1 And in the euening there came two Angels to Sodom: and Lot sate at the gate of Sodom, and Lot sawe them, and rose vp to meete them, and he bowed himselfe with his face to the ground. 2 And he saide, See my Lords, I pray you turne in nowe into your seruants house, and tarie all night, and wash your feete, and ye shall rise vp early and goe your wayes. Who saide, Nay, but we will abide in the streete all night. 3 Then he preassed vpon them earnestly, and they turned in to him, and came to his house, and he made them a feast, and did bake vnleauened bread, and they did eate. 4 But before they went to bed, the men of the citie, euen the men of Sodom compassed the house rounde about from the yong euen to the olde, all the people from all quarters. 5 Who crying vnto Lot said to him, Where are the men, which came to thee this night? bring them out vnto vs that we may knowe them. 6 Then Lot went out at the doore vnto them, and shut the doore after him, 7 And said, I pray you, my brethren, do not so wickedly. 8 Beholde nowe, I haue two daughters, which haue not knowen man: them will I bring out now vnto you, and doe to them as seemeth you good: onely vnto these men doe nothing: for therefore are they come vnder the shadowe of my roofe. 9 Then they said, Away hence, and they said, He is come alone as a stranger, and shall he iudge and rule? we will nowe deale worse with thee then with them. So they preassed sore vpon Lot himselfe, and came to breake the doore. 10 But the men put forth their hand and pulled Lot into the house to them and shut to ye doore. 11 Then they smote the men that were at the doore of the house with blindnes both small and great, so that they were wearie in seeking the doore. 12 Then the men said vnto Lot, Whom hast thou yet here? either sonne in lawe, or thy sonnes, or thy daughters, or whatsoeuer thou hast in the citie, bring it out of this place. 13 For we will destroy this place, because the crye of them is great before the Lord, and the Lord hath sent vs to destroy it. 14 Then Lot went out and spake vnto his sonnes in lawe, which maried his daughters, and said, Arise, get you out of this place: for the Lord will destroy the citie: but he seemed to his sonnes in lawe as though he had mocked. 15 And when the morning arose, the Angels hasted Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife and thy two daughters which are here, lest thou be destroyed in the punishment of the citie. 16 And as he prolonged the time, the men caught both him and his wife, and his two daughters by the hands (the Lord being mercifull vnto him) and they brought him foorth, and set him without the citie. 17 And when they had brought them out, the Angel said, Escape for thy life: looke not behinde thee, neither tarie thou in all the plaine: escape into ye mountaine, least thou be destroyed. 18 And Lot saide vnto them, Not so, I pray thee, my Lord. 19 Behold now, thy seruant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercie, which thou hast shewed vnto me in sauing my life: and I cannot escape in the mountaine, least some euill take me, and I die. 20 See nowe this citie hereby to flee vnto, which is a litle one: Oh let me escape thither: is it not a litle one, and my soule shall liue? 21 Then he said vnto him, Beholde, I haue receiued thy request also concerning this thing, that I will not ouerthrow this citie, for the which thou hast spoken. 22 Haste thee, saue thee there: for I can doe nothing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the citie was called Zoar. 23 The sunne did rise vpon the earth, when Lot entred into Zoar. 24 Then the Lord rained vpon Sodom and vpon Gomorah brimstone, and fire from the Lord out of heauen, 25 And ouerthrewe those cities and all the plaine, and all the inhabitants of the cities; and that that grewe vpon the earth. 26 Now his wife behind him looked backe, and she became a pillar of salt. 27 And Abraham rising vp earely in ye morning went to the place, where he had stand before the Lord, 28 And looking towarde Sodom and Gomorah and toward all the land of the plaine, behold, he sawe the smoke of the lande mounting vp as the smoke of a fornace. 29 But yet when God destroyed the cities of the plaine, God thought vpon Abraham, and sent Lot out from the middes of the destruction, when he ouerthrewe the cities, wherein Lot dwelled. 30 Then Lot went vp from Zoar, and dwelt in the mountaine with his two daughters: for he feared to tarie in Zoar, but dwelt in a caue, he, and his two daughters. 31 And the elder saide vnto the yonger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth, to come in vnto vs after the maner of all ye earth. 32 Come, wee will make our father drinke wine, and lie with him, that we may preserue seede of our father. 33 So they made their father drinke wine that night, and the elder went and lay with her father: but he perceiued not, neither whe she lay downe, neither when she rose vp. 34 And on the morowe the elder saide to the yonger, Behold, yester night lay I with my father: let vs make him drinke wine this night also, and goe thou and lie with him, that we may preserue seede of our father. 35 So they made their father drinke wine that night also, and the yonger arose, and lay with him, but he perceiued not, when she lay downe, neither when she rose vp. 36 Thus were both the daughters of Lot with childe by their father. 37 And the elder bare a sonne, and she called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites vnto this day. 38 And the yonger bare a sonne also, and she called his name Ben-ammi: the same is the father of the Ammonites vnto this day.
