The Doom of Sodom

¹Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and ^[a]bowed down with his face to the ground. ² And he said, “Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” They said however, “No, but we shall spend the night in the square.” ³ Yet he urged them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he prepared a feast for them, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. ⁴ Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people ^[b]from every quarter; ⁵ and they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may ^[c]have relations with them.” ⁶ But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him, ⁷ and said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. ⁸ Now behold, I have two daughters who have not ^[d]had relations with man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them ^[e]whatever you like; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the ^[f]shelter of my roof.” ⁹ But they said, “Stand aside.” Furthermore, they said, “This one came in ^[g]as an alien, and already he is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them.” So they pressed hard against ^[h]Lot and came near to break the door. ¹⁰ But the men reached out their ^[i]hands and brought Lot into the house ^[j]with them, and shut the door. ¹¹ They ^[k]struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway.

¹² Then the two men said to Lot, “Whom else have you here? A son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place; ¹³ for we are about to destroy this place, because their outcry has become so great before the Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” ¹⁴ Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who ^[l]were to marry his daughters, and said, “Up, get out of this place, for the Lord will destroy the city.” But he appeared to his sons-in-law ^[m]to be jesting.

¹⁵ When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the ^[n]punishment of the city.” ¹⁶ But he hesitated. So the men seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the ^[o]hands of his two daughters, for the compassion of the Lord was upon him; and they brought him out, and put him outside the city. ¹⁷ When they had brought them outside, ^[p]one said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stay ^[q]anywhere in the valley; escape to the ^[r]mountains, or you will be swept away.” ¹⁸ But Lot said to them, “Oh no, my lords! ¹⁹ Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your lovingkindness, which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the ^[s]mountains, for the disaster will overtake me and I will die; ²⁰ now behold, this town is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please, let me escape there (is it not small?) ^[t]that my life may be saved.” ²¹ He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this ^[u]request also, not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken. ²² Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the town was called ^[v]Zoar.

²³ The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. ²⁴ Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven, ²⁵ and He overthrew those cities, and all the ^[w]valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. ²⁶ But his wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷ Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord; ²⁸ and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the ^[x]valley, and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a ^[y]furnace.

²⁹ Thus it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the ^[z]valley, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.

Lot Is Debased

³⁰ Lot went up from Zoar, and ^[aa]stayed in the ^[ab]mountains, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to ^[ac]stay in Zoar; and he ^[ad]stayed in a cave, he and his two daughters. ³¹ Then the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man ^[ae]on earth to come in to us after the manner of the earth. ³² Come, let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him that we may preserve ^[af]our family through our father.” ³³ So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. ³⁴ On the following day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine tonight also; then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve ^[ag]our family through our father.” ³⁵ So they made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger arose and lay with him; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. ³⁶ Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. ³⁷ The firstborn bore a son, and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸ As for the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi; he is the father of the ^[ah]sons of Ammon to this day.