The Doom of Sodom

19 Now the ^(A)two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When ^(B)Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and ^[a]bowed down with his face to the ground. ² And he said, “Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” They said however, “No, but we shall spend the night in the square.” ³ Yet he urged them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; ^(C)and he prepared a feast for them, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. ⁴ Before they lay down, ^(D)the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people ^[b]from every quarter; ⁵ and they called to Lot and said to him, “^(E)Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may ^[c]have relations with them.” ⁶ But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him, ⁷ and said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. ⁸ Now behold, ^(F)I have two daughters who have not ^[d]had relations with man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them ^[e]whatever you like; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the ^[f]shelter of my roof.” ⁹ But they said, “Stand aside.” Furthermore, they said, “This one came in ^[g]as an alien, and already ^(G)he is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them.” So they pressed hard against ^[h]Lot and came near to break the door. ¹⁰ But ^(H)the men reached out their ^[i]hands and brought Lot into the house ^[j]with them, and shut the door. ^11 (I)They ^[k]struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway.

¹² Then the two men said to Lot, “Whom else have you here? A son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place; ¹³ for we are about to destroy this place, because ^(J)their outcry has become so great before the Lord that ^(K)the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” ¹⁴ Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who ^[l]were to marry his daughters, and said, “Up, ^(L)get out of this place, for the Lord will destroy the city.” ^(M)But he appeared to his sons-in-law ^[m]to be jesting.

¹⁵ When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the ^[n]punishment of the city.” ¹⁶ But he hesitated. So the men ^(N)seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the ^[o]hands of his two daughters, for ^(O)the compassion of the Lord was upon him; and they brought him out, and put him outside the city. ¹⁷ When they had brought them outside, ^[p]one said, “^(P)Escape for your life! ^(Q)Do not look behind you, and do not stay ^[q]anywhere in the ^(R)valley; escape to ^(S)the ^[r]mountains, or you will be swept away.” ¹⁸ But Lot said to them, “Oh no, my lords! ¹⁹ Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your lovingkindness, which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the ^[s]mountains, for the disaster will overtake me and I will die; ²⁰ now behold, this town is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please, let me escape there (is it not small?) ^[t]that my life may be saved.” ²¹ He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this ^[u]request also, not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken. ²² Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the town was called ^[v](T)Zoar.

²³ The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. ²⁴ Then the Lord ^(U)rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven, ²⁵ and ^(V)He overthrew those cities, and all the ^[w]valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. ²⁶ But his wife, from behind him, ^(W)looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷ Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to ^(X)the place where he had stood before the Lord; ²⁸ and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the ^[x]valley, and he saw, and behold, ^(Y)the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a ^[y]furnace.

²⁹ Thus it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the ^[z]valley, that ^(Z)God remembered Abraham, and ^(AA)sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.

Lot Is Debased

³⁰ Lot went up from Zoar, and ^[aa](AB)stayed in the ^[ab]mountains, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to ^[ac]stay in Zoar; and he ^[ad]stayed in a cave, he and his two daughters. ³¹ Then the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man ^[ae]on earth to ^(AC)come in to us after the manner of the earth. ³² Come, ^(AD)let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him that we may preserve ^[af]our family through 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 On the following day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine tonight also; then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve ^[ag]our family through our father.” ³⁵ So 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 ^(AE)Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸ As for the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi; he is the father of the ^[ah]sons of ^(AF)Ammon to this day.

