Genesis 19

Lot’s Guests Are Assaulted

1The two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gateway. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed with his face touching the ground. 2He said, “Please, gentlemen, why don’t you come to my home and spend the night? ⌞You can⌟ wash your feet there. Then early tomorrow morning you can continue your journey.”

“No,” they answered, “we’d rather spend the night in the city square.”

3But he insisted so strongly that they came with him and went into his home. He prepared a special dinner for them, baked some unleavened bread, and they ate. 4Before they had gone to bed, all the young and old male citizens of Sodom surrounded the house. 5They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to ⌞stay with⌟ you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”

6Then Lot went outside and shut the door behind him. 7“Please, my friends, don’t be so wicked,” he said. 8“Look, I have two daughters who have never had sex. Why don’t you let me bring them out to you? Do whatever you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, since I’m responsible for them.”

9But the men yelled, “Get out of the way! This man came here to stay awhile. Now he wants to be our judge! We’re going to treat you worse than those men.” They pushed hard against Lot and lunged forward to break down the door. 10The men ⌞inside⌟ reached out, pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. 11Then they struck all the men who were in the doorway of the house, young and old alike, with blindness so that they gave up trying to find the door.

Lot Leaves Sodom, and the Cities Are Destroyed

12Then the men asked Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—any in-laws, sons, daughters, or any other relatives in the city? Get them out of here 13because we’re going to destroy this place. The complaints to the Lord against its people are so loud that the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”

14So Lot went out and spoke to the men engaged to his daughters. He said, “Hurry! Get out of this place, because the Lord is going to destroy the city.” But they thought he was joking.

15As soon as it was dawn, the angels urged Lot by saying, “Quick! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you’ll be swept away when the city is punished.” 16When he hesitated, the men grabbed him, his wife, and his two daughters by their hands, because the Lord wanted to spare Lot. They brought them safely outside the city. 17As soon as they were outside, one ⌞of the angels⌟ said, “Run for your lives! Don’t look behind you, and don’t stop on the plain. Run for the hills, or you’ll be swept away!”

18Lot answered, “Oh no! 19Even though you’ve been so good to me and though you’ve been very kind to me by saving my life, I can’t run as far as the hills. This disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. 20Look, there’s a city near enough to flee to, and it’s small. Why don’t you let me run there? Isn’t it small? Then my life will be saved.”

21The angel said to him, “Alright, I will grant you this request too. I will not destroy the city you’re talking about. 22Run there quickly, because I can’t do anything until you get there.” (The city is named Zoar [Small].)

23The sun had just risen over the land as Lot came to Zoar. 24Then the Lord made burning sulfur and fire rain out of heaven on Sodom and Gomorrah. 25He destroyed those cities, the whole plain, all who lived in the cities, and whatever grew on the ground. 26Lot’s wife looked back and turned into a column of salt.

27Early the next morning Abraham came to the place where he had stood in front of the Lord. 28When he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land in the plain, he saw smoke rising from the land like the thick smoke of a furnace.

29When God destroyed the cities on the plain, he remembered Abraham. Lot was allowed to escape from the destruction that came to the cities where he was living.

Lot’s Daughters Have Sons by Their Father

30Lot left Zoar because he was afraid to stay there. He and his two daughters settled in the mountains where they lived in a cave. 31The older daughter said to the younger one, “Our father is old. No men are here. We can’t get married as other people do. 32Let’s give our father wine to drink. Then we’ll go to bed with him so that we’ll be able to preserve our family line through our father.” 33That night they gave their father wine to drink. Then the older one went to bed with her father. He didn’t know when she came to bed or when she got up. 34The next day the older daughter said to the younger one, “I did it! Last night I went to bed with my father. Let’s give him wine to drink again tonight. Then you go to bed with him so that we’ll be able to preserve our family line through our father.” 35That night they gave their father wine to drink again. Then the younger one went to bed with him. He didn’t know when she came to bed or when she got up. 36So Lot’s two daughters became pregnant by their father. 37The older one gave birth to a son and named him Moab. He is the ancestor of the Moabites of today. 38The younger daughter also gave birth to a son and named him Ben Ammi. He is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today.

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Berĕshith (Genesis) 19

1And the two messengers came to Seḏom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Seḏom. And when Lot saw them, he rose up to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground,

2and he said, “Look, please my masters, please turn in to your servant’s house and spend the night, and wash your feet, and rise early and go your way.” And they said, “No, but let us spend the night in the open square.”

3But he urged them strongly, and they turned in to him and came into his house. And he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

4Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Seḏom, both old and young, all the people from every part, surrounded the house.

5And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, and let us ‘know’ them.”

6So Lot went out to them through the doorway, and shut the door behind him,

7and said, “Please, my brothers, do not do evil!

8Look, please, I have two daughters who have not known a man. Please, let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you wish, only do no deed to these men, because they have come under the shadow of my roof.

9But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This one came in to sojourn, and should he always judge? Now we are going to treat you worse than them.” So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door.

10But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door.

11Then they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, and they wearied themselves to find the door.

12And the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? A son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whomever you have in the city – bring them out of this place!

13For we are going to destroy this place, because the cry against them has grown great before the face of יהוה, and יהוה has sent us to destroy it.

14And Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, “Get up, get out of this place, for יהוה is going to destroy this city!” But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be as one joking.

15And when morning dawned, the messengers urged Lot to hurry, saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.”

16And while he loitered, the men took hold of his hand, and his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, יהוה having compassion on him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.

17And it came to be, when they had brought them outside, that he said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be consumed.”

18And Lot said to them, “Oh no, יהוה!

19“Look, please, your servant has found favour in your eyes, and you have increased your loving-commitment which you have shown me by saving my life, but I am unable to escape to the mountains, lest calamity overtake me and I die.

20“Look, please, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please let me escape there – is it not a small matter – and let my life be saved?”

21And He said to him, “Look, I have favoured you concerning this matter also, without overthrowing this city for which you have spoken.

22Hurry, escape there. For I am not able to do any deed until you arrive there. So the name of the city was called Tso‛ar.

23The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Tso‛ar.

24And יהוה rained sulphur and fire on Seḏom and Amorah, from יהוה out of the heavens.

25So He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.

26But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a post of salt.

27And Aḇraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before יהוה,

28and he looked toward Seḏom and Amorah, and toward all the land of the plain. And he looked and saw the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace.

29Thus it came to be, when Elohim destroyed the cities of the plain, that Elohim remembered Aḇraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt.

30And Lot went up out of Tso‛ar and dwelt in the mountains, and his two daughters were with him, for he was afraid to dwell in Tso‛ar. And he and his two daughters dwelt in a cave.

31And the first-born said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man on the earth to come in to us, as is the way of all the earth.

32Come, let us make our father drink wine and lie with him, so that we preserve the seed of our father.

33So they made their father drink wine that night. And the first-born went in and lay with her father, and he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she arose.

34And it came to be on the next day that the first-born said to the younger, “See, I lay with my father last night. Let us make him drink wine tonight as well, and you go in and lie with him, so that we keep the seed of our father.”

35So they made their father drink wine that night as well. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she arose.

36Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father.

37And the first-born bore a son and called his name Mo’aḇ, he is the father of the Mo’aḇites to this day.

38And the younger, she also bore a son and called his name Ben-Ammi, he is the father of the children of Ammon to this day.

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