Genesis 19
1 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.
And the two Angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting at the gate of the city. And when he had seen them, he rose up and went to meet them. And he reverenced prone on the ground.
2 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.”
And he said: “I beg you, my lords, turn aside to the house of your servant, and lodge there. Wash your feet, and in the morning you will advance on your way.” And they said, “Not at all. But we will lodge in the street.”
3 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.
He pressed them very much to turn aside to him. And when they had entered his house, he made a feast for them, and he cooked unleavened bread, and they ate.
4 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.
But before they went to bed, the men of the city surrounded the house, from boys to old men, all the people together.
5 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]
And they called out to Lot, and they said to him: “Where are the men who entered to you in the night? Bring them out here, so that we may know them.”
6 Lot went outside the house and shut the door behind him, so that they could not go inside.
Lot went out to them, and blocking the door behind him, he said:
7 He said to them, “My friends, don’t do such an evil thing!
“Do not, I ask you, my brothers, do not be willing to commit this evil.
8 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]!”
I have two daughters who as yet have not known man. I will bring them out to you; abuse them as it pleases you, provided that you do no evil to these men, because they have entered under the shadow of my roof.”
9 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.
But they said, “Move away from there.” And again: “You have entered,” they said, “as a stranger; should you then judge? Therefore, we will afflict you yourself more than them.” And they acted very violently against Lot. And they were now at the point of breaking open the doors.
10 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.
And behold, the men put out their hand, and they pulled Lot in to them, and they closed the door.
11 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.
And they struck those who were outside with blindness, from the least to the greatest, so that they were not able to find the door.
12 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,
Then they said to Lot: “Do you have here anyone of yours? All who are yours, sons-in-law, or sons, or daughters, bring them out of this city.
13 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.”
For we will eliminate this place, because the outcry among them has increased before the Lord, who sent us to destroy them.”
14 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.
And so Lot, going out, spoke to his sons-in-law, who were going to receive his daughters, and he said: “Rise up. Depart from this place. For the Lord will destroy this city.” And it seemed to them that he was speaking playfully.
15 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!”
And when it was morning, the Angels compelled him, saying, “Arise, take your wife, and the two daughters that you have, lest you also should perish amid the wickedness of the city.”
16 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.
And, since he ignored them, they took his hand, and the hand of his wife, as well as that of his two daughters, because the Lord was sparing him.
17 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!”
And they brought him out, and placed him beyond the city. And there they spoke to him, saying: “Save your life. Do not look back. Neither should you stay in the entire surrounding region. But save yourself in the mountain, lest you also should perish.”
18 But Lot said to one of the angels, “No, sir, don’t make me do that!
And Lot said to them: “I beg you, my lord,
19 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].
though your servant has found grace before you, and you have magnified your mercy, which you have shown to me in saving my life, I cannot be saved on the mountain, lest perhaps some misfortune take hold of me and I die.
20 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.”
There is a certain city nearby, to which I can flee; it is a little one, and I will be saved in it. Is it not a modest one, and will not my soul live?”
21 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.
And he said to him: “Behold, even now, I have heard your petitions about this, not to overturn the city on behalf of which you have spoken.
22 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.
Hurry and be saved there. For I cannot do anything until you enter there.” For this reason, the name of that city is called Zoar.
23 As the sun was rising, Lot and his family arrived in the town which is now called Zoar.
The sun had risen over the land, and Lot had entered into Zoar.
24 Then Yahweh caused fire and [burning] sulfur to fall down on Sodom and Gomorrah like rain.
Therefore, the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah sulphur and fire, from the Lord, out of heaven.
25 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.
And he overturned these cities, and all the surrounding region: all the inhabitants of the cities, and everything that springs from the land.
26 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.
And his wife, looking behind herself, was turned into a statue of salt.
27 That morning, Abraham got up and went to the place where he had stood in front of Yahweh.
Then Abraham, rising up in the morning, in the place where he had stood before with the Lord,
28 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.
looked out toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and the entire land of that region. And he saw embers rising up from the land like smoke from a furnace.
29 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.
For when God overthrew the cities of that region, remembering Abraham, he freed Lot from the overthrow of the cities, in which he had dwelt.
30 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.
And Lot ascended from Zoar, and he stayed on the mountain, and likewise his two daughters with him, (for he was afraid to stay in Zoar) and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters with him.
31 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.
And the elder said to the younger: “Our father is old, and no man remains in the land who can enter to us according to the custom of the whole world.
32 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.”
Come, let us inebriate him with wine, and let us sleep with him, so that we may be able to preserve offspring from our father.”
33 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.
And so they gave their father wine to drink that night. And the elder went in, and she slept with her father. But he did not perceive it, neither when his daughter lay down, nor when she rose up.
34 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.”
Likewise, the next day, the elder said to the younger: “Behold, yesterday I slept with my father, let us give him wine to drink yet again this night, and you will sleep with him, so that we may save offspring from our father.”
35 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.
And then they gave their father wine to drink that night also, and the younger daughter went in, and slept with him. And not even then did he perceive when she lay down, or when she rose up.
36 So Lot caused his two daughters to become pregnant.
Therefore, the two daughters of Lot conceived by their father.
37 The older one later gave birth to a son, whom she named Moab. He became the ancestor of the Moab people-group.
And the elder gave birth to a son, and she called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites, even to the present day.
38 The younger one also gave birth to a son, whom she named Ben-Ammi. He became the ancestor of the Ammon people-group.
Likewise, the younger gave birth to a son, and she called his name Ammon, that is, ‘the son of my people.’ He is the father of the Ammonites, even today.
