Lot Leaves Sodom

19 The two ·angels [messengers] came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting near the ·city gate [^Lgate of Sodom; ^Cthe administrative center of a city]. When he saw them, he got up ·and went to [to meet] them and bowed facedown on the ground. ² Lot said, “·Sirs [My lords], please come to ·my [^Lyour servant’s] house and spend the night. There you can wash your feet, and then ·tomorrow you may [^Lyou can get up early and] continue your journey.”

The ·angels [messengers] answered, “No, we will spend the night in the city’s public square.”

³ But Lot ·begged them [entreated/urged them strongly] to come, so they ·agreed [^Lturned aside to him] and went to his house. Then Lot prepared a ·meal [feast; banquet] for them. He baked ·bread without yeast [unleavened bread], and they ate it.

⁴ Before ·bedtime [^Lthey lay down], men both young and old and from every part of Sodom surrounded Lot’s house. ⁵ They called to Lot, “Where are the two men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so we can ·have sexual relations with [^Lknow] them.”

⁶ Lot went ·outside [^Lout the door] to them, closing the door behind him. ⁷ He said, “No, my brothers! Do not do this evil thing. ⁸ Look! I have two daughters who have never ·slept with [had sexual relations with; ^Lknown] a man. I will give them to you, and you may do anything you want with them. But please don’t do anything to these men. They have come ·to my house, and I must protect them [^Lunder the shelter/shade of my roof].”

⁹ The men around the house answered, “·Move out of the way [Stand back]!” Then they said to each other, “This ·man Lot [fellow; ^Lone] came to our city as a ·stranger [sojourner; wanderer; resident alien], and now he wants to ·tell us what to do [^Ljudge us]!” They said to Lot, “We will do worse things to you than to them.” They started pushing him back and were ready to break down the door.

¹⁰ But ·the two men staying with Lot [^Lthe men] ·opened the door, [^Lreached out their hands and] pulled him back inside the house, and then closed the door. ¹¹ They struck those outside the door with ·blindness [a blinding flash], so the men, both ·young and old [^Lsmall and great], could not find the door.

¹² The two men said to Lot, “Do you have ·any other relatives in this city [^Lanyone else here]? Do you have any sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or any other relatives? If you do, ·tell them to leave now [get them out of this place], ¹³ because we are about to destroy this ·city [^Lplace]. ·The Lord has heard of all the evil that is here [^LGreat is the outcry against them before the Lord], so he has sent us to destroy it.”

¹⁴ So Lot went out and said to his future sons-in-law who were pledged to marry his daughters, “·Hurry and leave this city [^LGet up and get out of this place]! The Lord is about to destroy it!” But ·they [^Lhis sons-in-law] thought Lot was joking.

¹⁵ ·At dawn the next morning [^LAs morning dawned], the ·angels [messengers] ·begged [urged] Lot to hurry. They said, “Go! Take your wife and your two daughters with you so you will not be ·destroyed [swept away] when the city is punished.”

¹⁶ But Lot ·delayed [lingered; dawdled]. So the two men ·took [grabbed; seized] the hands of Lot, his wife, and his two daughters and led them safely out of the city. So the Lord was merciful to Lot and his family. ¹⁷ After they brought them out of the city, one of the men said, “·Run [Flee] for your lives! Don’t look back or stop anywhere in the ·valley [or plain]. Run to the mountains, or you will be ·destroyed [swept away].”

¹⁸ But Lot said to one of them, “·Sir, please don’t force me to go so far [^LOh no, my lord]! ¹⁹ ·You have been merciful [^LYour servant has found grace in your eyes] and ·kind to me [^Lyou have shown great kindness to me] and have saved my life. But I can’t ·run [flee] to the mountains. The disaster will catch me, and I will die. ²⁰ Look, that little town over there is ·not too far away [^Lnear enough to flee to]. Let me run there. It’s really just a little town, and ·I’ll be safe there [^Lmy life will be saved/spared].”

²¹ The angel said to Lot, “Very well, I will ·allow you to do this also [show you this favor; ^Llift up your face]. I will not ·destroy that town [^Loverthrow the town of which you speak]. ²² But run there fast, because I cannot ·destroy Sodom [^Ldo anything] until you are safely in that town.” (That town is named Zoar, because it is little [^CZoar sounds like the Hebrew word for “little”].)

Sodom and Gomorrah Are Destroyed

²³ The sun had already ·come up [^Lrisen over the earth] when Lot entered Zoar. ²⁴ The Lord sent a rain of ·burning sulfur [sulfur and fire] down from ·the sky [heaven] on Sodom and Gomorrah ²⁵ and ·destroyed [overturned] those cities. He also ·destroyed [overturned] the whole ·Jordan Valley [valley; or plain], everyone living in the cities, and even all the plants.

²⁶ At that point Lot’s wife looked back. When she did, she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷ Early the next morning, Abraham got up and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord. ²⁸ He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the ·Jordan Valley [^Lvalley; or plain] and saw smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.

²⁹ God destroyed the cities in the ·valley [or plain], but he remembered what Abraham had asked. So ·God saved Lot’s life, but he [^Lhe sent Lot out of the overthrow/upheaval when he] ·destroyed [overturned] the city where Lot had lived [Deut. 29:23; Is. 1:9; 13:19; Jer. 50:40; Amos 4:11; Matt. 10:15; 11:23–24; Jude 1:7; Rev. 11:8].