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Genesis 19-21
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Genesis 19-21
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Depravity of Sodom
19 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.(A) 2 He said, “Please, my lords, turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night and wash your feet; then you can rise early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the square.”(B) 3 But he urged them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house, and he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.(C) 4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house, 5 and they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may know them.”(D) 6 Lot went out of the door to the men, shut the door after him,(E) 7 and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. 8 Look, I have two daughters who have not known a man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please; only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.”(F) 9 But they replied, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came here as an alien, and he would play the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot and came near the door to break it down.(G) 10 But the men inside reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. 11 And they struck with blindness the men who were at the door of the house, both small and great, so that they were unable to find the door.(H)
Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed
12 Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city—bring them out of the place.(I) 13 For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”(J) 14 So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “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.(K)
15 When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be consumed in the punishment of the city.”(L) 16 But he lingered, so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and left him outside the city.(M) 17 When they had brought them outside, they[a] said, “Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the plain; flee to the hills, or else you will be consumed.”(N) 18 And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords; 19 your servant has found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life, but I cannot flee to the hills, for fear the disaster will overtake me and I die. 20 Look, that 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, “Very well, I grant you this favor too and will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.(O) 22 Hurry, escape there, for I can do nothing until you arrive there.” Therefore the city was called Zoar.[b] 23 The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.
24 Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven,(P) 25 and he overthrew those cities and all the plain and all the inhabitants of the cities and what grew on the ground.(Q) 26 But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.(R)
27 Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord,(S) 28 and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the plain and saw the smoke of the land going up like the smoke of a furnace.(T)
29 So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had settled.(U)
The Shameful Origin of Moab and Ammon
30 Now Lot went up out of Zoar and settled in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar, so he lived in a cave with his two daughters. 31 And the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the world.(V) 32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring through our father.”(W) 33 So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father; he did not know when she lay down or when she rose. 34 On the next day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Look, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine tonight also; then you go in and lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring through our father.” 35 So they made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger rose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she rose. 36 Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. 37 The firstborn bore a son and named him Moab;[c] he is the ancestor of the Moabites to this day. 38 The younger also bore a son and named him Ben-ammi;[d] he is the ancestor of the Ammonites to this day.(X)
Abraham and Sarah at Gerar
20 From there Abraham journeyed toward the region of the Negeb and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While residing in Gerar as an alien,(Y) 2 Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” And King Abimelech of Gerar sent and took Sarah.(Z) 3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “You are about to die because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a married woman.”(AA) 4 Now Abimelech had not approached her, so he said, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent people? 5 Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ I did this in the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands.”(AB) 6 Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart; furthermore, it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her. 7 Now then, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all that are yours.”(AC)
8 So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and told them all these things, and the men were very much afraid. 9 Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought such great guilt on me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that ought not to be done.”(AD) 10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What were you thinking, that you did this thing?” 11 Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, Surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.(AE) 12 Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. 13 And when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, say of me, He is my brother.’ ”(AF) 14 Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham and restored his wife Sarah to him.(AG) 15 Abimelech said, “My land is before you; settle where it pleases you.”(AH) 16 To Sarah he said, “Look, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; it is your exoneration before all who are with you; you are completely vindicated.” 17 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children.(AI) 18 For the Lord had closed fast all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.(AJ)
The Birth of Isaac
21 The Lord dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as he had promised.(AK) 2 Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him.(AL) 3 Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son whom Sarah bore him.(AM) 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.(AN) 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.(AO) 6 Now Sarah said, “God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.”(AP) 7 And she said, “Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away
8 The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9 But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac.[e](AQ) 10 So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.”(AR) 11 The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son.(AS) 12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you.(AT) 13 As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring.”(AU) 14 So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.
15 When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, “Do not let me look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. 17 And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.(AV) 18 Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him.”(AW) 19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.(AX)
20 God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow.(AY) 21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.(AZ)
Abraham and Abimelech Make a Covenant
22 At that time Abimelech, with Phicol the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do;(BA) 23 now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my posterity, but as I have dealt loyally with you, you will deal with me and with the land where you have resided as an alien.” 24 And Abraham said, “I swear it.”
25 When Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech’s servants had seized,(BB) 26 Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this; you did not tell me, and I have not heard of it until today.” 27 So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant.(BC) 28 Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs of the flock. 29 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?” 30 He said, “These seven ewe lambs you shall accept from my hand in order that you may be a witness for me that I dug this well.”(BD) 31 Therefore that place was called Beer-sheba,[f] because there both of them swore an oath.(BE) 32 When they had made a covenant at Beer-sheba, Abimelech, with Phicol the commander of his army, left and returned to the land of the Philistines. 33 Abraham[g] planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba and there called on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God.[h](BF) 34 And Abraham resided as an alien many days in the land of the Philistines.
Genesis 19-21
New International Version
Genesis 19-21
New International Version
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.
