Genesis 19

Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed

19That evening the two angels came to the entrance of the city of Sodom. Lot was sitting there, and when he saw them, he stood up to meet them. Then he welcomed them and bowed with his face to the ground.H935H8147H4397H5467H6153H3876H3427H8179H5467H3876H7200H6965H7125H7812H639H7762"My lords," he said, "come to my home to wash your feet, and be my guests for the night. You may then get up early in the morning and be on your way again." "Oh no," they replied. "We'll just spend the night out here in the city square."H559H113H5493H5650H1004H3885H7364H7272H7925H1980H1870H559H3885H7339H38853But Lot insisted, so at last they went home with him. Lot prepared a feast for them, complete with fresh bread made without yeast, and they ate.H6484H3966H5493H935H1004H6213H4960H644H4682H3984But before they retired for the night, all the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and surrounded the house.H7901H582H5892H582H5467H5437H1004H5437H2205H5288H5971H70975They shouted to Lot, "Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!"H7121H3876H559H582H935H3915H3318H30456So Lot stepped outside to talk to them, shutting the door behind him.H3876H3318H6607H5462H1817H3107"Please, my brothers," he begged, "don't do such a wicked thing.H559H251H74898Look, I have two virgin daughters. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do with them as you wish. But please, leave these men alone, for they are my guests and are under my protection."H8147H1323H3045H376H3318H6213H2896H5869H411H582H6213H408H1697H935H6738H69829"Stand back!" they shouted. "This fellow came to town as an outsider, and now he's acting like our judge! We'll treat you far worse than those other men!" And they lunged toward Lot to break down the door.H559H5066H1973H559H259H935H1481H8199H8199H7489H6484H3966H376H3876H5066H7665H181710But the two angels

reached out, pulled Lot into the house, and bolted the door.H582H7971H3027H935H3876H1004H5462H181711Then they blinded all the men, young and old, who were at the door of the house, so they gave up trying to get inside.H5221H582H6607H1004H5575H6996H1419H3811H4672H660712Meanwhile, the angels questioned Lot. "Do you have any other relatives here in the city?" they asked. "Get them out of this place—your sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone else.H582H559H3876H6311H4310H2860H1121H1323H834H5892H3318H472513For we are about to destroy this city completely. The outcry against this place is so great it has reached the LORD, and he has sent us to destroy it."H587H7843H853H4725H6818H1431H854H6440H3068H3068H7971H784314So Lot rushed out to tell his daughters' fiances, "Quick, get out of the city! The LORD is about to destroy it." But the young men thought he was only joking.H3876H3318H1696H2860H3947H1323H559H6965H3318H4725H3068H7843H5892H6711H5869H286015At dawn the next morning the angels became insistent. "Hurry," they said to Lot. "Take your wife and your two daughters who are here. Get out right now, or you will be swept away in the destruction of the city!"H3644H7837H5927H4397H213H3876H559H6965H3947H802H8147H1323H4672H5595H5771H589216When Lot still hesitated, the angels seized his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and rushed them to safety outside the city, for the LORD was merciful.H4102H582H2388H3027H3027H802H3027H8147H1323H3068H2551H3318H3240H2351H589217When they were safely out of the city, one of the angels ordered, "Run for your lives! And don't look back or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away!"H3318H2351H559H4422H5921H5315H5027H310H5975H3603H4422H2022H559518"Oh no, my lord!" Lot begged.H3876H559H11319"You have been so gracious to me and saved my life, and you have shown such great kindness. But I cannot go to the mountains. Disaster would catch up to me there, and I would soon die.H5650H4672H2580H5869H1431H2617H6213H5978H2421H5315H3201H4422H2022H7451H1692H419120See, there is a small village nearby. Please let me go there instead; don't you see how small it is? Then my life will be saved."H5892H7138H5127H1931H4705H4422H4705H5315H242121"All right," the angel said, "I will grant your request. I will not destroy the little village.H559H2009H5375H6440H1697H2015H5892H834H169622But hurry! Escape to it, for I can do nothing until you arrive there." (This explains why that village was known as Zoar, which means "little place.")H4116H4422H3201H6213H1697H935H8034H5892H7121H682023Lot reached the village just as the sun was rising over the horizon.H8121H3318H776H3876H935H682024Then the LORD rained down fire and burning sulfur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah.H3068H4305H5467H6017H1614H784H3068H806425He utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plain, wiping out all the people and every bit of vegetation.H2015H411H5892H3603H3427H5892H6780H12726But Lot's wife looked back as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of salt.H802H5027H310H5333H441727Abraham got up early that morning and hurried out to the place where he had stood in the LORD's presence.H85H7925H1242H4725H5975H6440H306828He looked out across the plain toward Sodom and Gomorrah and watched as columns of smoke rose from the cities like smoke from a furnace.H8259H6440H5467H6017H6440H776H3603H7200H7008H776H5927H7008H353629But God had listened to Abraham's request and kept Lot safe, removing him from the disaster that engulfed the cities on the plain.H430H7843H5892H3603H430H2142H85H7971H3876H8432H2018H2015H5892H2004H3876H3427

Lot and His Daughters

30Afterward Lot left Zoar because he was afraid of the people there, and he went to live in a cave in the mountains with his two daughters.H3876H5927H6820H3427H2022H8147H1323H3372H3427H6820H3427H4631H8147H132331One day the older daughter said to her sister, "There are no men left anywhere in this entire area, so we can't get married like everyone else. And our father will soon be too old to have children.H1067H559H6810H1H2204H376H776H935H1870H77632Come, let's get him drunk with wine, and then we will have sex with him. That way we will preserve our family line through our father."H3212H8248H1H8248H3196H7901H2421H2233H133So that night they got him drunk with wine, and the older daughter went in and had intercourse with her father. He was unaware of her lying down or getting up again.H8248H1H8248H3196H3915H1067H935H7901H1H3045H7901H696534The next morning the older daughter said to her younger sister, "I had sex with our father last night. Let's get him drunk with wine again tonight, and you go in and have sex with him. That way we will preserve our family line through our father."H4283H1067H559H6810H7901H570H1H8248H3196H3915H935H7901H2421H2233H135So that night they got him drunk with wine again, and the younger daughter went in and had intercourse with him. As before, he was unaware of her lying down or getting up again.H8248H1H8248H3196H1931H3915H6810H6965H7901H3045H7901H696536As a result, both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their own father.H8147H1323H3876H2029H137When the older daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Moab

. He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Moabites.H1067H3205H1121H7121H8034H4124H1931H1H4124H311738When the younger daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Ben-ammi

. He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Ammonites.H6810H3205H1121H7121H8034H1151H1H1121H5983H3117