Genesis 19
19
Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed
1That evening the two angels came to the entrance of the city of Sodom. Lot was sitting there, and when he saw them, he stood up to meet them. Then he welcomed them and bowed with his face to the ground. 2“My lords,” he said, “come to my home to wash your feet, and be my guests for the night. You may then get up early in the morning and be on your way again.”
“Oh no,” they replied. “We’ll just spend the night out here in the city square.”
3But Lot insisted, so at last they went home with him. Lot prepared a feast for them, complete with fresh bread made without yeast, and they ate. 4But before they retired for the night, all the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and surrounded the house. 5They shouted to Lot, “Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!”
6So Lot stepped outside to talk to them, shutting the door behind him. 7“Please, my brothers,” he begged, “don’t do such a wicked thing. 8Look, I have two virgin daughters. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do with them as you wish. But please, leave these men alone, for they are my guests and are under my protection.”
9“Stand back!” they shouted. “This fellow came to town as an outsider, and now he’s acting like our judge! We’ll treat you far worse than those other men!” And they lunged toward Lot to break down the door.
10But the two angels#19:10 Hebrew men; also in 19:12, 16. reached out, pulled Lot into the house, and bolted the door. 11Then they blinded all the men, young and old, who were at the door of the house, so they gave up trying to get inside.
12Meanwhile, the angels questioned Lot. “Do you have any other relatives here in the city?” they asked. “Get them out of this place—your sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone else. 13For we are about to destroy this city completely. The outcry against this place is so great it has reached the Lord, and he has sent us to destroy it.”
14So Lot rushed out to tell his daughters’ fiancés, “Quick, get out of the city! The Lord is about to destroy it.” But the young men thought he was only joking.
15At dawn the next morning the angels became insistent. “Hurry,” they said to Lot. “Take your wife and your two daughters who are here. Get out right now, or you will be swept away in the destruction of the city!”
16When Lot still hesitated, the angels seized his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and rushed them to safety outside the city, for the Lord was merciful. 17When they were safely out of the city, one of the angels ordered, “Run for your lives! And don’t look back or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”
18“Oh no, my lord!” Lot begged. 19“You have been so gracious to me and saved my life, and you have shown such great kindness. But I cannot go to the mountains. Disaster would catch up to me there, and I would soon die. 20See, there is a small village nearby. Please let me go there instead; don’t you see how small it is? Then my life will be saved.”
21“All right,” the angel said, “I will grant your request. I will not destroy the little village. 22But hurry! Escape to it, for I can do nothing until you arrive there.” (This explains why that village was known as Zoar, which means “little place.”)
23Lot reached the village just as the sun was rising over the horizon. 24Then the Lord rained down fire and burning sulfur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah. 25He utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plain, wiping out all the people and every bit of vegetation. 26But Lot’s wife looked back as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of salt.
27Abraham got up early that morning and hurried out to the place where he had stood in the Lord’s presence. 28He looked out across the plain toward Sodom and Gomorrah and watched as columns of smoke rose from the cities like smoke from a furnace.
29But God had listened to Abraham’s request and kept Lot safe, removing him from the disaster that engulfed the cities on the plain.
Lot and His Daughters
30Afterward Lot left Zoar because he was afraid of the people there, and he went to live in a cave in the mountains with his two daughters. 31One day the older daughter said to her sister, “There are no men left anywhere in this entire area, so we can’t get married like everyone else. And our father will soon be too old to have children. 32Come, let’s get him drunk with wine, and then we will have sex with him. That way we will preserve our family line through our father.”
33So that night they got him drunk with wine, and the older daughter went in and had intercourse with her father. He was unaware of her lying down or getting up again.
34The next morning the older daughter said to her younger sister, “I had sex with our father last night. Let’s get him drunk with wine again tonight, and you go in and have sex with him. That way we will preserve our family line through our father.” 35So that night they got him drunk with wine again, and the younger daughter went in and had intercourse with him. As before, he was unaware of her lying down or getting up again.
36As a result, both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their own father. 37When the older daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Moab.#19:37 Moab sounds like a Hebrew term that means “from father.” He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Moabites. 38When the younger daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Ben-ammi.#19:38 Ben-ammi means “son of my kinsman.” He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Ammonites.
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Genesis 19: NLT
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Genesis 19
19
God Rescues Lot
1The #ch. 18:22two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth 2and said, “My lords, #Heb. 13:2; [Judg. 4:18] please turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night #See ch. 18:4 and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.” They said, #[Luke 24:28]“No; we will spend the night in the town square.” 3But he pressed them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
4But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. 5#Isa. 3:9; [ch. 13:13] And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? #Judg. 19:22 Bring them out to us, that we #Rom. 1:24, 27; Jude 7may know them.” 6Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him, 7and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. 8#[Judg. 19:24]Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” 9But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow #ch. 13:12 came to sojourn, and #Ex. 2:14he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down. 10But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. 11And they struck with #[2 Kgs. 6:18; Acts 13:11]blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door.
12Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, #2 Pet. 2:7, 9; [Rev. 18:4, 5]bring them out of the place. 13For we are about to destroy this place, #ch. 18:20because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” 14So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, #Num. 16:21, 26, 45; Jer. 51:6“Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.
15As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” 16But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, #[Ps. 34:22]the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. 17And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. #ver. 26; [Matt. 24:16-18] Do not look back or stop anywhere in the #ch. 13:10valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.” 18And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords. 19Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. 20Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!” 21He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. 22Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called #ch. 14:2Zoar.#19:22 Zoar means little
God Destroys Sodom
23The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. 24Then #Deut. 29:23; Jer. 20:16; 50:40; Lam. 4:6; Amos 4:11; Zeph. 2:9; Luke 17:29; 2 Pet. 2:6the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. 25And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. 26But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became #Luke 17:32a pillar of salt.
27And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had #ch. 18:22stood before the Lord. 28And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.
29So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God #See ch. 8:1remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.
Lot and His Daughters
30Now Lot went up out of Zoar and #ver. 17, 19lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters. 31And the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth. 32Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” 33So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father. He did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
34The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight also. Then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” 35So 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. 36Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. 37The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab.#19:37 Moab sounds like the Hebrew for from father #Deut. 2:9He is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi.#19:38 Ben-ammi means son of my people #Deut. 2:19He is the father of the Ammonites to this day.
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