Genesis 19

1That evening the 2 angels came to Sodom. Lot was sitting at the city gate. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them. He bowed down with his face to the ground.

2Lot said: Sirs, please come to my house. Stay the night and wash your feet. Then you can get up early and go on your way. The angels said: No. We will spend the night in the street.

3But Lot urged them strongly. So they went with him into his house. Lot prepared a meal and baked bread without yeast, and they ate.

4Before they went to bed, all the men of Sodom surrounded the house. Young and old, men from every part of the city came.

5They called to Lot: Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.

6Lot went outside and shut the door behind him.

7Lot said: My brothers, please do not do this evil thing.

8Listen, I have 2 daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you. Do to them whatever you want. But do not do anything to these men, because they are guests under my roof.

9The men said: Get out of the way. Then they said: This man came here as a stranger, and now he wants to judge us. We will treat you worse than them. They pushed hard against Lot and came near to breaking down the door.

10But the 2 angels reached out and pulled Lot back into the house. They shut the door.

11The angels made the men outside the door blind, both young and old. The men were worn out trying to find the door.

12The angels said to Lot: Do you have anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone else in the city? Bring them out of this place.

13We are going to destroy this place. The cry against its people has become great before the LORD. The LORD has sent us to destroy it.

14Lot went out and spoke to the men who were to marry his daughters. Lot said: Get up and leave this place, because the LORD will destroy this city. But the sons-in-law thought Lot was joking.

15At dawn the angels urged Lot: Get up. Take your wife and your 2 daughters who are here. Then you will not be swept away when the city is punished.

16Lot still hesitated. So the angels took Lot, his wife and his 2 daughters by the hand. The LORD was merciful to them. The angels led them out and left them outside the city.

17When they were outside, one angel said: Run for your lives. Do not look back. Do not stop anywhere in the valley. Run to the mountains, or you will be swept away.

18Lot said to them: No, sir, please.

19You have been kind to me and have shown great mercy by saving my life. But I cannot run to the mountains. The disaster will catch me, and I will die.

20Look, that town over there is close enough to run to. It is a small town. Please let me escape there. It is only a small place. Then my life will be saved.

21The angel said to Lot: I will grant this request too. I will not destroy the town you spoke about.

22Hurry. Run there, because I cannot do anything until you arrive. That is why the town was named Zoar, which means Small.

23The sun had risen over the land when Lot reached Zoar.

24Then the LORD rained burning sulfur down on Sodom and Gomorrah. It came from the LORD out of heaven.

25The LORD destroyed those cities and the whole valley. The LORD destroyed all the people in the cities. Everything that grew on the ground was destroyed too.

26Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

27Early the next morning, Abraham went to the place where he had stood before the LORD.

28Abraham looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the valley. He saw smoke rising from the land like smoke from a furnace.

29When God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham. God brought Lot out of the disaster. This was when God destroyed the cities where Lot lived.

30Lot was afraid to stay in Zoar. So Lot and his 2 daughters went up into the mountains and lived in a cave.

31The older daughter said to the younger: Our father is old. There is no man in the land to marry us, as is the custom everywhere.

32Come, let us make our father drink wine. Then we will sleep with him, so that we can have children from our father's family.

33That night they made their father drink wine. The older daughter went in and slept with her father. Lot did not know when she lay down or when she got up.

34The next day the older daughter said to the younger: Last night I slept with my father. Let us make him drink wine again tonight. Then you go in and sleep with him, so that we can have children from our father's family.

35That night they made their father drink wine again. The younger daughter went in and slept with him. Lot did not know when she lay down or when she got up.

36So Lot's 2 daughters became pregnant by their father.

37The older daughter had a son and named him Moab. Moab is the father of the Moabites to this day.

38The younger daughter also had a son and named him Ben Ammi. Ben Ammi is the father of the Ammonites to this day.