The Doom of Sodom

19 Now the ^(A)two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. When ^(B)Lot saw them, he stood up 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, “No, but we shall spend the night in the public square.” ³ Yet he strongly urged them, 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 look, ^(F)I have two daughters who have not ^[d]had relations with any man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them ^[e]whatever you like; only do not do anything to these men, because they have come under the ^[f]shelter of my roof.” ⁹ But they said, “Get out of the way!” They also said, “This one came in ^[g]as a foreigner, 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 moved forward 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 Then ^(I)they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, from the small to the great, so that they became weary of trying to find the doorway.

¹² Then the two men said to Lot, “Whom else do you have here? A son-in-law and your sons and 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 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who ^[k]were to marry his daughters, and said, “Up, ^(L)get out of this place, for the Lord is destroying the city.” ^(M)But he appeared to his sons-in-law ^[l]to be joking.

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 ^[m]punishment of the city.” ¹⁶ But he hesitated. So the men ^(N)grasped his hand and the hand of his wife and the ^[n]hands of his two daughters, because ^(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, ^[o]one said, “^(P)Escape for your life! ^(Q)Do not look behind you, and do not stay ^[p]anywhere in the ^(R)surrounding area; escape to ^(S)the ^[q]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 compassion, which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the ^[r]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?) ^[s]so that my life may be saved.” ²¹ And he said to him, “Behold, I grant you this ^[t]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 town was named ^[u](T)Zoar.

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

²⁷ Now Abraham got up 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 surrounding area; and ^[w]behold, he saw ^(Y)the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a ^[x]furnace.

²⁹ So it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the surrounding area, that ^(Z)God remembered Abraham, and ^(AA)sent Lot out of the midst of the destruction, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.

Lot and His Daughters

³⁰ Now Lot went up from Zoar with his two daughters and ^(AB)stayed in the ^[y]mountains, because he was afraid to stay in Zoar; and he 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 ^[z]on earth to ^[aa](AC)have relations with us according to the custom of all the earth. ³² Come, ^(AD)let’s make our father drink wine, and let’s sleep with him so that we may keep ^[ab]our family alive through our father.” ³³ So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and slept with her father; and he did not know when she lay down or got up. ³⁴ On the following day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Look, I slept last night with my father; let’s make him drink wine tonight too, then you go in and sleep with him, so that we may keep ^[ac]our family alive through our father.” ³⁵ So they had their father drink wine that night too, and the younger got up and slept with him; and he did not know when she lay down or got up. ³⁶ And so both of the daughters of Lot conceived by their father. ³⁷ The firstborn gave birth to a son, and named him ^(AE)Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸ As for the younger, she also gave birth to a son, and named him Ben-ammi; he is the father of ^[ad]the sons of ^(AF)Ammon to this day.

Abraham’s Treachery

20 Now Abraham journeyed from ^(AG)there toward the land of ^(AH)the ^[ae]Negev, and ^[af]settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he lived for a time in ^(AI)Gerar. ² And Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “^(AJ)She is my sister.” So ^(AK)Abimelech king of Gerar sent men 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 ^[ag]married.” ⁴ Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, ^(AN)will You kill a nation, even though ^[ah]blameless? ⁵ Did he himself not 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 ^[ai]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 ^[aj](AQ)kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. ⁷ Now then, return 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 return her, know that you will certainly die, you and all who are yours.”

⁸ So Abimelech got up early in the morning and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ^[ak]presence; and the people were greatly frightened. ^9 (AS)Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And ^[al]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 ^[am]things that ought not to be done.” ¹⁰ And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What have you ^[an]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 ^[ao]the kindness which you will show to me: ^[ap]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 returned his wife Sarah to him. ¹⁵ Abimelech said, “^(AZ)Behold, my land is before you; ^[aq]settle wherever ^[ar]you please.” ¹⁶ To Sarah he said, “Look, I have given your ^(BA)brother a thousand pieces of silver. ^[as]It is ^[at]your vindication before all who are with you, and before everyone you are cleared.” ¹⁷ Then ^(BB)Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his female slaves, so that they gave birth to children. ^18 (BC)For the Lord had completely closed all the wombs of the household of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

Isaac Is Born

21 ^(BD)Then the Lord took note of Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had ^[au]promised. ^2 (BE)So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at ^(BF)the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. ³ Abraham named his son who was born to him, the son whom Sarah bore to him, ^(BG)Isaac. ⁴ Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was ^(BH)eight days old, as God had commanded him. ⁵ Now Abraham was ^(BI)a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. ⁶ Sarah said, “God has made ^(BJ)laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh ^[av]with me.” ⁷ And she said, “^(BK)Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have given birth to a son in his old age.”

⁸ And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

Sarah Turns against Hagar

⁹ Now Sarah saw ^(BL)the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, ^(BM)mocking Isaac. ¹⁰ Therefore she said to Abraham, “^(BN)Drive out this slave woman and her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be an heir with my son ^[aw]Isaac!” ^11 (BO)The matter ^[ax]distressed Abraham greatly because of his son Ishmael. ¹² But God said to Abraham, “^[ay]Do not be distressed because of the boy and your slave woman; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for ^(BP)through Isaac ^[az]your descendants shall be named. ¹³ And of ^(BQ)the son of the slave woman I will make a nation also, because he is your ^[ba]descendant.” ¹⁴ So Abraham got up early in the morning and took bread and a ^[bb]skin of water, and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba.

¹⁵ When the water in the skin was used up, she ^[bc]left the boy under one of the bushes. ¹⁶ Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, “May I not ^[bd]see the boy die!” And she sat opposite him, and ^(BR)raised her voice and wept. ¹⁷ God ^(BS)heard the boy crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “^[be]What is the matter with you, Hagar? ^(BT)Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. ¹⁸ Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him by ^[bf]the hand, ^(BU)for I will make a great nation of him.” ¹⁹ Then God ^(BV)opened her eyes, and she saw ^(BW)a well of water; and she went and filled the ^[bg]skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

²⁰ And ^(BX)God was with the boy, and he grew; and he lived in the wilderness and became an archer. ^21 (BY)He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Covenant with Abimelech

²² Now it came about at that time that ^(BZ)Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, “^(CA)God is with you in all that you do; ²³ so now, ^(CB)swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my descendants, but according to the kindness that I have shown to you, you shall show to me and to the land in which you have resided.” ²⁴ Abraham said, “I swear it.” ²⁵ But Abraham ^[bh]complained to Abimelech because of the well of water which the servants of Abimelech ^(CC)had seized. ²⁶ And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor did I hear of it ^[bi]until today.”

²⁷ So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and ^(CD)the two of them made a covenant. ²⁸ But Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. ²⁹ Then Abimelech said to Abraham, “What do these seven ewe lambs mean, which you have set by themselves?” ³⁰ He said, “You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand so that it may be a ^(CE)witness for me, that I dug this well.” ³¹ Therefore he called that place ^[bj](CF)Beersheba, because there the two of them took an oath. ³² So they made a covenant at Beersheba; and Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, got up and returned to the land of the Philistines. ³³ Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there ^(CG)he called on the name of the Lord, the ^(CH)Everlasting God. ³⁴ And Abraham resided ^(CI)in the land of the Philistines for many days.