< Genesis 19 >

1 That evening, the two angels arrived in Sodom. Lot was sitting at the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to greet them, and prostrated himself with his face on the ground.
And 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,
2 He said to them, “Gentlemen, please stay in my house tonight. You can wash your feet, and tomorrow you can continue your journey.” But they said, “No, we will just sleep in the city square.”
And 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.
3 But Lot kept insisting strongly that they sleep in his house. So they entered his house with him, and he prepared a meal for them. He baked some bread without yeast, and they ate it.
He pressed them very much to turn in unto him: and when they were come into his house, he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread and they ate:
4 After they finished eating, before they went to bed, the men of Sodom [city], all of them, from the young ones to the old ones, surrounded the house.
But before they went to bed, the men of the city beset the house both young and old, all the people together.
5 They called out to Lot, saying, “Where are the men who came to your house this evening? Bring them out, so that we can have sex with them!” [EUP]
And 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:
6 Lot went outside the house and shut the door behind him, so that they could not go inside.
Lot went out to them, and shut the door after him, and said:
7 He said to them, “My friends, don’t do such an evil thing!
Do not so, I beseech you, my brethren, do not commit this evil.
8 Listen to me. I have two daughters who have never had sex with any man. Let me bring them out to you now, and you can do with them whatever pleases you. But don’t do anything to these men, because they are guests in my house, [so I must protect them]!”
I 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.
9 But they replied, “Get out of our way! You are a foreigner; so you have no right to tell us what is right! [If you don’t get out of our way], we will do worse things to you than we will do to them!” Then they lunged towards Lot, and tried forcefully to break down the door.
But 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.
10 But the two angels opened the door carefully, reached out their hands, and pulled Lot to them inside the house. Then they quickly shut the door.
And behold the men put out their hand, and drew in Lot unto them, and shut the door:
11 Then they caused all the men who were outside the door of the house, young and old, to become blind, so that they could not find the door.
And them that were without, they struck with blindness from the least to the greatest, so that they could not find the door.
12 Then the two angels said to Lot, “Who else is with you here? If you have sons or sons-in-law or daughters or anyone else in the city who is related to you, take them out of the city,
And 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:
13 because we are the ones who are going to destroy this place. Yahweh considers that these people are so evil that he sent us to destroy the city.”
For we will destroy this place, because their cry is grown loud before the Lord, who hath sent us to destroy them.
14 So Lot went and spoke to the men who had pledged to marry his daughters. He said to them, “Hurry! Get out of this city, because Yahweh is about to destroy it!” But his future sons-in-law thought he was joking.
So 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.
15 As it was about to dawn the next morning, the two angels urged Lot, saying, “Get up quickly! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here with you and leave! If you don’t, you will die when [we destroy/Yahweh destroys] the city!”
And 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.
16 When Lot hesitated, the angels grasped his hand and his wife’s hand and the hands of his two daughters. They led them outside the city safely. The angels did that because Yahweh was acting mercifully toward them.
And as he lingered, they took his hand, and the hand of his wife, and of his two daughters, because the Lord spared him.
17 When they were outside the city, one of the angels said, “[If you want to remain alive], run away quickly! Don’t look back! And don’t stop anywhere in the valley! Flee to the hills! If you don’t, you will die!”
And 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.
18 But Lot said to one of the angels, “No, sir, don’t make me do that!
And Lot said to them: I beseech thee my Lord,
19 Please, listen. You have been pleased with me and have been very kind to me and spared my life. But I cannot flee to the mountain. If I try to do that, I will die in this disaster [PRS].
Because 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:
20 But listen to me. There is a town nearby. Let me run to that small town. Let me go there now. It is a small town, but our lives will be saved if we go there.”
There 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?
21 One of the angels said to Lot, “I will allow you to do what you have requested [MTY]. I will not destroy the little town you are speaking about.
And he said to him: Behold also in this, I have heard thy prayers, not to destroy the city for which thou hast spoken.
22 But hurry! Run there, because I cannot destroy anything until you arrive there.” People later called the name of the town Zoar [which means ‘small’, ] because Lot said it was small.
Make 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.
23 As the sun was rising, Lot and his family arrived in the town which is now called Zoar.
The sun was risen upon the earth, and Lot entered into Segor.
24 Then Yahweh caused fire and [burning] sulfur to fall down on Sodom and Gomorrah like rain.
And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven.
25 In that way, he destroyed those cities and all the people who were living in those cities. He also destroyed everything in the valley, including all the plants/vegetation.
And he destroyed these cities, and all the country about, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the earth.
26 But Lot’s wife stopped and looked back [to see what was happening], so she died, and her body [later] became a pillar of salt.
And his wife looking behind her, was turned into a statue of salt.
27 That morning, Abraham got up and went to the place where he had stood in front of Yahweh.
And Abraham got up early in the morning and in the place where he had stood before with the Lord,
28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and he [was surprised to] see that all over the valley, smoke was rising, like the smoke of a huge furnace.
He 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.
29 So, when God destroyed those cities in the valley, he remembered what he had promised Abraham, and he rescued Lot from the disaster that occurred in the cities where Lot had lived.
Now when God destroyed the cities of that country, remembering Abraham, he delivered Lot out of the destruction of the cities wherein he had dwelt.
30 Lot was afraid to stay in Zoar, so he left there and moved with his two daughters to the mountain, and they lived in a cave.
And 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.
31 One day the older daughter said to (the younger daughter/her sister), “Our father is old, and there is no man in this area who can have sex [EUP] with us, as people all over the earth do.
And 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.
32 Let’s make our father drink wine until he gets drunk. Then we can have sex with him [EUP] [without him knowing it]. In that way [he will cause us to become pregnant] and we can bear children.”
Come, let us make him drunk with wine, and let us lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.
33 So that night they caused their father to become drunk. And the older daughter went in and lay in bed with her father, and he had sex with her, but he was so drunk that he did not know when she lay down with him or when she got up.
And 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.
34 The next day, his older daughter said to (his younger daughter/her sister), “Listen to me. Last night I slept with our father. Let’s cause him to become drunk again tonight! This time you can go and sleep with him. If he has sex with you, you can become pregnant, and that way you can have a child, too.”
And 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.
35 So that night, they caused their father to become drunk with wine again, and then his younger daughter went and slept with him. But again, he was so drunk that he did not know when she lay down with him or when she got up.
They 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.
36 So Lot caused his two daughters to become pregnant.
So the two daughters of Lot were with child by their father.
37 The older one later gave birth to a son, whom she named Moab. He became the ancestor of the Moab people-group.
And the elder bore a son, and she called his name Moab: he is the father of the Moabites unto this day.
38 The younger one also gave birth to a son, whom she named Ben-Ammi. He became the ancestor of the Ammon people-group.
The younger also bore a son, and she called his name Ammon, that is, the son of my people: he is the father of the Ammonites unto this day.

< Genesis 19 >