GenesisChapter 19

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¹The two angels came to Sodom in the evening. Lot was sitting in the city gate. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them. He bowed with his face to the ground. ²He said, "My lords, please come to your servant's house. You can wash your feet and spend the night. Then you can get up early and go on your way." "No," they answered. "We'll spend the night in the town square." ³But Lot kept begging them, so they went with him into his house. He made a big meal for them. He baked bread without yeast, and they ate. ⁴Before they had gone to bed, all the men of Sodom came. Young and old, they surrounded the house. ⁵They shouted to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!" ⁶Lot went outside to meet them. He shut the door behind him. ⁷"Please, my brothers," he begged, "don't do such an evil thing! ⁸Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you. You can do what you want with them. But don't do anything to these men. They have come under the protection of my roof." ⁹"Get out of our way!" they answered. They said, "This man came here as a foreigner. Now he wants to act like a judge! We'll treat you worse than them." They pushed hard against Lot and moved in to break down the door. ¹⁰But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot into the house. Then they shut the door. ¹¹They struck the men at the door with blindness, both young and old. So the men wore themselves out trying to find the door. ¹²Then the two men said to Lot, "Do you have anyone else here? A son-in-law, or sons or daughters? Anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, ¹³because we are about to destroy this place. The cry to the LORD against its people is so great. So he has sent us to destroy it." ¹⁴So Lot went out and talked to the men who were going to marry his daughters. "Get up," he said. "Get out of this place! The LORD is about to destroy the city!" But they thought he was joking. ¹⁵At dawn the angels urged Lot to hurry. They said, "Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here. If you don't, you'll be swept away when the city is punished." ¹⁶But Lot was slow to go. So the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters. They led them safely out of the city, because the LORD had mercy on them. ¹⁷As soon as the men had brought them out, one of them said, "Run for your lives! Don't look back. Don't stop anywhere in the valley! Run to the mountains, or you'll be swept away!" ¹⁸But Lot answered, "No, my lords, please! ¹⁹You have been good to your servant. You have shown me great kindness by saving my life. But I can't run to the mountains. The disaster will catch me, and I will die. ²⁰Look, there's a town nearby that I can run to. It's a small place. Please let me run there. It's only a small place, isn't it? Then my life will be saved." ²¹"All right," he answered. "I will do this for you too. I will not destroy the town you are talking about. ²²Hurry! Run there fast. I can't do anything until you get there." That is why the town was named Zoar.a ²³The sun had risen over the land by the time Lot reached Zoar. ²⁴Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. It came from the LORD out of the sky. ²⁵In this way he destroyed those cities and the whole valley. He destroyed all the people living in the cities and everything that grew on the ground. ²⁶But Lot's wife looked back, and she turned into a pillar of salt. ²⁷Early the next morning, Abraham got up. He went back to the place where he had stood before the LORD. ²⁸He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole valley. He saw smoke rising from the land like smoke from a furnace. ²⁹So when God destroyed the cities of the valley, he remembered Abraham. He brought Lot out of the disaster that destroyed the cities where Lot had lived. ³⁰Lot was afraid to stay in Zoar. So he and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains. They lived in a cave. ³¹One day the older daughter said to the younger one, "Our father is old. There's no man in the land to sleep with us, as people do all over the earth. ³²Come, let's get our father drunk with wine. Then we can sleep with him and keep his family line going." ³³So that night they got their father drunk with wine. The older daughter went in and slept with her father. He didn't know when she lay down or when she got up. ³⁴The next day the older daughter said to the younger one, "Look, I slept with my father last night. Let's get him drunk with wine again tonight. Then you can go in and sleep with him. That way we can keep our father's family line going." ³⁵So that night they got their father drunk with wine again. The younger daughter went in and slept with him. He didn't know when she lay down or when she got up. ³⁶So both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father. ³⁷The older daughter had a son. She named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites who live today. ³⁸The younger daughter also had a son. She named him Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites who live today.