[1] The two angels came to Sodom in the evening; and Lot was sitting in the
gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and bowed himself
with his face to the earth, [2] and said, "My lords, turn aside, I pray
you, to your servant's house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then
you may rise up early and go on your way." They said, "No; we will spend
the night in the street." [3] But he urged them strongly; so they turned
aside to him and entered his house; and he made them a feast, and baked
unleavened bread, and they ate. [4] But before they lay down, the men of
the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last
man, surrounded the house; [5] and they called to Lot, "Where are the men
who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them." [6]
Lot went out of the door to the men, shut the door after him, [7] and said,
"I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. [8] Behold, I have two
daughters who have not known man; let me bring them out to you, and do to
them as you please; only do nothing to these men, for they have come under
the shelter of my roof." [9] But they said, "Stand back!" And they said,
"This fellow came to sojourn, and he would play the judge! Now we will deal
worse with you than with them." Then they pressed hard against the man Lot,
and drew near to break the door. [10] But the men put forth their hands and
brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door. [11] And they struck
with blindness the men who were at the door of the house, both small and
great, so that they wearied themselves groping for the door. [12] Then the
men said to Lot, "Have you any one else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters,
or any one you have in the city, bring them out of the place; [13] for we
are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has
become great before the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it." [14]
So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his
daughters, "Up, get out of this place; for the LORD is about to destroy the
city." But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting. [15] When morning
dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Arise, take your wife and your two
daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the
city." [16] But he lingered; so the men seized him and his wife and his two
daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him
forth and set him outside the city. [17] And when they had brought them
forth, they said, "Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in
the valley; flee to the hills, lest you be consumed." [18] And Lot said to
them, "Oh, no, my lords; [19] behold, your servant has found favor in your
sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life; but I cannot
flee to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me, and I die. [20] Behold,
yonder city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me
escape there--is it not a little one?--and my life will be saved!" [21] He
said to him, "Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not
overthrow the city of which you have spoken. [22] Make haste, escape there;
for I can do nothing till you arrive there." Therefore the name of the city
was called Zo'ar. [23] The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to
Zo'ar. [24] Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomor'rah brimstone and fire
from the LORD out of heaven; [25] and he overthrew those cities, and all
the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the
ground. [26] But Lot's wife behind him looked back, and she became a pillar
of salt. [27] And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he
had stood before the LORD; [28] and he looked down toward Sodom and
Gomor'rah and toward all the land of the valley, and beheld, and lo, the
smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace. [29] So it was that,
when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham, and
sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in
which Lot dwelt. [30] Now Lot went up out of Zo'ar, and dwelt in the hills
with his two daughters, for he was afraid to dwell in Zo'ar; so he dwelt in
a cave with his two daughters. [31] And the first-born said to the younger,
"Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after
the manner of all the earth. [32] Come, let us make our father drink wine,
and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring through our
father." [33] So they made their father drink wine that night; and the
first-born went in, and lay with her father; he did not know when she lay
down or when she arose. [34] And on the next day, the first-born 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 offspring 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 first-born bore
a son, and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this
day. [38] The younger also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi; he is
the father of the Ammonites to this day.
