B'resheet (Gen) 19

1(iii) The two angels came to S’dom that evening, when Lot was sitting at the gate of S’dom. Lot saw them, got up to greet them and prostrated himself on the ground. 2He said, “Here now, my lords, please come over to your servant’s house. Spend the night, wash your feet, get up early, and go on your way.” “No,” they answered, “we’ll stay in the square.” 3But he kept pressing them; so they went home with him; and he made them a meal, baking matzah for their supper, which they ate.

4But before they could go to bed, the men of the city surrounded the house — young and old, everyone from every neighborhood of S’dom. 5They called Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to stay with you tonight? Bring them out to us! We want to have sex with them!” 6Lot went out to them and stood in the doorway, closing the door behind him, 7and said, “Please, my brothers, don’t do such a wicked thing. 8Look here, I have two daughters who are virgins. Please, let me bring them out to you, and you can do with them what seems good to you; but don’t do anything to these men, since they are guests in my house.” 9“Stand back!” they replied. “This guy came to live here, and now he’s decided to play judge. For that we’ll deal worse with you than with them!” Then they crowded in on Lot, in order to get close enough to break down the door. 10But the men inside reached out their hands, brought Lot into the house to them and shut the door. 11Then they struck the men at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they couldn’t find the doorway.

12The men said to Lot, “Do you have any people here besides yourself? Whomever you have in the city — son-in-law, your sons, your daughters — bring them out of this place; 13because we are going to destroy it. Adonai has become aware of the great outcry against them, and Adonai has sent us to destroy it.” 14Lot went out and spoke with his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, “Get up and leave this place, because Adonai is going to destroy the city.” But his sons-in-law didn’t take him seriously.

15When morning came, the angels told Lot to hurry. “Get up,” they said, “and take your wife and your two daughters who are here; otherwise you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.” 16But he dallied, so the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand and the hands of his two daughters — Adonai was being merciful to him — and led them, leaving them outside the city. 17When they had brought them out, he said, “Flee for your life! Don’t look behind you, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain, but escape to the hills! Otherwise you will be swept away.” 18Lot said to them, “Please, no, my lord! 19Here, your servant has already found favor in your sight, and you have shown me even greater mercy by saving my life. But I can’t escape to the hills, because I’m afraid the disaster will overtake me, and I will die. 20Look, there’s a town nearby to flee to, and it’s a small one. Please let me escape there — isn’t it just a small one? — and that way I will stay alive.”

(iv) 21He replied, “All right, I agree to what you have asked. I won’t overthrow the city of which you have spoken. 22Hurry, and escape to that place, because I can’t do anything until you arrive there.” For this reason the city was named Tzo‘ar [small].

23By the time Lot had come to Tzo‘ar, the sun had risen over the land. 24Then Adonai caused sulfur and fire to rain down upon S’dom and ‘Amora from Adonai out of the sky. 25He overthrew those cities, the entire plain, all the inhabitants of the cities and everything growing in the ground. 26But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a column of salt.

27Avraham got up early in the morning, went to the place where he had stood before Adonai, 28and looked out toward S’dom and ‘Amora, scanning the entire plain. There before him the smoke was rising from the land like smoke from a furnace! 29But when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Avraham and sent Lot out, away from the destruction, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.

30Lot went up from Tzo‘ar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, because he was afraid to stay in Tzo‘ar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. 31The firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there isn’t a man on earth to come in to us in the manner customary in the world. 32Come, let’s have our father drink wine; then we’ll sleep with him, and that way we’ll enable our father to have descendants.”

33So they plied their father with wine that night, and the older one went in and slept with her father; he didn’t know when she lay down or when she got up. 34The following day, the older said to the younger, “Here, I slept last night with my father. Let’s make him drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him, and that way we’ll enable our father to have descendants.” 35They plied their father with wine that night also, and the younger one got up and slept with him, and he didn’t know when she lay down or when she got up. 36Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father.

37The older one gave birth to a son and called him Mo’av; he is the ancestor of Mo’av to this day. 38The younger also gave birth to a son, and she called him Ben-‘Ammi; he is the ancestor of the people of ‘Amon to this day.

