Genesis 19
19
The Sinfulness of Sodom
1When the two angels came to Sodom that evening, Lot was sitting at the city gate. As soon as he saw them, he got up and went to meet them. He bowed down before them 2and said, “Sirs, I am here to serve you. Please come to my house. You can wash your feet and spend the night. In the morning you can get up early and go on your way.”
But they answered, “No, we will spend the night here in the city square.”
3He kept on urging them, and finally they went with him to his house. Lot ordered his servants to bake some bread and prepare a fine meal for the guests. When it was ready, they ate it.
4Before the guests went to bed, the men of Sodom surrounded the house. All the men of the city, both young and old, were there. 5#Jg 19.22-24 They called out to Lot and asked, “Where are the men who came to stay with you tonight? Bring them out to us!” The men of Sodom wanted to have sex with them.
6Lot went outside and closed the door behind him. 7He said to them, “Friends, I beg you, don't do such a wicked thing! 8Look, I have two daughters who are still virgins. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do whatever you want with them. But don't do anything to these men; they are guests in my house, and I must protect them.”
9But they said, “Get out of our way, you foreigner! Who are you to tell us what to do? Out of our way, or we will treat you worse than them.” They pushed Lot back and moved up to break down the door. 10But the two men inside reached out, pulled Lot back into the house, and shut the door. 11#2 K 6.18 Then they struck all the men outside with blindness, so that they couldn't find the door.
Lot Leaves Sodom
12The two men said to Lot, “If you have anyone else here—sons, daughters, sons-in-law, or any other relatives living in the city—get them out of here, 13because we are going to destroy this place. The Lord has heard the terrible accusations against these people and has sent us to destroy Sodom.”
14Then Lot went to the men that his daughters were going to marry, and said, “Hurry up and get out of here; the Lord is going to destroy this place.” But they thought he was joking.
15At dawn the angels tried to make Lot hurry. “Quick!” they said. “Take your wife and your two daughters and get out, so that you will not lose your lives when the city is destroyed.” 16#2 P 2.7 Lot hesitated. The Lord, however, had pity on him; so the men took him, his wife, and his two daughters by the hand and led them out of the city. 17Then one of the angels said, “Run for your lives! Don't look back and don't stop in the valley. Run to the hills, so that you won't be killed.”
18But Lot answered, “No, please don't make us do that, sir. 19You have done me a great favor and saved my life. But the hills are too far away; the disaster will overtake me, and I will die before I get there. 20Do you see that little town? It is near enough. Let me go over there—you can see it is just a small place—and I will be safe.”
21He answered, “All right, I agree. I won't destroy that town. 22Hurry! Run! I can't do anything until you get there.”
Because Lot called it small, the town was named Zoar.#19.22: Zoar: This name sounds like the Hebrew for “small.”
The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
23The sun was rising when Lot reached Zoar. 24#Mt 10.15; 11.23,24; Lk 10.12; 17.29; 2 P 2.6; Jd 7 Suddenly the Lord rained burning sulfur on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah 25and destroyed them and the whole valley, along with all the people there and everything that grew on the land. 26#Ws 10.7; Lk 17.32 But Lot's wife looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt.
27Early the next morning Abraham hurried to the place where he had stood in the presence of the Lord. 28He looked down at Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole valley and saw smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a huge furnace. 29But when God destroyed the cities of the valley where Lot was living, he kept Abraham in mind and allowed Lot to escape to safety.
The Origin of the Moabites and Ammonites
30Because Lot was afraid to stay in Zoar, he and his two daughters moved up into the hills and lived in a cave. 31The older daughter said to her sister, “Our father is getting old, and there are no men in the whole world#19.31: the whole world; or this land. to marry us so that we can have children. 32Come on, let's get our father drunk, so that we can sleep with him and have children by him.” 33That night they gave him wine to drink, and the older daughter had intercourse with him. But he was so drunk that he didn't know it.
