Genesis 19
19
1And two of the messengers come towards Sodom at even, and Lot is sitting at the gate of Sodom, and Lot seeth, and riseth to meet them, and boweth himself — face to the earth,
2and he saith, ‘Lo, I pray you, my lords, turn aside, I pray you, unto the house of your servant, and lodge, and wash your feet — then ye have risen early and gone on your way;’ and they say, ‘Nay, but in the broad place we do lodge.’
3And he presseth on them greatly, and they turn aside unto him, and come in unto his house; and he maketh for them a banquet, and hath baked unleavened things; and they do eat.
4Before they lie down, the men of the city — men of Sodom — have come round about against the house, from young even unto aged, all the people from the extremity;
5and they call unto Lot and say to him, ‘Where [are] the men who have come in unto thee to-night? bring them out unto us, and we know them.’
6And Lot goeth out unto them, to the opening, and the door hath shut behind him,
7and saith, ‘Do not, I pray you, my brethren, do evil;
8lo, I pray you, I have two daughters, who have not known any one; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do to them as [is] good in your eyes; only to these men do not anything, for therefore have they come in within the shadow of my roof.’
9And they say, ‘Come nigh hither;’ they say also, ‘This one hath come in to sojourn, and he certainly judgeth! now, we do evil to thee more than [to] them;’ and they press against the man, against Lot greatly, and come nigh to break the door.
10And the men put forth their hand, and bring in Lot unto them, into the house, and have shut the door;
11and the men who [are] at the opening of the house they have smitten with blindness, from small even unto great, and they weary themselves to find the opening.
12And the men say unto Lot, ‘Whom hast thou here still? son-in-law, thy sons also, and thy daughters, and all whom thou hast in the city, bring out from this place;
13for we are destroying this place, for their cry hath been great [before] the face of Jehovah, and Jehovah doth send us to destroy it.’
14And Lot goeth out, and speaketh unto his sons-in-law, those taking his daughters, and saith, ‘Rise, go out from this place, for Jehovah is destroying the city;’ and he is as [one] mocking in the eyes of his sons-in-law.
15And when the dawn hath ascended, then the messengers press upon Lot, saying, ‘Rise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters who are found present, lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.’
16And he lingereth, and the men lay hold on his hand, and on the hand of his wife, and on the hand of his two daughters, through the mercy of Jehovah unto him, and they bring him out, and cause him to rest without the city.
17And it cometh to pass when he hath brought them out without, that he saith, ‘Escape for thy life; look not expectingly behind thee, nor stand thou in all the circuit; to the mountain escape, lest thou be consumed.’
18And Lot saith unto them, ‘Not [so], I pray thee, my lord;
19lo, I pray thee, thy servant hath found grace in thine eyes, and thou dost make great thy kindness which thou hast done with me by saving my life, and I am unable to escape to the mountain, lest the evil cleave [to] me, and I have died;
20lo, I pray thee, this city [is] near to flee thither, and it [is] little; let me escape, I pray thee, thither, (is it not little?) and my soul doth live.’
21And he saith unto him, ‘Lo, I have accepted thy face also for this thing, without overthrowing the city [for] which thou hast spoken;
22haste, escape thither, for I am not able to do anything till thine entering thither;’ therefore hath he calleth the name of the city Zoar.
23The sun hath gone out on the earth, and Lot hath entered into Zoar,
24and Jehovah hath rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah, from the heavens;
25and He overthroweth these cities, and all the circuit, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which is shooting up from the ground.
26And his wife looketh expectingly from behind him, and she is — a pillar of salt!
27And Abraham riseth early in the morning, unto the place where he hath stood [before] the face of Jehovah;
28and he looketh on the face of Sodom and Gomorrah, and on all the face of the land of the circuit, and seeth, and lo, the smoke of the land went up as smoke of the furnace.
29And it cometh to pass, in God's destroying the cities of the circuit, that God remembereth Abraham, and sendeth Lot out of the midst of the overthrow in the overthrowing of the cities in which Lot dwelt.
30And Lot goeth up out of Zoar, and dwelleth in the mountain, and his two daughters with him, for he hath been afraid of dwelling in Zoar, and he dwelleth in a cave, he and his two daughters.
31And the first-born saith unto the younger, ‘Our father [is] old, and a man there is not in the earth to come in unto us, as [is] the way of all the earth;
32come, we cause our father to drink wine, and lie with him, and preserve from our father — a seed.’
33And they cause their father to drink wine on that night; and the first-born goeth in, and lieth with her father, and he hath not known in her lying down, or in her rising up.
34And it cometh to pass, on the morrow, that the first-born saith unto the younger, ‘Lo, I have lain yesterday-night with my father: we cause him to drink wine also to-night, and go thou in, lie with him, and we preserve from our father — a seed.’
35And they cause their father to drink wine on that night also, and the younger riseth and lieth with him, and he hath not known in her lying down, or in her rising up.
36And the two daughters of Lot conceive from their father,
37and the first-born beareth a son, and calleth his name Moab; he [is] father of Moab unto this day;
38as to the younger, she also hath born a son, and calleth his name Ben-Ammi: he [is] father of the Beni-Ammon unto this day.
maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society
Genesis 19
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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