Genesis 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.

Genesis 19

1And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of the city. And seeing them, he rose up and went to meet them: and worshipped prostrate to the ground,

2And said: I beseech you, my lords, turn in to the house of your servant, and lodge there: wash your feet, and in the morning you shall go on your way. And they said: No, but we will abide in the street.

3He pressed them very much to turn in unto him: and when they were come in to his house, he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread: and they ate:

4But before they went to bed, the men of the city beset the house both young and old, all the people together.

5And they called Lot, and said to him: Where are the men that came in to thee at night? Bring them out hither that we may know them.

6Lot went out to them, and shut the door after him, and said:

7Do not so, I beseech you, my brethren; do not commit this evil.

8I have two daughters who as yet have not known man: I will bring them out to you, and abuse you them as it shall please you, so that you do no evil to these men, because they are come in under the shadow of my roof.

9But they said: Get thee back thither. And again: Thou camest in, said they, as a, stranger, was it to be a judge? Therefore we will afflict thee more than them. And they pressed very violently upon Lot: and they were even at the point of breaking open the doors.

10And, behold, the men put out their hand, and drew in Lot unto them, and shut the door.

11And them that were without, they struck with blindness from the least to the greatest, so that they could not find the door.

12And they said to Lot: Hast thou here any of thine? Son in law, or sons, or daughters, all that are thine bring them out of this city.

13For we will destroy this place; because their cry is grown loud before the Lord, who hath sent us to destroy them.

14So Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law that were to have his daughters, and said: Arise: get you out of this place, because the Lord will destroy this city. And he seemed to them to speak as it were in jest.

15And when it was morning, the angels pressed him, saying: Arise, take thy wife, and the two daughters which thou hast: lest thou also perish in the wickedness of the city.

16And as he lingered, they took his hand, and the hand of his wife, and of his two daughters; because the Lord spared him.

17And they brought him forth, and set him without the city. And there they spoke to him, saying: Save thy life: look not back, neither stay thou in all the country about: but save thyself in the mountain, lest thou be also consumed.

18And Lot said to them: I beseech, thee my Lord,

19Because thy servant hath found grace before thee, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewn to me, in saving my life, and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil seize me, and I die:

20There is this city here at hand, to which I may flee. It is a little one, and I shall be saved in it. Is it not a little one, and my soul shall live?

21And he said to him: Behold, also in this, I have heard thy prayers, not to destroy the city for which thou hast spoken.

22Make haste and be saved there, because I cannot do any thing till thou go in thither. Therefore the name of that city was called Segor.

23The sun was risen upon the earth; and Lot entered into Segor.

24And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven.

25And he destroyed these cities, and all the country about: all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the earth.

26And his wife looking behind her was turned into a statue of salt.

27And Abraham got up early in the morning: and in the place where he had stood before with the Lord,

28He looked towards Sodom and Gomorrha, and the whole land of that country: and he saw the ashes rise up from the earth as the smoke of a furnace.

29Now when God destroyed the cities of that country, remembering Abraham, he delivered Lot out of the destruction of the cities wherein he had dwelt.

30And Lot went up out of Segor, and abode in the mountain, and his two daughters with him (for he was afraid to stay in Segor): and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters with him.

31And the elder said to the younger: Our father is old, and there is no man left on the earth, to come in unto us after the manner of the whole earth.

32Come, let us make him drunk with wine, and let us lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

33And they made their father drink wine that night: and the elder went in and lay with her father: but he perceived not neither when his daughter lay down, nor when she rose up.

34And the next day the elder said to the younger: Behold, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine also to-night, and thou shalt lie with him, that we may save seed of our father.

35They made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in, and lay with him: and neither then did he perceive when she lay down, nor when she rose up.

36So the two daughters of Lot were with child by their father.

37And the elder bore a son, and called his name Moab: he is the father of the Moabites unto this day.

38The younger also bore a son, and called his name Ammon, that is, the son of my people: he is the father of the Ammonites unto this day.

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Genesis 19

Genesis 19