⁴⁸ The men of Israel went back to Benjamin and put all the towns to the sword, including the animals and everything else they found. All the towns they came across they set on fire.^(A)

Wives for the Benjamites

21 The men of Israel had taken an oath^(B) at Mizpah:^(C) “Not one of us will give^(D) his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite.”

² The people went to Bethel,^[a] where they sat before God until evening, raising their voices and weeping bitterly. ³ “Lord, God of Israel,” they cried, “why has this happened to Israel? Why should one tribe be missing^(E) from Israel today?”

⁴ Early the next day the people built an altar and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.^(F)

⁵ Then the Israelites asked, “Who from all the tribes of Israel^(G) has failed to assemble before the Lord?” For they had taken a solemn oath that anyone who failed to assemble before the Lord at Mizpah was to be put to death.

⁶ Now the Israelites grieved for the tribe of Benjamin, their fellow Israelites. “Today one tribe is cut off from Israel,” they said. ⁷ “How can we provide wives for those who are left, since we have taken an oath^(H) by the Lord not to give them any of our daughters in marriage?” ⁸ Then they asked, “Which one of the tribes of Israel failed to assemble before the Lord at Mizpah?” They discovered that no one from Jabesh Gilead^(I) had come to the camp for the assembly. ⁹ For when they counted the people, they found that none of the people of Jabesh Gilead were there.

¹⁰ So the assembly sent twelve thousand fighting men with instructions to go to Jabesh Gilead and put to the sword those living there, including the women and children. ¹¹ “This is what you are to do,” they said. “Kill every male^(J) and every woman who is not a virgin.^(K)” ¹² They found among the people living in Jabesh Gilead four hundred young women who had never slept with a man, and they took them to the camp at Shiloh^(L) in Canaan.

¹³ Then the whole assembly sent an offer of peace^(M) to the Benjamites at the rock of Rimmon.^{(N) 14} So the Benjamites returned at that time and were given the women of Jabesh Gilead who had been spared. But there were not enough for all of them.

¹⁵ The people grieved for Benjamin,^(O) because the Lord had made a gap in the tribes of Israel. ¹⁶ And the elders of the assembly said, “With the women of Benjamin destroyed, how shall we provide wives for the men who are left? ¹⁷ The Benjamite survivors must have heirs,” they said, “so that a tribe of Israel will not be wiped out.^{(P) 18} We can’t give them our daughters as wives, since we Israelites have taken this oath:^(Q) ‘Cursed be anyone who gives^(R) a wife to a Benjamite.’ ¹⁹ But look, there is the annual festival of the Lord in Shiloh,^(S) which lies north of Bethel^(T), east of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem,^(U) and south of Lebonah.”

²⁰ So they instructed the Benjamites, saying, “Go and hide in the vineyards ²¹ and watch. When the young women of Shiloh come out to join in the dancing,^(V) rush from the vineyards and each of you seize one of them to be your wife. Then return to the land of Benjamin. ²² When their fathers or brothers complain to us, we will say to them, ‘Do us the favor of helping them, because we did not get wives for them during the war. You will not be guilty of breaking your oath because you did not give^(W) your daughters to them.’”

²³ So that is what the Benjamites did. While the young women were dancing,^(X) each man caught one and carried her off to be his wife. Then they returned to their inheritance^(Y) and rebuilt the towns and settled in them.^(Z)

²⁴ At that time the Israelites left that place and went home to their tribes and clans, each to his own inheritance.

Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed

19 The two angels^(A) arrived at Sodom^(B) in the evening, and Lot^(C) was sitting in the gateway of the city.^(D) When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.^{(E) 2} “My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet^(F) and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.”

“No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”^(G)

³ But he insisted^(H) so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house.^(I) He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast,^(J) and they ate.^{(K) 4} Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom^(L)—both young and old—surrounded the house. ⁵ They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”^(M)

⁶ Lot went outside to meet them^(N) and shut the door behind him ⁷ and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. ⁸ Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”^(O)

⁹ “Get out of our way,” they replied. “This fellow came here as a foreigner,^(P) and now he wants to play the judge!^(Q) We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.

¹⁰ But the men^(R) inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. ¹¹ Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness^(S) so that they could not find the door.

¹² The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you?^(T) Get them out of here, ¹³ because we^(U) are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great^(V) that he has sent us to destroy it.”^(W)

¹⁴ So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry^[a] his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!^(X)” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.^(Y)

¹⁵ With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away^(Z) when the city is punished.^(AA)”

¹⁶ When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters^(AB) and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them.^{(AC) 17} As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives!^(AD) Don’t look back,^(AE) and don’t stop anywhere in the plain!^(AF) Flee to the mountains^(AG) or you will be swept away!”

¹⁸ But Lot said to them, “No, my lords,^[b] please! ¹⁹ Your^[c] servant has found favor in your^[d] eyes,^(AH) and you^[e] have shown great kindness^(AI) to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains;^(AJ) this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. ²⁰ Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it—it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.”

²¹ He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request^(AK) too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. ²² But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar.^[f](AL))

²³ By the time Lot reached Zoar,^(AM) the sun had risen over the land. ²⁴ Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur^(AN) on Sodom and Gomorrah^(AO)—from the Lord out of the heavens.^{(AP) 25} Thus he overthrew those cities^(AQ) and the entire plain,^(AR) destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land.^{(AS) 26} But Lot’s wife looked back,^(AT) and she became a pillar of salt.^(AU)

²⁷ Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord.^{(AV) 28} He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.^(AW)

²⁹ So when God destroyed the cities of the plain,^(AX) he remembered^(AY) Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe^(AZ) that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.^(BA)

Lot and His Daughters

³⁰ Lot and his two daughters left Zoar^(BB) and settled in the mountains,^(BC) for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. ³¹ One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth. ³² Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line^(BD) through our father.”^(BE)

³³ That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.^(BF)

³⁴ The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.”^{(BG) 35} So they got their father to drink wine^(BH) that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.^(BI)

³⁶ So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father.^{(BJ) 37} The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab^[g];^(BK) he is the father of the Moabites^(BL) of today. ³⁸ The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi^[h]; he is the father of the Ammonites^[i](BM) of today.