Genesis 19

1 The two messengers came to Sodom in the evening, as Lot sat by the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, bowed with his face to the ground, [b] 2 and said, “My lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house. Rest from your journey and wash your feet, and rise early and go on your way.” But they said, “No — we will spend the night in the street.” 3 But he kept urging them, until they turned aside to him and came into his house. And he made them a feast, and baked them loaves without yeast, and they ate.

4 But before they lay down to sleep, the men of the city — the men of Sodom — surrounded the house, young and old, the whole people together. 5 And they called out to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came in to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may be with them.” 6 Lot went out to them at the doorway, shutting the door behind him, 7 and said to them, “No, brothers — do not do such an evil thing. 8 Look, I have two daughters who have never known a man. I will bring them out to you — do with 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! You came here to live among us — will you now be a judge too? Now we will treat you worse than them.” And they pressed hard against the man, against Lot, and moved in close to break down the door. 10 But the men inside stretched out their hands, pulled Lot in to them into the house, and shut the door of the house. 11 And they struck the men at the door of the house with blindness, from the least to the greatest, and they wore themselves out searching for the door.

12 Then the men said to Lot, “Do you have sons-in-law here, or sons or daughters? If you have anyone else in the city, get them out of this place. 13 For we are going to destroy this place — their outcry has risen before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” 14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, “Get up, and get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be talking nonsense. 15 When morning came, the messengers hurried Lot along, saying, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, and go — or you too will be destroyed with the lawless deeds of the city.” 16 But they were troubled. So the messengers took hold of his hand, and his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters — because the Lord spared him. 17 And when they had brought them out, they said, “Save your own life, whatever you do. Do not look back, and do not stop anywhere in the surrounding country. Escape to the mountain, or you may be swept away with them.”

18 And Lot said to them, “I beg you, Lord — 19 since your servant has found mercy before you, and you have shown the greatness of your righteousness in keeping my life alive — I cannot escape to the mountain. The disaster may overtake me, and I will die. 20 Look, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is small. There I will be saved — it is small, isn’t it? — and my life will live.” 21 And he said to him, “See, I have granted you this too: out of regard for you, I will not overthrow the city you have spoken of. 22 Hurry and escape there — for I can do nothing until you arrive.” That is why he called the name of that city Zoar.

23 The sun had risen over the earth when Lot entered Zoar. 24 Then the Lord rained burning sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah — from the Lord, out of heaven — † 25 and he overthrew those cities and all the surrounding country, everyone who lived in the cities, and everything that grew from the ground. 26 But Lot’s wife looked back — and she became a pillar of salt. † 27 Early in the morning Abraham rose and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord, 28 and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and over the whole surrounding country, and he saw — look — a flame going up from the earth, like the smoke of a furnace. 29 So it was that when the Lord destroyed all the cities of that region, God remembered Abraham, and he sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when the Lord overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

30 Then Lot went up out of Zoar and settled in the mountain, and his two daughters with him, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. And he lived in a cave — he and his two daughters. 31 And the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no one on the earth who will come to us, as is the way of all the earth. 32 Come, let us give our father wine to drink, and let us lie with him, and raise up seed from our father.” 33 So that night they gave their father wine to drink, and the older went in and lay with her father that night — and he did not know when she lay down or when she rose. 34 The next day the older said to the younger, “Look, last night I lay with our father. Let us give him wine to drink this night also, and you go in and lie with him, and we will raise up seed from our father.” 35 So that night also they gave their father wine to drink, and the younger went in and lay with her father — and he did not know when she lay down or when she rose. 36 So both of Lot’s daughters conceived by their father. 37 The older bore a son and called his name Moab, saying, “He is from my father.” He is the father of the Moabites to this present day. 38 The younger also bore a son and called his name Ammon, saying, “The son of my kin.” He is the father of the Ammonites to this present day. [a]