Abraham and Abimelek(BN)
20 Now Abraham moved on from there(BO) into the region of the Negev(BP) and lived between Kadesh(BQ) and Shur.(BR) For a while(BS) he stayed in Gerar,(BT) 2 and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.(BU)” Then Abimelek(BV) king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her.(BW)
3 But God came to Abimelek(BX) in a dream(BY) one night and said to him, “You are as good as dead(BZ) because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.”(CA)
4 Now Abimelek had not gone near her, so he said, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation?(CB) 5 Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister,(CC)’ and didn’t she also say, ‘He is my brother’? I have done this with a clear conscience(CD) and clean hands.(CE)”
6 Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept(CF) you from sinning against me.(CG) That is why I did not let you touch her. 7 Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet,(CH) and he will pray for you(CI) and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all who belong to you will die.”(CJ)
8 Early the next morning Abimelek summoned all his officials, and when he told them all that had happened, they were very much afraid. 9 Then Abimelek called Abraham in and said, “What have you done to us? How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should never be done.(CK)” 10 And Abimelek asked Abraham, “What was your reason for doing this?”
11 Abraham replied, “I said to myself, ‘There is surely no fear of God(CL) in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’(CM) 12 Besides, she really is my sister,(CN) the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife. 13 And when God had me wander(CO) from my father’s household,(CP) I said to her, ‘This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother.”’”
14 Then Abimelek(CQ) brought sheep and cattle and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham,(CR) and he returned Sarah his wife to him. 15 And Abimelek said, “My land is before you; live wherever you like.”(CS)
16 To Sarah he said, “I am giving your brother a thousand shekels[j] of silver. This is to cover the offense against you before all who are with you; you are completely vindicated.”
17 Then Abraham prayed to God,(CT) and God healed Abimelek, his wife and his female slaves so they could have children again, 18 for the Lord had kept all the women in Abimelek’s household from conceiving because of Abraham’s wife Sarah.(CU)
The Birth of Isaac
21 Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah(CV) as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised.(CW) 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son(CX) to Abraham in his old age,(CY) at the very time God had promised him.(CZ) 3 Abraham gave the name Isaac[k](DA) to the son Sarah bore him. 4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him,(DB) as God commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old(DC) when his son Isaac was born to him.
6 Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter,(DD) and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” 7 And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”(DE)
Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away
8 The child grew and was weaned,(DF) and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast. 9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham(DG) was mocking,(DH) 10 and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman(DI) and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”(DJ)
11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son.(DK) 12 But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring[l] will be reckoned.(DL) 13 I will make the son of the slave into a nation(DM) also, because he is your offspring.”
14 Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar.(DN) He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.(DO)
15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she[m] began to sob.(DP)
17 God heard the boy crying,(DQ) and the angel of God(DR) called to Hagar from heaven(DS) and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid;(DT) God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. 18 Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.(DU)”
19 Then God opened her eyes(DV) and she saw a well of water.(DW) So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
20 God was with the boy(DX) as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. 21 While he was living in the Desert of Paran,(DY) his mother got a wife for him(DZ) from Egypt.
The Treaty at Beersheba
22 At that time Abimelek(EA) and Phicol the commander of his forces(EB) said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do.(EC) 23 Now swear(ED) to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants.(EE) Show to me and the country where you now reside as a foreigner the same kindness I have shown to you.”(EF)
24 Abraham said, “I swear it.”
25 Then Abraham complained to Abimelek about a well of water that Abimelek’s servants had seized.(EG) 26 But Abimelek said, “I don’t know who has done this. You did not tell me, and I heard about it only today.”
27 So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelek, and the two men made a treaty.(EH) 28 Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs from the flock, 29 and Abimelek asked Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs you have set apart by themselves?”
30 He replied, “Accept these seven lambs from my hand as a witness(EI) that I dug this well.(EJ)”
31 So that place was called Beersheba,[n](EK) because the two men swore an oath(EL) there.
32 After the treaty(EM) had been made at Beersheba,(EN) Abimelek and Phicol the commander of his forces(EO) returned to the land of the Philistines.(EP) 33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree(EQ) in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the Lord,(ER) the Eternal God.(ES) 34 And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines(ET) for a long time.
Footnotes
- Genesis 19:14 Or were married to
- Genesis 19:18 Or No, Lord; or No, my lord
- Genesis 19:19 The Hebrew is singular.
- Genesis 19:19 The Hebrew is singular.
- Genesis 19:19 The Hebrew is singular.
- Genesis 19:22 Zoar means small.
- Genesis 19:37 Moab sounds like the Hebrew for from father.
- Genesis 19:38 Ben-Ammi means son of my father’s people.
- Genesis 19:38 Hebrew Bene-Ammon
- Genesis 20:16 That is, about 25 pounds or about 12 kilograms
- Genesis 21:3 Isaac means he laughs.
- Genesis 21:12 Or seed
- Genesis 21:16 Hebrew; Septuagint the child
- Genesis 21:31 Beersheba can mean well of seven and well of the oath.
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