The First Book of Moses: Genesis

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- Chapter 19 -

(Judges 19:1–30)

That evening, the two angels arrived in Sodom. Lot was sitting at the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to greet them and prostrated himself with his face on the ground.

He said to them, “Gentlemen, please stay in my house tonight. You can wash your feet, and early tomorrow you can continue your journey.” But they said, “No, we will just sleep in the city square.”

But Lot kept insisting strongly that they sleep in his house. So they entered his house with him, and he prepared a meal for them. He baked some bread without yeast, and they ate it.

After they finished eating, before they went to bed, the men of the city of Sodom, all of them, from the young ones to the old ones, surrounded the house.

They called out to Lot, saying, “Where are the men who came to your house this evening? Bring them out, so that we can sleep with them!”

Lot went outside the house and shut the door behind him, so that they could not go inside.

He said to them, “My friends, do not do such an evil thing!

Listen to me. I have two daughters who have never slept with any man. Let me bring them out to you now, and you can do with them whatever pleases you. But do not do anything to these men, because they are guests in my house, so I must protect them!”

But they replied, “Get out of our way! You are a foreigner; so you have no right to tell us what is right! We will do worse things to you than we will do to them!” Then they lunged toward Lot, and tried forcefully to break down the door.

But the two angels opened the door carefully, reached out their hands, and pulled Lot inside the house. Then they quickly shut the door.

Then they caused all the men who were outside the door of the house, young and old, to become blind, so that they could not find the door.

Lot Flees to Zoar

Then the two angels said to Lot, “Who else is with you here? If you have sons or sons-in-law or daughters or anyone else in the city who is related to you, take them out of the city,

because we are going to destroy this place. Yahweh has heard many terrible things that some people have said about this city, and he has sent us to destroy it.”

So Lot went and spoke to the men who had pledged to marry his daughters. He said to them, “Hurry! Get out of this city, because Yahweh is about to destroy it!” But his future sons-in-law thought he was joking.

As it was about to dawn the next morning, the two angels urged Lot, saying, “Get up quickly! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here with you and leave! If you do not, you will be swept away when we destroy the city!”

When Lot hesitated, the angels grasped his hand and his wife’s hand and the hands of his two daughters. They led them outside the city safely. The angels did that because Yahweh was acting mercifully toward them.

When they were outside the city, one of the angels said, “If you want to stay alive, run away quickly! Do not look back! And do not stop anywhere in the valley! Flee to the hills! If you do not, you will die!”

But Lot said to one of them, “No, sir, do not make me do that!

Please, listen. You have been pleased with me and have been very kind to me and spared my life. But I cannot flee to the mountain. If I try to do that, I will die in this disaster.

Listen to me. There is a town nearby. Let me run there now. It is only a small town, and if you do not destroy it, our lives will be saved if we go there.”

One of the angels said to Lot, “I will allow you to do what you have requested. And I will not destroy the town you are talking about.

But hurry! Run there, because I cannot destroy anything until you arrive.” People later called the name of the town Zoar, which means ‘not important,’ because Lot said that it was a small village.

As the sun was rising, Lot and his family arrived in the town which is now called Zoar.

The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

(Luke 17:20–37)

Then Yahweh caused fire and burning sulfur to fall down on Sodom and Gomorrah like rain from the sky.

In that way, he destroyed those cities and all the people who were living in those cities. He also destroyed everything in the valley, including all the plants.

But Lot’s wife stopped and looked back to see what was happening, so she died, and her body later became a pillar of salt.

That morning, Abraham got up and went to the place where he had stood in front of Yahweh.

He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and he was surprised to see that all over the valley, smoke was rising, like the smoke of a huge furnace.

So when God destroyed those cities in the valley, he did not forget to help Abraham, and he rescued Lot from the disaster that occurred in the cities where Lot lived.

Lot and His Daughters

Lot was afraid to stay in Zoar, so he left there and moved with his two daughters to the mountain, and they lived in a cave.

