Chapter 19

Chapter 19

1 Now the two messengers arrived at Sodom in the evening, while Lot was sitting in the public square at the gateway of the city. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed face down to the ground.

2 He said, “Please, my masters, turn aside to your servant’s house to spend the night and wash your feet; then you can rise early and go on your way.”
“No,” they replied, “we will spend the night in the open square.”

3 But he pressed them so urgently that they turned aside and entered his house. He prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

4 Before they could lie down to sleep, the men of the city—the men of Sodom, both young and old, the entire population from every quarter—surrounded the house.

5 They shouted to Lot and demanded, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we may exploit them.”

6 Lot went out to them at the entrance, shutting the door securely behind him.

7 He pleaded, “Please, my brothers, do not do this wicked thing!”

8 Look, I have two daughters who have never known a man; let me bring them out to you instead, and you can do to them whatever you think is right. Only do nothing to these men, since they have come under the shadow and protection of my roof.”

9 But they yelled, “Get out of the way!” and they said among themselves, “This lone foreigner came to live here temporarily, and now he is acting like a chief judge! We will treat you far worse than them.” They surged violently against Lot and pressed forward to smash down the door.

10 But the men inside reached out their hands, pulled Lot back into the house with them, and shut the door.

11 Then they struck the men who were at the entrance of the house with a blinding daze, from the least to the greatest, so that they exhausted themselves trying to find the doorway.

12 Then the men said to Lot, “Who else do you have here? Sons-in-law, your sons, your daughters, or anyone else belonging to you in the city—bring them out of this place immediately.

13 For we are about to destroy this site, because the outcry against its people has grown immense before the face of The Self-Existent, and The Self-Existent has sent us to devastate it.”

14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters, saying, “Get up and leave this place right now, for The Self-Existent is about to destroy the city!” But to his sons-in-law, he appeared to be joking.

15 As the dawn was breaking, the messengers urged Lot to hurry, saying, “Get up! Take your woman and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.”

16 When he still hesitated, the men seized his hand, the hand of his woman, and the hands of his two daughters, because The Self-Existent had compassion on him; and they brought him out and set him safely outside the city.

17 As soon as they had brought them outside, one of them commanded, “Flee for your life! Do not look back behind you, and do not stop anywhere in the entire basin. Flee to the hill country, or you will be swept away!”

18 But Lot said to them, “Oh no, my master!

19 Look, your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown magnificent kindness to me by keeping my soul alive. But I cannot escape to the hill country; the disaster will overtake me, and I will die.

20 Look, this city over here is close enough to flee to, and it is just a small place. Please let me escape there—is it not just a little thing?—so that my soul may live.”

21 He replied to him, “Look, I grant you this request as well; I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.

22 Hurry, escape there quickly, for I cannot execute anything until you arrive there.” Therefore, the name of the city was called Zoar (Smallness).

23 The sun had risen over the land when Lot entered Zoar.

24 Then The Self-Existent rained down burning sulfur and fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah—sent directly from The Self-Existent out of the sky.

25 He overthrew those cities, the entire basin, all the inhabitants of the cities, and whatever grew from the soil.

26 But Lot’s woman looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

27 Early the next morning, Abraham returned to the exact site where he had stood before the face of The Self-Existent.

28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and across the entire face of the land of the basin, and he saw smoke ascending from the land like the dense smoke of a furnace.

29 So it came to pass, when The All-Powerful One devastated the cities of the basin, that The All-Powerful One turned His attention to Abraham, and He sent Lot out from the midst of the destruction when He overthrew the cities where Lot had settled.

30 Lot left Zoar and settled in the hill country with his two daughters, because he was afraid to stay in Zoar; and he lived in a cave, he and his two daughters.

31 The firstborn said to the younger, 'Our father is old, and there is not a man on the earth to go in to us according to the custom of the entire earth.

32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lay with him, so that we may preserve offspring through our father.'

33 That night they made their father drink wine, and the firstborn went in to her father; and he was unaware of when she lay down or when she got up.

34 The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, 'Look, I went in to my father last night. Let us make him drink wine again tonight, and you go in to him and lay with him, so that we may preserve offspring through our father.'

35 So they made their father drink wine that night as well, and the younger got up and lay with him; and he was unaware of when she lay down or when she got up.

36 Thus both daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father.

37 The firstborn gave birth to a son and named him Moab (From Father); he is the ancestor of the Moabites of today.

38 The younger also gave birth to a son and named him Ben-Ammi (Son of My People); he is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today.