Abraham’s Treachery

20 Now Abraham journeyed from ^(AG)there toward the land of ^(AH)the ^[ai]Negev, and ^[aj]settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he sojourned in ^(AI)Gerar. ² Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “^(AJ)She is my sister.” So ^(AK)Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. ^3 (AL)But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Behold, ^(AM)you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is ^[ak]married.” ⁴ Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, ^(AN)will You slay a nation, even though ^[al]blameless? ⁵ Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she ^(AO)herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In ^(AP)the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my ^[am]hands I have done this.” ⁶ Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also ^[an](AQ)kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. ⁷ Now therefore, restore the man’s wife, for ^(AR)he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”

⁸ So Abimelech arose early in the morning and called all his servants and told all these things in their hearing; and the men were greatly frightened. ^9 (AS)Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And ^[ao]how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom ^(AT)a great sin? You have done to me ^[ap]things that ought not to be done.” ¹⁰ And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What have you ^[aq]encountered, that you have done this thing?” ¹¹ Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely there is no ^(AU)fear of God in this place, and ^(AV)they will kill me because of my wife. ¹² Besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife; ¹³ and it came about, when ^(AW)God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is ^[ar]the kindness which you will show to me: ^[as]everywhere we go, ^(AX)say of me, “He is my brother.”’” ^14 (AY)Abimelech then took sheep and oxen and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and restored his wife Sarah to him. ¹⁵ Abimelech said, “^(AZ)Behold, my land is before you; ^[at]settle wherever ^[au]you please.” ¹⁶ To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your ^(BA)brother a thousand pieces of silver; behold, it is ^[av]your vindication before all who are with you, and before all men you are cleared.” ^17 (BB)Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maids, so that they bore children. ^18 (BC)For the Lord had closed fast all the wombs of the household of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

BOOK 1

The Righteous and the Wicked Contrasted.

Followers of Tradition

7 ^(A)The Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered around Him when they had come ^(B)from Jerusalem, ² and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with ^(C)impure hands, that is, unwashed. ³ (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they ^[a]carefully wash their hands, thus observing the ^(D)traditions of the elders; ⁴ and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they ^[b]cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the ^[c]washing of ^(E)cups and pitchers and copper pots.) ⁵ The Pharisees and the scribes *asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the ^(F)tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with ^(G)impure hands?” ⁶ And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:

⁸ Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the ^(J)tradition of men.”

⁹ He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your ^(K)tradition. ¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘^(L)Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘^(M)He who speaks evil of father or mother, is to ^[d]be put to death’; ¹¹ but you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is ^(N)Corban (that is to say, ^[e]given to God),’ ¹² you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother; ¹³ thus invalidating the word of God by your ^(O)tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”

The Heart of Man

¹⁴ After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵ there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. ¹⁶ [^[f]If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”]

¹⁷ When he had left the crowd and entered ^(P)the house, ^(Q)His disciples questioned Him about the parable. ¹⁸ And He *said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹ because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and ^[g]is eliminated?” (Thus He declared ^(R)all foods ^(S)clean.) ²⁰ And He was saying, “^(T)That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. ²¹ For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, ^[h]fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, ²² deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, ^[i](U)envy, slander, ^[j]pride and foolishness. ²³ All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”

The Syrophoenician Woman

^24 (V)Jesus got up and went away from there to the region of ^(W)Tyre^[k]. And when He had entered a house, He wanted no one to know of it; ^[l]yet He could not escape notice. ²⁵ But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet. ²⁶ Now the woman was a ^[m]Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷ And He was saying to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not ^[n]good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁸ But she answered and *said to Him, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs.” ²⁹ And He said to her, “Because of this ^[o]answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.” ³⁰ And going back to her home, she found the child ^[p]lying on the bed, the demon having left.

^31 (X)Again He went out from the region of ^(Y)Tyre, and came through Sidon to ^(Z)the Sea of Galilee, within the region of ^(AA)Decapolis. ³² They *brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they *implored Him to ^(AB)lay His hand on him. ^33 (AC)Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after ^(AD)spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva; ³⁴ and looking up to heaven with a deep ^(AE)sigh, He *said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!” ³⁵ And his ears were opened, and the ^[q]impediment of his tongue ^[r]was removed, and he began speaking plainly. ³⁶ And ^(AF)He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they ^(AG)continued to proclaim it. ³⁷ They were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”