Lot Welcomes the Angels

(Genesis 8:1-5)

1And the two angels came to Sodom at even. And Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. And Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them; and he bowed down, the face toward the ground, 2and he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and lodge, and wash your feet; and ye shall rise up early, and go on your way. And they said, No; but we will pass the night in the open place. 3And he urged them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house. And he made them a repast, and baked unleavened cakes; and they ate. 4Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, from the youngest to the oldest -- all the people from every quarter. 5And they called to Lot, and said to him, Where are the men that have come in to thee to-night? bring them out to us that we may know them. 6And Lot went out to them to the entrance, and shut the door after him, 7and said, I pray you, my brethren, do not wickedly! 8Behold now, I have two daughters who have not known a man: let me now bring them out to you; and do to them as is good in your sight: only, to these men do nothing; for therefore have they come under the shadow of my roof. 9And they said, Back there! And they said [again], This one came to sojourn, and he must be a judge? Now we will deal worse with thee than with them. And they pressed hard on the man -- on Lot; and drew near to break the door. 10And the men stretched out their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door. 11And they smote the men that were at the entrance of the house with blindness, from the smallest to the greatest; and they wearied themselves to find the entrance.

Lot Flees to Zoar

12And the men said to Lot, Whom hast thou here besides? a son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and all whom thou hast in the city -- bring [them] out of the place. 13For we are going to destroy this place, because the cry of them is great before Jehovah, and Jehovah has sent us to destroy it. 14And Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, Up, go out of this place, for Jehovah will destroy the city. But he was as if he jested, in the sight of his sons-in-law.

15And as the dawn arose, the angels urged Lot, saying, Up, take thy wife and thy two daughters who are present, lest thou perish in the iniquity of the city. 16And as he lingered, the men laid hold on his hand, and on the hand of his wife, and on the hand of his two daughters, Jehovah being merciful to him; and they led him out, and set him without the city. 17And it came to pass when they had brought them outside, that he said, Escape for thy life: look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain: escape to the mountain, lest thou perish. 18And Lot said to them, Not [so], I pray thee, Lord; 19behold now, thy servant has found favour in thine eyes, and thou hast magnified thy goodness, which thou hast shewn to me in preserving my soul alive; but I cannot escape to the mountain, lest calamity lay hold on me, that I die. 20Behold now, this city is near to flee to, and it is small: I pray thee, let me escape thither -- is it not small? -- and my soul shall live. 21And he said to him, Behold, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which thou hast spoken. 22Haste, escape thither; for I cannot do anything until thou art come there. Therefore the name of the city is called Zoar.

23The sun rose upon the earth when Lot came to Zoar.

The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

24And Jehovah rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven, 25and overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew upon the ground.

Lot's Wife Looks Back

26And his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

27And Abraham rose early in the morning [and went] to the place where he had stood before Jehovah; 28and he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and lo, a smoke went up from the land as the smoke of a furnace.

29And it came to pass when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt.

Lot and his Daughters

30And Lot went up from Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar. And he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters. 31And the first-born said to the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the land to come in to us after the manner of all the earth: 32come, let us give our father wine to drink, and let us lie with him, that we may preserve seed alive of our father. 33And they gave their father wine to drink that night. And the first-born went in, and lay with her father, and he did not know of her lying down, nor of her rising. 34And it came to pass on the next day that the first-born said to the younger, Lo, I lay last night with my father: let us give him wine to drink to-night also, and go thou in, lie with him, that we may preserve seed alive of our father. 35And they gave their father wine to drink that night also. And the younger arose, and lay with him; and he did not know of her lying down, nor of her rising. 36And both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. 37And the first-born bore a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38And the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi; the same is the father of the children of Ammon to this day.