⁸ So Abram said to Lot, ^(A)“Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren. ^9 (B)Is not the whole land before you? Please ^(C)separate from me. ^(D)If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.”

¹⁰ And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all ^(E)the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the Lord ^(F)destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) ^(G)like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward ^(H)Zoar. ¹¹ Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other. ¹² Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot ^(I)dwelt in the cities of the plain and ^(J)pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. ¹³ But the men of Sodom ^(K)were exceedingly wicked and ^(L)sinful against the Lord.

²⁰ And the Lord said, “Because ^(A)the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their ^(B)sin is very grave, ^21 (C)I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, ^(D)I will know.”

²² Then the men turned away from there ^(E)and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord.

Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed^(A)

¹² Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city—^(B)take them out of this place! ¹³ For we will destroy this place, because the ^(C)outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and ^(D)the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”

¹⁴ So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, ^(E)who had married his daughters, and said, ^(F)“Get up, get out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city!” ^(G)But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.

¹⁵ When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, ^(H)“Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.” ¹⁶ And while he lingered, the men ^(I)took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the ^(J)Lord being merciful to him, ^(K)and they brought him out and set him outside the city. ¹⁷ So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that ^[a]he said, ^(L)“Escape for your life! ^(M)Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape ^(N)to the mountains, lest you be ^[b]destroyed.”

¹⁸ Then Lot said to them, “Please, ^(O)no, my lords! ¹⁹ Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die. ²⁰ See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one; please let me escape there (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.”

²¹ And he said to him, “See, ^(P)I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken. ²² Hurry, escape there. For ^(Q)I cannot do anything until you arrive there.”

Therefore ^(R)the name of the city was called ^[c]Zoar.

²³ The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar. ²⁴ Then the Lord rained ^(S)brimstone and ^(T)fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. ²⁵ So He ^[d]overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and ^(U)what grew on the ground.

²⁶ But his wife looked back behind him, and she became ^(V)a pillar of salt.

²⁷ And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where ^(W)he had stood before the Lord. ²⁸ Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain; and he saw, and behold, ^(X)the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace. ²⁹ And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God ^(Y)remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt.