CHAPTER 19
The two
angels
entered
Sodom
in the evening,
and Lot
was sitting
in the gateway
of the city.
When Lot
saw them,
he got up
to meet them,
bowed
with his face
to the ground,
and said,
“My lords,
please
turn aside
into
the house
of your servant;
wash
your feet
and spend the night.
Then you can rise early
and go
on your way.”
“No,”
they answered,
“we will spend the night
in the square.”
But Lot insisted
so strongly
that they followed
him
into
his house.
He prepared
a feast
for them
and baked
unleavened bread,
and they ate.
Before
they had gone to bed,
all
the men
of the city
of Sodom,
both young
and
old,
surrounded
the house.
They called out
to
Lot,
saying,
“Where
are the men
who
came
to you tonight?
Send them out
to us
so we can have relations
with them!”
Look,
I have two
daughters
who
have never
slept with
a man.
Let me bring them
to you,
and you can do
to them
whatever you want.
But
do not
do
anything
to these
men,
for
they have come
under the protection
of my roof."
“Get out of the way!”
they replied.
And they declared,
“This one
came
here as a foreigner,
and he is already acting like a judge!
Now
we will treat you worse
than them.”
And they pressed
in on Lot
and moved in
to break down
the door.
And
they struck
with blindness
the men
at the entrance,
both young
and
old,
so that they were unable
to find
the door.
Then the two men
said
to
Lot,
“Do you have anyone
else
here—
a son-in-law,
your sons
or daughters,
or anyone
else in the city
who belongs to you?
Get them out
of
here,
because
we
are about to destroy
this
place.
For
the outcry
to
the LORD
against its people is so great
that He
has sent
us to destroy it.”
So Lot
went out
and spoke
to
the sons-in-law
who were pledged in marriage to
his daughters.
“Get up,”
he said.
“Get out
of
this
place,
for
the LORD
is about to destroy
the city!”
But his sons-in-law
thought
he was
joking.
At
daybreak
the angels
hurried
Lot along,
saying,
“Get up!
Take
your wife
and your two
daughters
who are here,
or
you will be swept away
in the punishment
of the city.”
But when Lot hesitated,
the men
grabbed
his hand
and the hands
of his wife
and
his two
daughters.
And they led them
safely
out of
the city,
because of the LORD’s
compassion
for them.
As soon as the men had brought
them out,
one of them said,
“Run
for
your lives!
Do not
look
back,
and do not
stop
anywhere
on the plain!
Flee
to the mountains,
or
you will be swept away!”
Your servant
has indeed
found
favor
in your sight,
and you have shown
me great
kindness
by sparing
my life.
But I
cannot
run
to the mountains;
the disaster
will overtake me,
and I will die.
Look,
this
town
is near
enough for me flee to it,
and it
is a small place.
Please
let me flee
there—
is it
not
a small place?
Then my life
will be saved.”
“Very well,”
he answered,
“I will grant this request
as well,
and will not
demolish
the town
you indicate.
Hurry!
Run
there quickly,
for
I cannot
do
anything
until
you reach
it.”
That is why
the town
was called
Zoar.
Then the LORD
rained down
brimstone
and fire
on
Sodom
and Gomorrah—
from the LORD
out of
the heavens.
Thus He destroyed
these
cities
and the entire
plain,
including
all
the inhabitants
of the cities
and everything that grew
on the ground.
Early the next morning,
Abraham
got up
and returned to
the place
where
he had stood
before
the LORD.
He looked
down
toward
Sodom
and Gomorrah
and all
the land
of the plain,
and he saw
the smoke
rising
from the land
like smoke
from a furnace.
So
when God
destroyed
the cities
of the plain,
He
remembered
Abraham,
and He brought
Lot
out of the
catastrophe
that destroyed
the cities
where
he
had lived.
Lot
and
his two
daughters
left
Zoar
and settled
in the mountains—
for
he was afraid
to stay
in Zoar—
where they
lived
in a cave.
One day the older daughter
said
to
the younger,
“Our father
is old,
and there is no
man
in the land
to sleep with
us,
as is the custom
over all
the earth.
Come,
let us get our father
drunk
with wine,
so that we can sleep
with
him and preserve
his
line.”
So that
night
they got their father
drunk
with wine,
and the firstborn
came
and slept with
her father;
he was not
aware
when she lay down
or when she got up.
The next day
the older daughter
said
to
the younger,
“Look,
I slept with
my father
last night.
Let us get him drunk
with wine
again
tonight,
so you can go
sleep
with him,
and we can preserve
our father’s
line.”
So again
that
night
they got their father
drunk
with wine,
and the younger daughter
went
and slept
with him;
he was not
aware
when she lay down
or when she got up.
The older daughter
gave birth to
a son
and named
him Moab.
He
is the father
of the Moabites
of
today.
The younger daughter
also
gave birth to
a son,
and she named
him
Ben-ammi.
He
is the father
of the Ammonites
of
today.