The Sinfulness of Sodom
1 When the two angels came to Sodom that evening, Lot was sitting at the city gate. As soon as he saw them, he got up and went to meet them. He bowed down before them 2 and said, “Sirs, I am here to serve you. Please come to my house. You can wash your feet and spend the night. In the morning you can get up early and go on your way.”
But they answered, “No, we will spend the night here in the city square.”
3 He kept on urging them, and finally they went with him to his house. Lot ordered his servants to bake some bread and prepare a fine meal for the guests. When it was ready, they ate it.
4 Before the guests went to bed, the men of Sodom surrounded the house. All the men of the city, both young and old, were there. 5 They called out to Lot and asked, “Where are the men who came to stay with you tonight? Bring them out to us!” The men of Sodom wanted to have sex with them.
6 Lot went outside and closed the door behind him. 7 He said to them, “Friends, I beg you, don't do such a wicked thing! 8 Look, I have two daughters who are still virgins. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do whatever you want with them. But don't do anything to these men; they are guests in my house, and I must protect them.”
9 But they said, “Get out of our way, you foreigner! Who are you to tell us what to do? Out of our way, or we will treat you worse than them.” They pushed Lot back and moved up to break down the door. 10 But the two men inside reached out, pulled Lot back into the house, and shut the door. 11 Then they struck all the men outside with blindness, so that they couldn't find the door.
Lot Leaves Sodom
12 The two men said to Lot, “If you have anyone else here—sons, daughters, sons-in-law, or any other relatives living in the city—get them out of here, 13 because we are going to destroy this place. The Lord has heard the terrible accusations against these people and has sent us to destroy Sodom.”
14 Then Lot went to the men that his daughters were going to marry, and said, “Hurry up and get out of here; the Lord is going to destroy this place.” But they thought he was joking.
15 At dawn the angels tried to make Lot hurry. “Quick!” they said. “Take your wife and your two daughters and get out, so that you will not lose your lives when the city is destroyed.” 16 Lot hesitated. The Lord, however, had pity on him; so the men took him, his wife, and his two daughters by the hand and led them out of the city. 17 Then one of the angels said, “Run for your lives! Don't look back and don't stop in the valley. Run to the hills, so that you won't be killed.”
18 But Lot answered, “No, please don't make us do that, sir. 19 You have done me a great favor and saved my life. But the hills are too far away; the disaster will overtake me, and I will die before I get there. 20 Do you see that little town? It is near enough. Let me go over there—you can see it is just a small place—and I will be safe.”
21 He answered, “All right, I agree. I won't destroy that town. 22 Hurry! Run! I can't do anything until you get there.”
Because Lot called it small, the town was named Zoar.
The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
23 The sun was rising when Lot reached Zoar. 24 Suddenly the Lord rained burning sulfur on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah 25 and destroyed them and the whole valley, along with all the people there and everything that grew on the land. 26 But Lot's wife looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt.
27 Early the next morning Abraham hurried to the place where he had stood in the presence of the Lord. 28 He looked down at Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole valley and saw smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a huge furnace. 29 But when God destroyed the cities of the valley where Lot was living, he kept Abraham in mind and allowed Lot to escape to safety.
The Origin of the Moabites and Ammonites
30 Because Lot was afraid to stay in Zoar, he and his two daughters moved up into the hills and lived in a cave. 31 The older daughter said to her sister, “Our father is getting old, and there are no men in the whole world to marry us so that we can have children. 32 Come on, let's get our father drunk, so that we can sleep with him and have children by him.” 33 That night they gave him wine to drink, and the older daughter had intercourse with him. But he was so drunk that he didn't know it.
34 The next day the older daughter said to her sister, “I slept with him last night; now let's get him drunk again tonight, and you sleep with him. Then each of us will have a child by our father.” 35 So that night they got him drunk, and the younger daughter had intercourse with him. Again he was so drunk that he didn't know it. 36 In this way both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their own father. 37 The older daughter had a son, whom she named Moab. He was the ancestor of the present-day Moabites. 38 The younger daughter also had a son, whom she named Benammi. He was the ancestor of the present-day Ammonites.