The Rescue of Lot from Sodom

19 And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening. And Lot was sitting in the gateway of Sodom. Then Lot saw them and stood up to meet them. And he bowed down with his face to the ground. ² And he said, “Behold, my lords, please turn aside into the house of your servant and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you can rise early and go on your way.” And they said, “No, but we will spend the night in the square.” ³ But he urged them strongly,^[a] and they turned aside with him and came into his house. And he made a meal for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. ⁴ Before they laid down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man,^[b] surrounded the house. ⁵ And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we may know^[c] them.” ⁶ But Lot went out to them at the entrance, and he shut the door behind him. ⁷ And he said, “No, my brothers, please do not do such a wrong thing. ⁸ Behold, I have two daughters who have not known^[d] a man. Please, let me bring them out to you; then do to them as it seems good in your eyes. Only to these men do not do this thing, since they came under my roof^[e] for protection.” ⁹ But they said, “Step aside!” Then they said, “This fellow^[f] came to dwell as a foreigner and he acts as a judge! Now we shall do worse to you than them!” And they pressed very hard against the man, against Lot, and they drew near to break the door. ¹⁰ Then the men reached out with their hands and brought Lot in to them, into the house, and they shut the door. ¹¹ And the men who were at the entrance of the house they struck with blindness, both small and great, and they were unable to find the entrance. ¹² Then the men said to Lot, “Who is here with you? Bring out from the place your sons-in-law, and your sons and your daughters, and all who are with you in the city. ¹³ For we are about to destroy this place, because their cry has become great before Yahweh. Yahweh sent us to destroy it.” ¹⁴ Then Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were taking^[g] his daughters and said, “Get up! Go out from this place, because Yahweh is going to destroy the city!” But it seemed like a joke^[h] in the eyes of his sons-in-law. ¹⁵ And as the dawn came up the angels urged Lot saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are staying with you,^[i] lest you be destroyed with the punishment of the city.” ¹⁶ But when he lingered, the men seized him by his hand and his wife’s hand, and his two daughters by hand, on account of the mercy of Yahweh upon him. And they brought him out and set him outside of the city. ¹⁷ And after bringing them outside one said, “Flee for your life; do not look behind you, and do not stand anywhere in the plain. Flee to the mountains lest you be destroyed.” ¹⁸ And Lot said to them, “No, please, my lords. ¹⁹ Behold, your servant has found favor in your eyes and you have shown me great kindness^[j] in saving my life. But I cannot flee to the mountains, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. ²⁰ Behold, this city is near enough to flee there, and it is a little one. Please, let me flee there. Is it not a little one? Then my life shall be saved.” ²¹ And he said to him, “Behold, I will grant this favor as well;^[k] that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. ²² Escape there quickly, for I cannot do this thing until you get there.” Therefore, there name of the city was called Zoar.

The Destruction of Sodom

²³ After the sun had risen^[l] upon the earth and Lot had entered Zoar, ²⁴ Yahweh rained down from heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yahweh. ²⁵ And he overthrew those cities and the whole plain, and the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation of the ground. ²⁶ But his^[m] wife looked back,^[n] and she became a pillar of salt. ²⁷ And Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before Yahweh. ²⁸ And he looked down upon the surface of Sodom and Gomorrah, and upon the whole surface of the land, the plain. And he saw that,^[o] behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a smelting furnace. ²⁹ So it was, when God destroyed the cities of the plain that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out from the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.