 And his wife looks from behind him, and she becomes a pillar of salt!
But Lot's wife, who was lagging behind, looked back, and she turned into a pillar of salt.
27 And Abraham rises early in the morning to the place where he has stood [before] the face of YHWH;
Abraham got up early the next morning and went back to where he had stood before the Lord.
28 and he looks on the face of Sodom and Gomorrah, and on all the face of the land of the circuit, and sees, and behold, the smoke of the land went up as smoke of the furnace.
He looked down at Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole valley floor, and saw the land burning, sending up smoke like from a furnace.
29 And it comes to pass, in God’s destroying the cities of the circuit, that God remembers Abraham, and sends Lot out of the midst of the overthrow in the overthrowing of the cities in which Lot dwelt.
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.
30 And Lot goes up out of Zoar, and dwells in the mountain, and his two daughters with him, for he has been afraid of dwelling in Zoar, and he dwells in a cave, he and his two daughters.
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.
31 And the firstborn says to the younger, “Our father [is] old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in to us, as [is] the way of all the earth;
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.
32 come, we cause our father to drink wine, and lie with him, and preserve a seed from our father.”
Come on, let's get our father drunk with wine and sleep with him so we can keep his family line going.”
33 And they cause their father to drink wine on that night; and the firstborn goes in and lies with her father, and he has not known in her lying down or in her rising up.
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.
34 And it comes to pass, on the next day, that the firstborn says to the younger, “Behold, I have lain with my father last night: we also cause him to drink wine tonight, then go in, lie with him, and we preserve a seed from our father.”
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.”
35 And they cause their father to drink wine on that night also, and the younger rises and lies with him, and he has not known in her lying down or in her rising up.
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.
36 And the two daughters of Lot conceive from their father,
This is how both Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father.
37 and the firstborn bears a son and calls his name Moab: he [is] father of Moab to this day.
The older daughter had a son, and she called him Moab. He is the ancestor of the Moabites of today.
38 As for the younger, she has also born a son and calls his name Ben-Ammi: he [is] father of the sons of Ammon to this day.
The younger daughter had a son too, and she called him Ben-ammi. He is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today.
