Genesis 19

The Rescue of Lot from Sodom

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.

Genesis 19

Chapter 19

Lot leaves Sodom

1The two angels arrived at Sodom. It was evening and Lot was sitting near the city gate. When Lot saw the angels, he got up to meet them. He turned his face towards the ground to respect them. 2Lot said, ‘My lords, please come to stay in my house. You can wash your feet and stay the night there. Then you can continue your journey early in the morning.’ The angels replied, ‘No, we will stay the night here in this public place.’ 3But Lot continued to ask them to stay with him. So the angels went with Lot to his house. Lot prepared a big meal for them, with some bread that he had baked without yeast. The angels ate the food.

4After that, they were preparing to go to bed. Then all the men who lived in Sodom came to Lot's house. They were old men and young men, who came from every part of the city. They stood all round the house. 5The men shouted to Lot, ‘Where are the men who are staying with you tonight? Bring them out here to us. We want to have sex with them.’

6Lot went outside to talk to the men. He shut the door of his house behind him. 7He said, ‘No, my friends. Please do not do this evil thing. 8See here! I have two daughters. They have never had sex with a man. Let me bring them out to you. Then you can do whatever you want with them. But do not do anything to these men. They are my visitors and I cannot let anyone hurt them.’

9The men from the city said, ‘Do not try to stop us! You are a stranger here in this city. You cannot tell us what to do! Be careful or we will do even worse things to you.’ They pushed against Lot and tried to reach the door of his house. They wanted to break the door and go in to the house. 10The two visitors who were inside the house opened the door. They pulled Lot back into his house and they shut the door quickly. 11Then they caused all the men outside to become blind. The young men of the city and the old men all became blind. As a result, they could not find the door of the house, even though they tried for some time.

12The two visitors asked Lot, ‘Do you have any of your family here in the city? Do you have any sons or daughters, or husbands for your daughters? If you have any family, you must take them away from here. 13We will soon destroy this city. Everybody knows how bad the people who live here are. As a result, the Lord has sent us to destroy this place.’

14So Lot went out of his house. He spoke to the men who would marry his daughters. He said to them, ‘Hurry! Leave this city now, because the Lord has decided to destroy it.’ But the men did not believe Lot. They thought he was not being serious.

15At dawn, the two angels told Lot he must leave quickly. They said to him, ‘Hurry! Take your wife and take your two daughters who are here. If you do not go quickly, you will all die when the Lord destroys the city.’ 16But Lot did not move. #19:16 Lot and his family did not want to leave Sodom. They would be leaving everything that they had. So the angels took hold of Lot's hand, as well as the hands of his wife and his two daughters. The Lord was very kind to Lot and his family and the angels led them away from the city.

17When they had reached a place outside the city, one of the angels said, ‘Now run! Your lives are in danger. Do not look behind you! Do not stop anywhere in this valley. Run up into the mountains or you will die.’ 18But Lot said, ‘No! Please, my lords, I cannot do that! 19I am your humble servant and you have been very kind to me. You have saved my life. But I cannot run away into the mountains. If I try to do that, this punishment will catch me before I reach there. Then I will surely die. 20Look! See that town over there. It is near and I can run to it safely. And it is a small town. So please let me run there. You can see that it is only a small place. If I go there, I will stay alive.’

21The angel said to Lot, ‘OK, I will let you do what you have asked. I will not destroy that town. 22But run there quickly. I cannot do anything until you arrive in the town.’ (The name of the town became ‘Zoar’, because it was small.)

23Lot reached Zoar at the time when the sun was rising that morning.

24Then the Lord poured sulphur that was on fire down on Sodom and Gomorrah. It fell from the sky like rain. #19:24 God used hot sulphur to destroy the cities. Sulphur is yellow. It burns quickly with a lot of heat. But when it gets cold, it becomes like stone. Hot sulphur covered the cities and the people in them. It burnt them. It became like stone over everything in the city. 25In that way God destroyed those cities and everything in the valley. He killed all the people who lived in those cities. And he killed all the plants that grew on the land.

26But as they ran away, Lot's wife looked back at the city. When she did that, she became a large piece of salt, like a pillar. #19:26 The angel had told Lot and his family not to look back. See Genesis 19:17. Lot's wife wanted to go back to the city because she liked living there.

27Early in the morning, Abraham returned to the place where he had spoken with the Lord. 28He looked towards Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole valley. He saw thick dark smoke that was rising from the land. It was the smoke from a big fire.

29When God destroyed the cities of the valley, he saved Lot from that punishment. God remembered what Abraham had asked him. He took Lot away from the cities where he had lived. Then God destroyed those cities.

Lot and his daughters

30Lot was afraid to live in Zoar. So he took his two daughters and they went up into the mountains. They lived together in a cave. 31One day, the older daughter said to her sister, ‘Our father is now old. There are no men who live near here, so there is nobody to marry us. We cannot have sex like everyone on the earth wants to do. 32So we should give our father much wine to drink. When he becomes drunk, we will have sex with him. Then our father's family will continue to have descendants.’

33That night they caused their father to become drunk with wine. The older daughter had sex with him. Lot was very drunk. He did not know when she came to him. And he did not know when she left him. 34The next day the older daughter said to her younger sister, ‘Last night I had sex with my father. We should make him drunk with wine again tonight. Then you can have sex with him. As a result, our father's family will continue.’

35So that night, they caused their father to become drunk again. The younger daughter had sex with her father. He did not know when she came to him. And he did not know when she left him.

36In that way, Lot caused both of his daughters to become pregnant. 37The older daughter gave birth to a son. She called him Moab. He became the ancestor of the Moabites. 38The younger daughter also gave birth to a son. She called him Ben-Ammi. He became the ancestor of the Ammonites.

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Genesis 19

Genesis 19