Sodom’s Depravity
1 Nowthe two angels came to Sodom in the evening, andLot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot sawthem,he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground.
2 And he said, “Here now, my lords, pleaseturn in to your servant’s house and spend the night, andwash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.”
# And they said,“No, but we will spend the night in the open square.”
3 But he insisted strongly; so they turned in to him and entered his house.Then he made them a feast, and bakedunleavened bread, and they ate.
4 Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house.
5 And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight?Bring them out to us that wemay know themcarnally.”
6 SoLot went out to them through the doorway, shut the door behind him,
7 and said, “Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly!
8 See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please, let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish; only do nothing to these men,since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof.”
9 And they said, “Stand back!” Then they said, “This onecame in to stayhere,and he keeps acting as a judge; now we will deal worse with you than with them.” So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door.
10 But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door.
11 And theystruck the men whowereat the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became wearytryingto find the door.
Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed
12 Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city—takethemout of this place!
13 For we will destroy this place, because theoutcry against them has grown great before the face of theLord, andtheLordhas sent us to destroy it.”
14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law,who had married his daughters, and said,“Get up, get out of this place; for theLordwill destroy this city!”But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.
15 When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying,“Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.”
16 And while he lingered, the mentook hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, theLordbeing merciful to him,and they brought him out and set him outside the city.
17 So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said,“Escape for your life!Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escapeto the mountains, lest you be destroyed.”
18 Then Lot said to them, “Please,no, my lords!
19 Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die.
20 See now, this cityisnearenoughto flee to, and itisa little one; please let me escape there (isit not a little one?) and my soul shall live.”
21 And he said to him, “See,I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken.
22 Hurry, escape there. ForI cannot do anything until you arrive there.”
# Thereforethe name of the city was called Zoar.
23 The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar.
24 Then theLordrainedbrimstone andfire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from theLordout of the heavens.
25 So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, andwhat grew on the ground.
26 But his wife looked back behind him, and she becamea pillar of salt.
27 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place wherehe had stood before theLord.
28 Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain; and he saw, and behold,the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace.
29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that Godremembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt.
The Descendants of Lot
30 Then Lot went up out of Zoar anddwelt in the mountains, and his two daughters were with him; for he was afraid to dwell in Zoar. And he and his two daughters dwelt in a cave.
31 Now the firstborn said to the younger, “Our fatherisold, andthereisno man on the earthto come in to us as is the custom of all the earth.
32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that wemay preserve the lineage of our father.”
33 So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
34 It happened on the next day that the firstborn said to the younger, “Indeed I lay with my father last night; let us make him drink wine tonight also, and you go inandlie with him, that we may preserve the lineage of our father.”
35 Then they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
36 Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father.
37 The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab;heisthe father of the Moabites to this day.
38 And the younger, she also bore a son and called his name Ben-Ammi;heisthe father of the people of Ammon to this day.