1 The two angels went down the hill and on to Sodom. They went on walking and arrived when the sun went down. Lot was sitting at the gate. When he saw the two men coming he got up and went to meet them. He bowed down because people in that place did that in those days when strangers arrived in their city. 2 He said to them, “I am here to look after you. Come to my house. You can wash your feet and stay for the night with me. In the morning you can get up and go on your way.”

But they said, “No, we will stay here on the road.”

3 But Lot kept on asking them and at last they agreed and went with him to his house. Lot told his servants to cook dampers and get other food ready for the two men. When the dampers were cooked they ate their meal.

4 Before they went to bed, all the men of Sodom came to Lot's house. They surrounded his house, both young and old. 5 They called out to Lot and asked, “Where are the men who came to stay with you? Bring them out here to us. We want to sleep with them!” But the men of Sodom wanted to do wrong with them.

6 Lot went outside and shut the door. 7 He said to them, “Friends, you must not do such a wicked thing! 8 Look, I have two daughters. They have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you. You can do whatever you want with them, but you can't have these two men. They are in my house and I am looking after them.”

9 But the men said to him, “Get out of our way! You are a stranger, you can't tell us what to do! Get out of our way, or we will do worse to you!” Then they grabbed Lot and pushed him towards the house. They moved near to break the door. 10 But the two men inside reached out their hands and grabbed Lot and pulled him back into the house and shut the door. 11 Then they made the men outside blind, so that they couldn't see to find the door.

12-13 Then the two men said to Lot, “Yahweh has heard that these people are very bad, and he has sent us here to destroy this city. So if you have any of your family here, get them and take them out of the city, because we really are going to destroy it.”

14 Then Lot went to the two men who were going to marry his daughters, and said, “Hurry up and get out of here, because Yahweh is going to destroy this place.” But they thought Lot was joking and they didn't take any notice.

15 At dawn the angels told Lot to hurry. “Quick,” they said, “take your wife and your two daughters and get out, so that you won't die when we destroy the city.” 16 Lot didn't hurry, but Yahweh had pity on him. So the men took him, his wife and his two daughters by the hand and brought them out of Sodom.

17 Then one of the angels said, “You must be quick! Run and don't look back. Don't stop in the valley. Keep on running to the hills over there so that you don't die.”

18-19 But Lot said, “No! The hills are too far away. We will never reach them. You have had pity on me, you have been kind to me and saved me. But I can't go all the way to those hills, they are too far away and I will die on the way. 20 Look! See that little town over there. It is not so far. Let me go there. You can see it is just a little place. If I go there I will be safe.”

21 He answered, “All right, I won't destroy that town, so you can go there. 22 Run quickly. I won't destroy the city until you get there.” Then people called the town Zoar, because the name Zoar means “little” and Lot said, “It is a little place.”

23 Lot and his few relatives hurried to Zoar. The sun was rising when they reached it. 24 Then suddenly Yahweh made salty fire fall on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. 25 He destroyed the two cities and the whole valley that was near them. All the people who lived in those cities and everything that grew on the land died. 26 But Lot's wife looked back and died. The salty fire covered her and made her like a rock.

27 The next morning Abraham got up and went to the place where he had talked with Yahweh. He hurried up the hill 28 and looked down below. He looked at Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole valley and saw smoke rising from the ground. There was smoke everywhere. The whole place was on fire and covered with smoke. 29 God destroyed Sodom where Lot had been living and also Gomorrah. But he remembered Abraham and let Lot escape to Zoar so he would be safe.

30 Lot was afraid and he didn't want to stay in Zoar. So he took his two daughters away to the hills and they lived there together in a cave. 31 The older daughter said to her sister, “Our father is getting old. And there are no men here for us to marry so that we can have children. 32 Come on, let's make our father drink wine until he is drunk, and sleep with him, so that he can make us pregnant.” 33 That night they gave him wine until he was drunk and then the older daughter slept with her father. But because he was drunk he didn't remember about it.

34 The next day the older daughter said to her sister, “I slept with him last night, so now let's make him drunk again tonight and you can sleep with him this time. Then our father will make both of us pregnant.” 35 That night they gave him wine again until he was drunk, and Lot's younger daughter slept with him too. But again, because he was drunk he didn't remember about it.

36 In this way Lot made both of his daughters pregnant. 37-38 Later on the older daughter had a son and she called him Moab, because Moab means “from my father.” The younger one also had a son and she called him Benammi, because Benammi means “son of my people.” When they grew up Moab became the ancestor of the Moabite people and Benammi became the ancestor of the Ammonite people.

<- Genesis 18Genesis 20 ->