One day the older daughter said to the younger daughter, “Our father is old, and there is no man in this area who will sleep with us, as people all over the earth do.

Let us make our father drink wine until he gets drunk. Then we can sleep with him without him knowing it. In that way he will cause us to become pregnant and we can bear children who will be our father’s descendants.”

So that night they caused their father to become drunk. And the older daughter went in and slept with her father, but he was so drunk that he did not know when she lay down with him or when she got up.

The next day, his older daughter said to his younger daughter, “Listen to me. Last night I slept with our father. Let us cause him to become drunk again tonight! This time you can go and sleep with him. If he sleeps with you, you can become pregnant, and that way you can have a child, too.”

So that night, they caused their father to become drunk with wine again, and then his younger daughter went and slept with him. But again, he was so drunk that he did not know when she lay down with him or when she got up.

So Lot caused his two daughters to become pregnant.

The older one later gave birth to a son, whom she named Moab. He became the ancestor of the Moab people group.

The younger one also gave birth to a son, whom she named Ben-Ammi. He became the ancestor of the people that are now called the Ammon people group.

(Judges 19:1–30)

The two angels came to Sodom at evening. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them. He bowed himself with his face to the earth,

and he said, “See now, my lords, please come into your servant’s house, stay all night, wash your feet, and you can rise up early, and go on your way.” They said, “No, but we will stay in the street all night.”

He urged them greatly, and they came in with him, and entered into his house. He made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter.

They called to Lot, and said to him, “Where are the men who came in to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them.”

Lot went out to them through the door, and shut the door after himself.

He said, “Please, my brothers, don’t act so wickedly.

See now, I have two virgin daughters. Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them what seems good to you. Only don’t do anything to these men, because they have come under the shadow of my roof.”

They said, “Stand back!” Then they said, “This one fellow came in to live as a foreigner, and he appoints himself a judge. Now we will deal worse with you than with them!” They pressed hard on the man Lot, and came near to break the door.

But the men reached out their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door.

They struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

Lot Flees to Zoar

The men said to Lot, “Do you have anybody else here? Sons-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place:

for we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown so great before the LORD that the LORD has sent us to destroy it.”

Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters, and said, “Get up! Get out of this place, for the LORD will destroy the city!” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be joking.

When the morning came, then the angels hurried Lot, saying, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the iniquity of the city.”

But he lingered; and the men grabbed his hand, his wife’s hand, and his two daughters’ hands, the LORD being merciful to him; and they took him out, and set him outside of the city.

It came to pass, when they had taken them out, that he said, “Escape for your life! Don’t look behind you, and don’t stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be consumed!”

Lot said to them, “Oh, not so, my lord.

See now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your loving kindness, which you have shown to me in saving my life. I can’t escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake me, and I die.

See now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh let me escape there (isn’t it a little one?), and my soul will live.”

He said to him, “Behold, I have granted your request concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.

Hurry, escape there, for I can’t do anything until you get there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.(a)

The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.

The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

(Luke 17:20–37)

Then the LORD rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of the sky.

He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew on the ground.

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

Abraham went up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD.

He looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and saw that the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace.

When God destroyed the cities of the plain, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the middle of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.

Lot and His Daughters

Lot went up out of Zoar, and lived in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to live in Zoar. He lived in a cave with his two daughters.

The firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in to us in the way of all the earth.

Come, let’s make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve our father’s family line.”

They made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father. He didn’t know when she lay down, nor when she arose.

It came to pass on the next day, that the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let’s make him drink wine again tonight. You go in, and lie with him, that we may preserve our father’s family line.”

They made their father drink wine that night also. The younger went and lay with him. He didn’t know when she lay down, nor when she got up.

Thus both of Lot’s daughters were with child by their father.

The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day.

The younger also bore a son, and called his name Ben Ammi. He is the father of the children of Ammon to this day.

Footnotes

(a)19:22 Zoar means “little”.