1And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening. And Lot was sitting in the gateway of Sodom. Then Lot saw them and stood up to meet them. And he bowed down with his face to the ground. 2And he said, “Behold, my lords, please turn aside into the house of your servant and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you can rise early and go on your way.” And they said, “No, but we will spend the night in the square.” 3But he urged them strongly,#Literally “he pressed upon them very” and they turned aside with him and came into his house. And he made a meal for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. 4Before they laid down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man,#Literally “from the end” 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 so that we may know#Hebrew idiom for sexual intercourse (cp. Gen 4:1) them.” 6But Lot went out to them at the entrance, and he shut the door behind him. 7And he said, “No, my brothers, please do not do such a wrong thing. 8Behold, I have two daughters who have not known#Hebrew idiom for sexual intercourse (cp. Gen 4:1) a man. Please, let me bring them out to you; then do to them as it seems good in your eyes. Only to these men do not do this thing, since they came under my roof#Literally “my beam” for protection.” 9But they said, “Step aside!” Then they said, “This fellow#Literally “the one” came to dwell as a foreigner and he acts as a judge! Now we shall do worse to you than them!” And they pressed very hard against the man, against Lot, and they drew near to break the door. 10Then the men reached out with their hands and brought Lot in to them, into the house, and they shut the door. 11And the men who were at the entrance of the house they struck with blindness, both small and great, and they were unable to find the entrance. 12Then the men said to Lot, “Who is here with you? Bring out from the place your sons-in-law, and your sons and your daughters, and all who are with you in the city. 13For we are about to destroy this place, because their cry has become great before Yahweh. Yahweh sent us to destroy it.” 14Then Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were taking#That is, marrying his daughters and said, “Get up! Go out from this place, because Yahweh is going to destroy the city!” But it seemed like a joke#Literally “it was as one making fun” in the eyes of his sons-in-law. 15And as the dawn came up the angels urged Lot saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are staying with you,#Literally “who are found” lest you be destroyed with the punishment of the city.” 16But when he lingered, the men seized him by his hand and his wife’s hand, and his two daughters by hand, on account of the mercy of Yahweh upon him. And they brought him out and set him outside of the city. 17And after bringing them outside one said, “Flee for your life; do not look behind you, and do not stand anywhere in the plain. Flee to the mountains lest you be destroyed.” 18And Lot said to them, “No, please, my lords. 19Behold, your servant has found favor in your eyes and you have shown me great kindness#Literally “your kindness which you have done to me you have made great” in saving my life. But I cannot flee to the mountains, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. 20Behold, this city is near enough to flee there, and it is a little one. Please, let me flee there. Is it not a little one? Then my life shall be saved.” 21And he said to him, “Behold, I will grant this favor as well;#Literally “I am lifting up your face also concerning this thing” that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. 22Escape there quickly, for I cannot do this thing until you get there.” Therefore, there name of the city was called Zoar.

The Destruction of Sodom

23After the sun had risen#Literally “had gone out” upon the earth and Lot had entered Zoar, 24Yahweh rained down from heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yahweh. 25And he overthrew those cities and the whole plain, and the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation of the ground. 26But his#That is, Lot’s wife looked back,#Literally “behind him” and she became a pillar of salt. 27And Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before Yahweh. 28And he looked down upon the surface of Sodom and Gomorrah, and upon the whole surface of the land, the plain. And he saw that,#Or “and” behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a smelting furnace. 29So it was, when God destroyed the cities of the plain that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out from the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.

Lot and His Daughters

30And Lot went out from Zoar and settled in the hill country#Or “mountain” with his two daughters, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. So he lived in a cave, he and his two daughters. 31And the firstborn daughter said to the younger one, “Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to come in to us according to the manner of all the land. 32Come, let us give our father wine to drink and let us lie with him#Idiom for “have sexual intercourse with him” that we may secure descendants through our father.”#Literally “that we might preserve offspring from our father” 33And they gave their father wine to drink that night, and the firstborn went and lay with her father, but he did not know when she lay down or when she got up. 34And it happened that, the next day the firstborn said to the younger one, “Look, I laid with my father last night. Let us give him wine to drink also tonight, then go and lie with him that we may secure descendants through our father.”#Literally “that we might preserve offspring from our father” 35And they gave their father wine to drink again that night, and the younger got up and lay with him, but he did not know when she lay down or when she got up. 36And the two daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. 37The firstborn gave birth to a son, and she called his name Moab. He is the father of Moab until this day. 38And the younger, she also gave birth to a son, and she called his name Ben-Ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites#Literally “sons/children of Ammon” until this day.

