The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
1The two angels entered Sodom19:1 Gn 18:2,22 in the evening as Lot was sitting in Sodom’s gateway. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them. He bowed with his face to the ground
2and said, “My lords, turn aside to your servant’s house, wash your feet, and spend the night. Then you can get up early and go on your way.”
“No,” they said. “We would rather spend the night in the square.”
3But he urged them so strongly that they followed him and went into his house. He prepared a feast and baked unleavened bread for them, and they ate.
4Before they went to bed, the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, the whole population, surrounded the house.
6Lot went out to them at the entrance and shut the door behind him.
7He said, “Don’t do this evil, my brothers.
9“Get out of the way!” they said, adding, “This one came here as an alien, but he’s acting like a judge!19:9 Ex 2:14 Now we’ll do more harm to you than to them.” They put pressure on Lot and came up to break down the door.
10But the angels19:10 Lit men, also in v. 12 reached out, brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door.
11They struck the men who were at the entrance of the house, both young and old, with blindness19:11 Or a blinding light so that they were unable to find the entrance.19:11 Dt 28:28–29; 2Kg 6:18; Ac 13:11
12Then the angels said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here: a son-in-law, your sons and daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of this place,
15At daybreak the angels urged Lot on: “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment19:15 Or iniquity, or guilt of the city.”
16But he hesitated. Because of the Lord’s compassion for him, the men grabbed his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters. They brought him out and left him outside the city.
17As soon as the angels got them outside, one of them19:17 LXX, Syr, Vg read outside, they said, “Run for your lives! Don’t look back and don’t stop anywhere on the plain! Run to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”
18But Lot said to them, “No, my lords19:18 Or my Lord, or my lord — please.
19Your servant has indeed found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness by saving my life. But I can’t run to the mountains; the disaster will overtake me, and I will die.
20Look, this town is close enough for me to flee to. It is a small place. Please let me run to it — it’s only a small place, isn’t it? — so that I can survive.”
21And he said to him, “All right,19:21 Or “Look! I’ll grant your request19:21 Lit I will lift up your face about this matter too and will not demolish the town you mentioned.
23The sun had risen over the land when Lot reached Zoar.
24Then out of the sky the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah burning sulfur from the Lord.19:24 Dt 29:23; Ps 11:6; Is 13:19; Jr 20:16; Ezk 16:49–50; Lk 17:28–29; 2Pt 2:6–8; Jd 7
25He demolished these cities, the entire plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and whatever grew on the ground.
28He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw that smoke was going up from the land like the smoke of a furnace.
29So it was, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham and brought Lot out of the middle of the upheaval when he demolished the cities where Lot had lived.
The Origin of Moab and Ammon
30Lot departed from Zoar and lived in the mountains along with his two daughters, because he was afraid to live in Zoar. Instead, he and his two daughters lived in a cave.
31Then the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to sleep with us as is the custom of all the land.
32Come, let’s get our father to drink wine so that we can sleep with him and preserve our father’s line.”
33So they got their father to drink wine that night, and the firstborn came and slept with her father; he did not know when she lay down or when she got up.
34The next day the firstborn said to the younger, “Look, I slept with my father last night. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight so you can go sleep with him and we can preserve our father’s line.”
35That night they again got their father to drink wine, and the younger went and slept with him; he did not know when she lay down or when she got up.
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