Yahweh Destroys Sodom and Gomorrah

19 Then the ^(A)two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. ^(B)Lot saw them and rose to meet them and ^[a]bowed down with his ^[b]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 pressed them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; ^(C)and he made 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, from young to old, all the people ^[c]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 ^[d]know 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 known a man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them what is good in your eyes; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the ^[e]shelter of my roof.” ⁹ But they said, “Step aside.” Furthermore, they said, “This one came to sojourn, and already ^(G)he is persistently acting like a judge; now we will treat you more wickedly than them.” So they pressed hard against ^[f]Lot and stepped up to break the door. ¹⁰ But ^(H)the men reached out their ^[g]hands and brought Lot into the house ^[h]with them and shut the door. ^11 (I)And they ^[i]struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, from small to 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 everyone 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 great before Yahweh, so ^(K)Yahweh has sent us to destroy it.” ¹⁴ And Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who ^[j]were to marry his daughters, and said, “Get up, ^(L)get out of this place, for Yahweh will destroy the city.” ^(M)But he appeared to his sons-in-law ^[k]to be jesting.

¹⁵ Now at the ^[l]breaking of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the ^[m]punishment of the city.” ¹⁶ But he hesitated. So the men ^(N)seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the ^[n]hands of his two daughters, for ^(O)the compassion of Yahweh was upon him; and they brought him out and put him outside the city. ¹⁷ Now it happened, as they 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)valley; escape to ^(S)the ^[q]mountains, lest you 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 preserving my life; but I cannot escape to the ^[r]mountains, lest calamity overtake me and I 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]that my life may be preserved.” ²¹ And he said to him, “Behold, I grant you this ^[t]request also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. ²² Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called ^[u](T)Zoar.

²³ The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. ²⁴ And Yahweh ^(U)rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yahweh out of heaven, ²⁵ and ^(V)He overthrew those cities, and all the ^[v]valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. ²⁶ Then 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 Yahweh; ²⁸ and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the ^[w]valley, and he saw, and behold, ^(Y)the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a ^[x]furnace.

²⁹ Thus it happened, when God destroyed the cities of the ^[y]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.