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Genesis 19

Lot leaves Sodom

1The two messengers entered Sodom in the evening. Lot, who was sitting at the gate of Sodom, saw them, got up to greet them, and bowed low. 2He said, “Come to your servant’s house, spend the night, and wash your feet. Then you can get up early and go on your way.”

But they said, “No, we will spend the night in the town square.” 3He pleaded earnestly with them, so they went with him and entered his house. He made a big meal for them, even baking unleavened bread, and they ate.

4Before they went to bed, the men of the city of Sodom—everyone from the youngest to the oldest—surrounded the house 5and called to Lot, “Where are the men who arrived tonight? Bring them out to us so that we may have sex with them.”

6Lot went out toward the entrance, closed the door behind him, 7and said, “My brothers, don’t do such an evil thing. 8I’ve got two daughters who are virgins. Let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them whatever you wish. But don’t do anything to these men because they are now under the protection of my roof.”

9They said, “Get out of the way!” And they continued, “Does this immigrant want to judge us? Now we will hurt you more than we will hurt them.” They pushed Lot back and came close to breaking down the door. 10The men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house with them and slammed the door. 11Then the messengers blinded the men near the entrance of the house, from the youngest to the oldest, so that they groped around trying to find the entrance.

12The men said to Lot, “Who’s still with you here? Take away from this place your sons-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and everyone else you have in the city 13because we are about to destroy this place. The LORD has found the cries of injustice so serious that the LORD sent us to destroy it.”

14Lot went to speak to his sons-in-law, married to his daughters, and said, “Get up and get out of this place because the LORD is about to destroy the city.” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

15When dawn broke, the messengers urged Lot, “Get up and take your wife and your two daughters who are here so that you are not swept away because of the evil in this city.” 16He hesitated, but because the LORD intended to save him, the men grabbed him, his wife, and two daughters by the hand, took him out, and left him outside the city.

17After getting them out, the men said, “Save your lives! Don’t look back! And don’t stay in the valley. Escape to the mountains so that you are not swept away.”

18But Lot said to them, “No, my lords, please. 19You’ve done me a favor and have been so kind to save my life. But I can’t escape to the mountains since the catastrophe might overtake me there and I’d die. 20This city here is close enough to flee to, and it’s small. It’s small, right? Let me escape there, and my life will be saved.”

21He said to Lot, “I’ll do this for you as well; I won’t overthrow the city that you have described. 22Hurry! Escape to it! I can’t do anything until you get there.” That is why the name of the city is Zoar.#19.22 Or small

Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed

23As the sun rose over the earth, Lot arrived in Zoar; 24and the LORD rained down burning asphalt from the skies onto Sodom and Gomorrah. 25The LORD destroyed these cities, the entire valley, everyone who lived in the cities, and all of the fertile land’s vegetation. 26When Lot’s wife looked back, she turned into a pillar of salt.

27Abraham set out early for the place where he had stood with the LORD, 28and looked out over Sodom and Gomorrah and over all the land of the valley. He saw the smoke from the land rise like the smoke from a kiln.

Origin of Moab and Ammon

29When God destroyed the cities in the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot away from the disaster that overtook the cities in which Lot had lived. 30Since Lot had become fearful of living in Zoar, he and his two daughters headed up from Zoar and settled in the mountains where he and his two daughters lived in a cave. 31The older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there are no men in the land to sleep with us as is the custom everywhere. 32Come on, let’s give our father wine to drink, lie down with him, and we’ll have children from our father.” 33That night they served their father wine, and the older daughter went in and lay down with her father, without him noticing when she lay down or got up. 34The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Since I lay down with our father last night, let’s serve him wine tonight too, and you go in and lie down with him so that we will both have children from our father.” 35They served their father wine that night also, and the younger daughter lay down with him, without him knowing when she lay down or got up. 36Both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. 37The older daughter gave birth to a son and named him Moab. He is the ancestor of today’s Moabites. 38The younger daughter also gave birth to a son and named him Ben-ammi.#19.38 Or son of my people He is the ancestor of today’s Ammonites.

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