Genesis 19 (New American Standard)

The Doom of Sodom

1 Now the ¹two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When ²Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and ^abowed 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 ; ³and he prepared a feast for them, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. 4 Before they lay down, ⁴the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people ^bfrom every quarter ; 5 and they called to Lot and said to him, "⁵Where are the men who came to you tonight ? Bring them out to us that we may ^chave 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, ⁶I have two daughters who have not ^dhad relations with man ; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them ^ewhatever you like ; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the ^fshelter of my roof." 9 But they said, "Stand aside." Furthermore, they said, "This one came in ^gas an alien, and already ⁷he is acting like a judge ; now we will treat you worse than them." So they pressed hard against ^hLot and came near to break the door. 10 But ⁸the men reached out their ⁱhands and brought Lot into the house ^jwith them, and shut the door. 11 ⁹They ^kstruck 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 ¹⁰their outcry has become so great before the LORD that ¹¹the LORD has sent us to destroy it." 14 Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who ^lwere to marry his daughters, and said, "Up, ¹²get out of this place, for the LORD will destroy the city." ¹³But he appeared to his sons-in-law ^mto 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 ⁿpunishment of the city." 16 But he hesitated. So the men ¹⁴seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the ^ohands of his two daughters, for ¹⁵the 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, ^pone said, "¹⁶Escape for your life ! ¹⁷Do not look behind you, and do not stay ^qanywhere in the ¹⁸valley ; escape to ¹⁹the ^rmountains, 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 ^smountains, 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 ?) ^tthat my life may be saved." 21 He said to him, "Behold, I grant you this ^urequest 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 ^v20Zoar. 23 The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. 24 Then the LORD ²¹rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven, 25 and ²²He overthrew those cities, and all the ^wvalley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. 26 But his wife, from behind him, ²³looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. 27 Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to ²⁴the place where he had stood before the LORD ; 28 and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the ^xvalley, and he saw, and behold, ²⁵the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a ^yfurnace. 29 Thus it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the ^zvalley, that ²⁶God remembered Abraham, and ²⁷sent 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 ^aa28stayed in the ^bbmountains, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to ^ccstay in Zoar ; and he ^ddstayed 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 ^eeon earth to ²⁹come in to us after the manner of the earth. 32 "Come, ³⁰let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him that we may preserve ^ffour 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 ^ggour 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 ³¹Moab ; 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 ^hhsons of ³²Ammon to this day.