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Genesis 19

The evil city of Sodom

1That evening the two angels#19.1 two angels: The two men of 18.22. arrived in Sodom, while Lot was sitting near the city gate.#19.1 near the city gate: In a large area where the people would gather for community business and for meeting with friends. When Lot saw them, he got up, bowed down low, 2and said, “Gentlemen, I am your servant. Please come to my home. You can wash your feet, spend the night, and be on your way in the morning.”

They told him, “No, we'll spend the night in the city square.” 3But Lot kept insisting, until they finally agreed and went home with him. He baked some bread,#19.3 bread: The Hebrew text has “bread without yeast”, which could be prepared quickly when guests came without warning. cooked a meal, and they ate.

4Before Lot and his guests could go to bed, every man in Sodom, young and old, came and stood outside his house 5and started shouting, “Where are your visitors? Send them out, so we can have sex with them!”#Jg 19.22-24.

6Lot went outside and shut the door behind him. 7Then he said, “Friends, please don't do such a terrible thing! 8I have two daughters who have never been married. I'll bring them out, and you can do what you want with them. But don't harm these men. They are guests in my home.”

9“Don't get in our way,” the crowd answered. “You're an outsider. What right do you have to order us around? We'll do worse things to you than we're going to do to them.”

The crowd kept arguing with Lot. Finally, they rushed towards the door to break it down. 10But the two angels in the house reached out and pulled Lot safely inside. 11Then they struck everyone in the crowd blind, and none of them could even find the door.#2 K 6.18.

12-13The two angels said to Lot, “The LORD has heard many terrible things about the people of Sodom, and he has sent us here to destroy the city. Take your family and leave. Take every relative you have in the city, as well as the men your daughters are going to marry.”

14Lot went to the men who were engaged to his daughters and said, “Hurry and get out of here! The LORD is going to destroy this city.” But they thought he was joking, and they laughed at him.

15Early the next morning the two angels tried to make Lot hurry and leave. They said, “Take your wife and your two daughters and get out of here as fast as you can! If you don't, every one of you will be killed when the LORD destroys the city.” 16At first, Lot just stood there. But the LORD wanted to save him. So the angels took Lot, his wife, and his two daughters by the hand and led them out of the city.#2 P 2.7. 17When they were outside, one of the angels said, “Run for your lives! Don't even look back. And don't stop in the valley. Run to the hills, where you will be safe.”

18-19Lot answered, “You have done us a great favour, sir. You have saved our lives, but please don't make us go to the hills. That's too far away. The city will be destroyed before we can get there, and we will be killed when it happens. 20There's a town near here. It's only a small place, but my family and I will be safe, if you let us go there.”

21“All right, go there,” he answered. “I won't destroy that town. 22Hurry! Run! I can't do anything until you are safely there.”

The town was later called Zoar#19.22 Zoar: In Hebrew “Zoar” sounds like “small”. because Lot had said it was small.

Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed

23The sun was coming up as Lot reached the town of Zoar, 24and the LORD sent burning sulphur down like rain on Sodom and Gomorrah.#Mt 10.15; 11.23,24; Lk 10.12; 17.29; 2 P 2.6; Jd 7. 25He destroyed those cities and everyone who lived in them, as well as their land and the trees and grass that grew there.

26On the way, Lot's wife looked back and was turned into a block of salt.#Lk 17.32.

27That same morning Abraham got up and went to the place where he had stood and spoken with the LORD. 28He looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah and saw smoke rising from all over the land—it was like a flaming furnace.

29When God destroyed the cities of the valley where Lot lived, he remembered his promise to Abraham and saved Lot from the terrible destruction.

Moab and Ammon

30Lot was afraid to stay on in Zoar. So he took his two daughters and moved to a cave in the hill country. 31One day his elder daughter said to her sister, “Our father is old, and there are no men anywhere for us to marry. 32Let's get our father drunk! Then we can sleep with him and have children.” 33That night they got their father drunk, and the elder daughter got in bed with him, but he was too drunk even to know she was there.

34The next day the elder daughter said to her sister, “I slept with my father last night. We'll get him drunk again tonight, so you can go to bed with him, and we can each have a child.” 35That night they got their father drunk, and this time the younger sister slept with him. But once again he was too drunk even to know she was there.

36That's how Lot's two daughters had their children. 37The elder daughter named her son Moab,#19.37 Moab: In Hebrew “Moab” sounds like “from (my) father”. and he is the ancestor of the Moabites. 38The younger daughter named her son Benammi,#19.38 Benammi: In Hebrew “Benammi” means “son of my relative”. and he is the ancestor of the Ammonites.

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Genesis 19

Genesis 19