Genesis 19

The Evil City of Sodom

1That evening, while Lot was sitting near the city gate,#19.1 near the city gate: In a large area where the people would gather for community business and for meeting with friends. the two angels#19.1 two angels: The two men of 18.22. arrived in Sodom. When Lot saw them, he got up, bowed down low, 2and said, “Gentlemen, I am your servant. Please come to my home. You can wash your feet, spend the night, and be on your way in the morning.”

They told him, “No, we'll spend the night in the city square.” 3But Lot kept insisting, until they finally agreed and went home with him. He quickly baked some bread,#19.3 bread: The Hebrew text has “bread without yeast,” which could be made quickly when guests came without warning. cooked a meal, and they ate.

4Before Lot and his guests could go to bed, every man in Sodom, young and old, came and stood outside his house 5#Jg 19.22-24. and started shouting, “Where are your visitors? Send them out, so we can have sex with them!”

6Lot went outside and shut the door behind him. 7Then he said, “Friends, please don't do such a terrible thing! 8I have two daughters who have never had sex. I'll bring them out, and you can do what you want with them. But don't harm these men. They are guests in my home.”

9“Don't get in our way,” the crowd answered. “You're a foreigner. What right do you have to order us around? We'll do worse things to you than we're going to do to them.”

The crowd kept arguing with Lot. Finally, they rushed toward the door to break it down. 10But the two angels in the house reached out and pulled Lot safely inside. 11#2 K 6.18. Then they struck blind everyone in the crowd, and none of them could even find the door.

12-13The two angels said to Lot, “The Lord has heard many terrible things about the people of Sodom, and he has sent us here to destroy the city. Take your family and leave. Take every relative you have in the city, as well as the men your daughters are going to marry.”

14Lot went to the men who were engaged to his daughters and said, “Hurry up and get out of here! The Lord is going to destroy this city.” But they thought he was joking, and they laughed at him.

15Early the next morning the two angels tried to make Lot hurry and leave. They said, “Take your wife and your two daughters and get away from here as fast as you can! If you don't, every one of you will be killed when the Lord destroys the city.” 16#2 P 2.7,8. At first, Lot just stood there. But the Lord wanted to save him. So the angels took Lot, his wife, and his two daughters by the hand and led them out of the city. 17When they were outside, one of the angels said, “Run for your lives! Don't even look back. And don't stop in the valley. Run to the hills, where you'll be safe.”

18-19Lot answered, “You have done us a great favor, sir. You have saved our lives, but please don't make us go to the hills. That's too far away. The city will be destroyed before we can get there, and we will be killed when it happens. 20There's a town near here. It's only a small place, but my family and I will be safe, if you let us go there.”

21“All right, go there,” he answered. “I won't destroy that town. 22Hurry! Run! I can't do anything until you are safely there.”

The town was later called Zoar#19.22 Zoar: In Hebrew “Zoar” sounds like “small.” because Lot had said it was small.

Sodom and Gomorrah Are Destroyed

23The sun was coming up as Lot reached the town of Zoar, 24#3 Macc 2.5; Mt 10.15; 11.23,24; Lk 10.12; 17.29; 2 P 2.6; Jd 7. and the Lord sent burning sulfur down like rain on Sodom and Gomorrah. 25He destroyed those cities and everyone who lived in them, as well as their land and the trees and grass that grew there.

26 # Ws 10.7; Lk 17.32. On the way, Lot's wife looked back and was turned into a block of salt.

27That same morning Abraham got up and went to the place where he had stood and spoken with the Lord. 28He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and saw smoke rising from all over the land—it was like a flaming furnace.

29When God destroyed the cities of the valley where Lot lived, he remembered his promise to Abraham and saved Lot from the terrible destruction.

Moab and Ammon

30Lot was afraid to stay on in Zoar. So he took his two daughters and moved to a cave in the hill country. 31One day his older daughter said to her sister, “Our father is old, and there are no men anywhere for us to marry. 32Let's get our father drunk! Then we can sleep with him and have children.” 33That night they got their father drunk, and the older daughter got in bed with him, but he was too drunk even to know she was there.

34The next day the older daughter said to her sister, “I slept with my father last night. We'll get him drunk again tonight, so you can sleep with him, and we can each have a child.” 35That night they got their father drunk, and this time the younger sister slept with him. But once again he was too drunk even to know she was there.

36That's how Lot's two daughters had children. 37The older daughter named her son Moab,#19.37 Moab: In Hebrew “Moab” sounds like “from (my) father.” and he is the ancestor of the Moabites. 38The younger daughter named her son Benammi,#19.38 Benammi: In Hebrew “Benammi” means “son of my relative.” and he is the ancestor of the Ammonites.

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Genesis 19

Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed

1The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. 2‘My lords,’ he said, ‘please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.’

‘No,’ they answered, ‘we will spend the night in the square.’

3But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. 4Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom – both young and old – surrounded the house. 5They called to Lot, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.’

6Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him 7and said, ‘No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. 8Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.’

9‘Get out of our way,’ they replied. ‘This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.’ They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.

10But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. 11Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.

12The two men said to Lot, ‘Do you have anyone else here – sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, 13because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.’

14So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry#19:14 Or were married to his daughters. He said, ‘Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!’ But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

15With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.’

16When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. 17As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, ‘Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!’

18But Lot said to them, ‘No, my lords,#19:18 Or No, Lord; or No, my lord please! 19Your#19:19 The Hebrew is singular. servant has found favour in your#19:19 The Hebrew is singular. eyes, and you#19:19 The Hebrew is singular. have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. 20Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it – it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.’

21He said to him, ‘Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. 22But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.’ (That is why the town was called Zoar.#19:22 Zoar means small.)

23By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. 24Then the Lord rained down burning sulphur on Sodom and Gomorrah – from the Lord out of the heavens. 25Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities – and also the vegetation in the land. 26But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

27Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 28He looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah, towards all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.

29So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

Lot and his daughters

30Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. 31One day the elder daughter said to the younger, ‘Our father is old, and there is no man round here to give us children – as is the custom all over the earth. 32Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.’

33That night they got their father to drink wine, and the elder daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.

34The next day the elder daughter said to the younger, ‘Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.’ 35So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.

36So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. 37The elder daughter had a son, and she named him Moab#19:37 Moab sounds like the Hebrew for from father.; he is the father of the Moabites of today. 38The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi#19:38 Ben-Ammi means son of my father’s people.; he is the father of the Ammonites#19:38 Hebrew Bene-Ammon of today.

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