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.

¹⁴ So they went on, and the sun set as they neared Gibeah in Benjamin.^{(A) 15} There they stopped to spend the night.^(B) They went and sat in the city square,^(C) but no one took them in for the night.

¹⁶ That evening^(D) an old man from the hill country of Ephraim,^(E) who was living in Gibeah (the inhabitants of the place were Benjamites), came in from his work in the fields. ¹⁷ When he looked and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked, “Where are you going? Where did you come from?”^(F)

¹⁸ He answered, “We are on our way from Bethlehem in Judah to a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim where I live. I have been to Bethlehem in Judah and now I am going to the house of the Lord.^[a](G) No one has taken me in for the night. ¹⁹ We have both straw and fodder^(H) for our donkeys^(I) and bread and wine^(J) for ourselves your servants—me, the woman and the young man with us. We don’t need anything.”

²⁰ “You are welcome at my house,” the old man said. “Let me supply whatever you need. Only don’t spend the night in the square.” ²¹ So he took him into his house and fed his donkeys. After they had washed their feet, they had something to eat and drink.^(K)

²² While they were enjoying themselves,^(L) some of the wicked men^(M) of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him.^(N)”

²³ The owner of the house went outside^(O) and said to them, “No, my friends, don’t be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don’t do this outrageous thing.^{(P) 24} Look, here is my virgin daughter,^(Q) and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But as for this man, don’t do such an outrageous thing.”

²⁵ But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her^(R) and abused her^(S) throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go.