Genesis 19
International Children’s Bible
Lot’s Visitors
19 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening. Lot was sitting near the city gate and saw them. He got up and went to them and bowed facedown on the ground. 2 Lot said, “Sirs, please come to my house and spend the night. There you can wash your feet. Then tomorrow you may continue your journey.”
The angels answered, “No, we will spend the night in the city’s public square.”
3 But Lot begged them to come to his house. So they agreed and went to his house. Then Lot prepared a meal for them. He baked bread without yeast, and they ate it.
4 Before bedtime, all the men of the city surrounded Lot’s house. These men were both young and old and came from every part of Sodom. 5 They called to Lot, “Where are the two men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us. We want to force them to have physical relations with us.”
6 Lot went outside to them, closing the door behind him. 7 He said, “No, my brothers! Do not do this evil thing. 8 Look! I have two daughters. They have never slept with a man. I will give them to you. You may do anything you want with them. But please don’t do anything to these men. They have come to my house, and I must protect them.”
9 The men around the house answered, “Move out of the way!” Then they said to each other, “This man Lot came to our city as a stranger. Now he wants to tell us what to do!” They said to Lot, “We will do worse things to you than to them.” So they started pushing Lot back. They were ready to break down the door.
10 But the two men staying with Lot opened the door and pulled him back inside the house. Then they closed the door. 11 The two men struck the men outside the door with blindness. So these men, both young and old, could not find the door.
12 The two men said to Lot, “Do you have any other relatives in this city? Do you have any sons-in-law, sons, daughters or any other relatives? If you do, tell them to leave now. 13 We are about to destroy this city. The Lord has heard of all the evil that is here. So he has sent us to destroy it.”
14 So Lot went out and spoke to his future sons-in-law. They were pledged to marry his daughters. Lot said, “Hurry and leave this city! The Lord is about to destroy it!” But they thought Lot was joking.
15 At dawn the next morning, the angels begged Lot to hurry. They said, “Go! Take your wife and your two daughters with you. Then you will not be destroyed when the city is punished.”
16 But Lot delayed. So the two men took the hands of Lot, his wife and his two daughters. The men led them safely out of the city. So the Lord was merciful to Lot and his family. 17 The two men brought Lot and his family out of the city. Then one of the men said, “Run for your lives! Don’t look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Run to the mountains or you will be destroyed.”
18 But Lot said to one of them, “Sir, please don’t force me to go so far! 19 You have been merciful and kind to me. You have saved my life. But I can’t run to the mountains. The disaster will catch me, and I will die. 20 Look, that little town over there is not too far away. Let me run there. It’s really just a little town. I’ll be safe there.”
21 The angel said to Lot, “Very well, I will allow you to do this also. I will not destroy that town. 22 But run there fast. I cannot destroy Sodom until you are safely in that town.” (That town is named Zoar,[a] because it is little.)
Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed
23 The sun had already come up when Lot entered Zoar. 24 The Lord sent a rain of burning sulfur down from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah. 25 So the Lord destroyed those cities. He also destroyed the whole Jordan Valley, everyone living in the cities and even all the plants.
26 At that point Lot’s wife looked back. When she did, she became a pillar of salt.
27 Early the next morning, Abraham got up and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 28 Abraham looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the Jordan Valley. He saw smoke rising from the land. It was like smoke from a furnace.
29 God destroyed the cities in the valley. But he remembered what Abraham had asked. So God saved Lot’s life. But he destroyed the city where Lot had lived.
Lot and His Daughters
30 Lot was afraid to continue living in Zoar. So he and his two daughters went to live in the mountains. They lived in a cave there. 31 One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old. Everywhere on the earth women and men marry. But there are no men around here for us to marry. 32 Let’s get our father drunk. Then we can have physical relations with him. We can use our father to have children. That way we can continue our family.”
33 That night the two girls got their father drunk. Then the older daughter went and had physical relations with him. But Lot did not know when she lay down or when she got up.
34 The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I had physical relations with my father. Let’s get him drunk again tonight. Then you can go and have physical relations with him, too. In this way we can use our father to have children to continue our family.” 35 So that night they got their father drunk again. Then the younger daughter went and had physical relations with him. Again, Lot did not know when she lay down or when she got up.
36 So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. 37 The older daughter gave birth to a son. She named him Moab. Moab is the ancestor of all the Moabite people who are still living today. 38 The younger daughter also gave birth to a son. She named him Ben-Ammi. He is the father of all the Ammonite people who are still living today.
Footnotes
- 19:22 Zoar This name sounds like the Hebrew word for “little.”
Genesis 19
New King James Version
Sodom’s Depravity
19 Now (A)the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and (B)Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. 2 And he said, “Here now, my lords, please (C)turn in to your servant’s house and spend the night, and (D)wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.”
And they said, (E)“No, but we will spend the night in the open square.”
3 But he insisted strongly; so they turned in to him and entered his house. (F)Then he made them a feast, and baked (G)unleavened bread, and they ate.
4 Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. 5 (H)And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? (I)Bring them out to us that we (J)may know them carnally.”
6 So (K)Lot went out to them through the doorway, shut the door behind him, 7 and said, “Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly! 8 (L)See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please, let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish; only do nothing to these men, (M)since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof.”
9 And they said, “Stand back!” Then they said, “This one (N)came in to [a]stay here, (O)and he keeps acting as a judge; now we will deal worse with you than with them.” So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door. 10 But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. 11 And they (P)struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door.
Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed(Q)
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—(R)take them out of this place! 13 For we will destroy this place, because the (S)outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and (T)the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”
14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, (U)who had married his daughters, and said, (V)“Get up, get out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city!” (W)But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.
15 When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, (X)“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 (Y)took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the (Z)Lord being merciful to him, (AA)and they brought him out and set him outside the city. 17 So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that [b]he said, (AB)“Escape for your life! (AC)Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape (AD)to the mountains, lest you be [c]destroyed.”
18 Then Lot said to them, “Please, (AE)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, (AF)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 (AG)I cannot do anything until you arrive there.”
Therefore (AH)the name of the city was called [d]Zoar.
23 The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar. 24 Then the Lord rained (AI)brimstone and (AJ)fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. 25 So He [e]overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and (AK)what grew on the ground.
26 But his wife looked back behind him, and she became (AL)a pillar of salt.
27 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where (AM)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, (AN)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 (AO)remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt.
The Descendants of Lot
30 Then Lot went up out of Zoar and (AP)dwelt in the mountains, and his two daughters were with him; for he was afraid to dwell in Zoar. And he and his two daughters dwelt in a cave. 31 Now the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man on the earth (AQ)to come in to us as is the custom of all the earth. 32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we (AR)may preserve the [f]lineage of our father.” 33 So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
34 It happened on the next day that the firstborn said to the younger, “Indeed I lay with my father last night; let us make him drink wine tonight also, and you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve the [g]lineage of our father.” 35 Then they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
36 Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. 37 The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab; (AS)he is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38 And the younger, she also bore a son and called his name Ben-Ammi; (AT)he is the father of the people of Ammon to this day.
Footnotes
- Genesis 19:9 As a resident alien
- Genesis 19:17 LXX, Syr., Vg. they
- Genesis 19:17 Lit. swept away
- Genesis 19:22 Lit. Little or Insignificant
- Genesis 19:25 devastated
- Genesis 19:32 Lit. seed
- Genesis 19:34 Lit. seed
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.