⁵ And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and ^(A)consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and ^(B)offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and ^(C)cursed^[a] God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.

¹⁸ While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, ^(A)“Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, ¹⁹ and behold, a great wind came across ^(B)the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

¹³ For we are about to destroy this place, ^(A)because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” ¹⁴ So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, ^(B)“Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.

¹⁵ As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” ¹⁶ But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, ^(C)the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. ¹⁷ And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. ^(D)Do not look back or stop anywhere in the ^(E)valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.” ¹⁸ And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords. ¹⁹ Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. ²⁰ Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!” ²¹ He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. ²² Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called ^(F)Zoar.^[a]

God Destroys Sodom

²³ The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. ²⁴ Then ^(G)the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. ²⁵ And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.

¹³ Now the men of Sodom ^(A)were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.