¹⁸ But Lot said to them, “No, my lords,^[a] please! ¹⁹ Your^[b] servant has found favor in your^[c] eyes,^(A) and you^[d] have shown great kindness^(B) to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains;^(C) this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. ²⁰ Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it—it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.”

²¹ He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request^(D) too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. ²² But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar.^[e](E))

²³ By the time Lot reached Zoar,^(F) the sun had risen over the land. ²⁴ Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur^(G) on Sodom and Gomorrah^(H)—from the Lord out of the heavens.^{(I) 25} Thus he overthrew those cities^(J) and the entire plain,^(K) destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land.^(L)