34The next day the older daughter said to her sister, “I slept with him last night; now let's get him drunk again tonight, and you sleep with him. Then each of us will have a child by our father.” 35So that night they got him drunk, and the younger daughter had intercourse with him. Again he was so drunk that he didn't know it. 36In this way both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their own father. 37The older daughter had a son, whom she named Moab.#19.37: Moab: This name sounds like the Hebrew for “from my father.” He was the ancestor of the present-day Moabites. 38The younger daughter also had a son, whom she named Benammi.#19.38: Benammi: This name in Hebrew means “son of my relative” and sounds like the Hebrew for “Ammonite.” He was the ancestor of the present-day Ammonites.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)
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Genesis 19
19
1And the two angels came to Sodom at even. And Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. And Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them; and he bowed down, the face toward the ground, 2and he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and lodge, and wash your feet; and ye shall rise up early, and go on your way. And they said, No; but we will pass the night in the open place. 3And he urged them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house. And he made them a repast, and baked unleavened cakes; and they ate.
4Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, from the youngest to the oldest — all the people from every quarter. 5And they called to Lot, and said to him, Where are the men that have come in to thee to-night? bring them out to us that we may know them. 6And Lot went out to them to the entrance, and shut the door after him, 7and said, I pray you, my brethren, do not wickedly! 8Behold now, I have two daughters who have not known a man: let me now bring them out to you; and do to them as is good in your sight: only, to these men do nothing; for therefore have they come under the shadow of my roof. 9And they said, Back there! And they said again, This one came to sojourn, and he must be a judge? Now we will deal worse with thee than with them. And they pressed hard on the man — on Lot; and drew near to break the door. 10And the men stretched out their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door. 11And they smote the men that were at the entrance of the house with blindness, from the smallest to the greatest; and they wearied themselves to find the entrance.
12And the men said to Lot, Whom hast thou here besides? a son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and all whom thou hast in the city — bring them out of the place. 13For we are going to destroy this place, because the cry of them is great before Jehovah, and Jehovah has sent us to destroy it. 14And Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, Up, go out of this place, for Jehovah will destroy the city. But he was as if he jested, in the sight of his sons-in-law.
15And as the dawn arose, the angels urged Lot, saying, Up, take thy wife and thy two daughters who are present, lest thou perish in the iniquity of the city. 16And as he lingered, the men laid hold on his hand, and on the hand of his wife, and on the hand of his two daughters, Jehovah being merciful to him; and they led him out, and set him without the city. 17And it came to pass when they had brought them outside, that he said, Escape for thy life: look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain: escape to the mountain, lest thou perish. 18And Lot said to them, Not so, I pray thee, Lord; 19behold now, thy servant has found favour in thine eyes, and thou hast magnified thy goodness, which thou hast shewn to me in preserving my soul alive; but I cannot escape to the mountain, lest calamity lay hold on me, that I die. 20Behold now, this city is near to flee to, and it is small: I pray thee, let me escape thither — is it not small? — and my soul shall live. 21And he said to him, Behold, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which thou hast spoken. 22Haste, escape thither; for I cannot do anything until thou art come there. Therefore the name of the city is called Zoar. 23The sun rose upon the earth when Lot came to Zoar.
24And Jehovah rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven, 25and overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew upon the ground.
26And his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
27And Abraham rose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before Jehovah; 28and he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and lo, a smoke went up from the land as the smoke of a furnace. 29And it came to pass when God#GodHebrew: Elohim destroyed the cities of the plain, that God#GodHebrew: Elohim remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt.
30And Lot went up from Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar. And he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters. 31And the first-born said to the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the land to come in to us after the manner of all the earth: 32come, let us give our father wine to drink, and let us lie with him, that we may preserve seed alive of our father. 33And they gave their father wine to drink that night. And the first-born went in, and lay with her father, and he did not know of her lying down, nor of her rising. 34And it came to pass on the next day that the first-born said to the younger, Lo, I lay last night with my father: let us give him wine to drink to-night also, and go thou in, lie with him, that we may preserve seed alive of our father. 35And they gave their father wine to drink that night also. And the younger arose, and lay with him; and he did not know of her lying down, nor of her rising. 36And both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. 37And the first-born bore a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38And the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi; the same is the father of the children of Ammon to this day.
First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.