Beginning
The Rescue of Lot from Sodom
19 And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening. And Lot was sitting in the gateway of Sodom. Then Lot saw them and stood up to meet them. And he bowed down with his face to the ground. 2 And he said, “Behold, my lords, please turn aside into the house of your servant and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you can rise early and go on your way.” And they said, “No, but we will spend the night in the square.” 3 But he urged them strongly,[a] and they turned aside with him and came into his house. And he made a meal for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. 4 Before they laid down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man,[b] surrounded the house. 5 And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we may know[c] them.” 6 But Lot went out to them at the entrance, and he shut the door behind him. 7 And he said, “No, my brothers, please do not do such a wrong thing. 8 Behold, I have two daughters who have not known[d] a man. Please, let me bring them out to you; then do to them as it seems good in your eyes. Only to these men do not do this thing, since they came under my roof[e] for protection.” 9 But they said, “Step aside!” Then they said, “This fellow[f] came to dwell as a foreigner and he acts as a judge! Now we shall do worse to you than them!” And they pressed very hard against the man, against Lot, and they drew near to break the door. 10 Then the men reached out with their hands and brought Lot in to them, into the house, and they shut the door. 11 And the men who were at the entrance of the house they struck with blindness, both small and great, and they were unable to find the entrance. 12 Then the men said to Lot, “Who is here with you? Bring out from the place your sons-in-law, and your sons and your daughters, and all who are with you in the city. 13 For we are about to destroy this place, because their cry has become great before Yahweh. Yahweh sent us to destroy it.” 14 Then Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were taking[g] his daughters and said, “Get up! Go out from this place, because Yahweh is going to destroy the city!” But it seemed like a joke[h] in the eyes of his sons-in-law. 15 And as the dawn came up the angels urged Lot saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are staying with you,[i] lest you be destroyed with the punishment of the city.” 16 But when he lingered, the men seized him by his hand and his wife’s hand, and his two daughters by hand, on account of the mercy of Yahweh upon him. And they brought him out and set him outside of the city. 17 And after bringing them outside one said, “Flee for your life; do not look behind you, and do not stand anywhere in the plain. Flee to the mountains lest you be destroyed.” 18 And Lot said to them, “No, please, my lords. 19 Behold, your servant has found favor in your eyes and you have shown me great kindness[j] in saving my life. But I cannot flee to the mountains, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. 20 Behold, this city is near enough to flee there, and it is a little one. Please, let me flee there. Is it not a little one? Then my life shall be saved.” 21 And he said to him, “Behold, I will grant this favor as well;[k] that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. 22 Escape there quickly, for I cannot do this thing until you get there.” Therefore, there name of the city was called Zoar.
The Destruction of Sodom
23 After the sun had risen[l] upon the earth and Lot had entered Zoar, 24 Yahweh rained down from heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yahweh. 25 And he overthrew those cities and the whole plain, and the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation of the ground. 26 But his[m] wife looked back,[n] and she became a pillar of salt. 27 And Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before Yahweh. 28 And he looked down upon the surface of Sodom and Gomorrah, and upon the whole surface of the land, the plain. And he saw that,[o] behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a smelting furnace. 29 So it was, when God destroyed the cities of the plain that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out from the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.
Lot and His Daughters
30 And Lot went out from Zoar and settled in the hill country[p] with his two daughters, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. So he lived in a cave, he and his two daughters. 31 And the firstborn daughter said to the younger one, “Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to come in to us according to the manner of all the land. 32 Come, let us give our father wine to drink and let us lie with him[q] that we may secure descendants through our father.”[r] 33 And they gave their father wine to drink that night, and the firstborn went and lay with her father, but he did not know when she lay down or when she got up. 34 And it happened that, the next day the firstborn said to the younger one, “Look, I laid with my father last night. Let us give him wine to drink also tonight, then go and lie with him that we may secure descendants through our father.”[s] 35 And they gave their father wine to drink again that night, and the younger got up and lay with him, but he did not know when she lay down or when she got up. 36 And the two daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. 37 The firstborn gave birth to a son, and she called his name Moab. He is the father of Moab until this day. 38 And the younger, she also gave birth to a son, and she called his name Ben-Ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites[t] until this day.
Abraham and Abimelech
20 And Abraham journeyed from there to the land of the Negev, and he settled between Kadesh and Shur. And he dwelled as an alien in Gerar. 2 And Abraham said about Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. 3 And God came to Abimelech in a dream at night. And he said to him, “Look, you are a dead man on account of the woman you have taken. For she is a married woman.”[u] 4 Now Abimelech had not approached her, so he said, “my Lord, will you even kill a righteous people?” 5 Did not he himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ With integrity of my heart and with cleanness of my hands I did this.” 6 Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes,[v] I know that in the integrity of your heart you did this, and I also kept you from sinning[w] against me. Therefore, I did not allow you to touch her. 7 So now, return the wife of the man, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you and you will live. And if you do not return her,[x] know that you will certainly die, and all that are yours.”
8 So Abimelech rose early in the morning. And he called all his servants and told them all these things,[y] and the men were very afraid. 9 And Abimelech called for Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you that you brought upon me and upon my kingdom a great sin? You have done things to me that should not be done.” 10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What were you thinking[z] that you did this thing?” 11 And Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely there is no fear of God in this place; they will kill me on account of the matter of my wife. 12 Besides,[aa] she is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother. And she became my wife. 13 And it happened that as God caused me to wander from the house of my father I said to her, ‘This is your loyal kindness that you must do for me at every place where we come: say concerning me, “He is my brother.”’” 14 And Abimelech took sheep and cattle and male slaves and female slaves, and he gave them to Abraham. And he returned Sarah his wife to him. 15 And Abimelech said, “Here is my land before you; settle where it pleases you.”[ab] 16 And to Sarah he said, “Look, I have given a thousand pieces of silver to your brother. It shall be an exoneration.[ac] You are vindicated before all who are with you.”[ad] 17 And Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his female servants so that they could bear children again. 18 For Yahweh had completely closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of the matter of Sarah, the wife of Abraham.
The Birth of Isaac
21 And Yahweh visited Sarah as he had said. And Yahweh did to Sarah as he had promised. 2 And she conceived, and Sarah bore to Abraham a son in his old age at the appointed time that God had told him. 3 And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. 4 And Abraham circumcised Isaac his son when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 And Abraham was one hundred years old when Isaac his son was born to him. 6 And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; all who hear will laugh for me.” 7 And she said, “Who would announce to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne a son to Abraham in his old age.”
Hagar and Ishmael
8 And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned. 9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne Abraham, mocking. 10 Then she said to Abraham, “Drive out this slave woman and her son, for the son of this slave woman will not be heir with my son, with Isaac.” 11 And the matter displeased Abraham very much[ae] on account of his son. 12 Then God said to Abraham, “Do not be displeased[af] on account of the boy and on account of the slave woman. Listen to everything that Sarah said to you,[ag] for through Isaac your offspring will be named. 13 And I will also make the son of the slave woman into a nation, for he is your offspring.” 14 Then Abraham rose up early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder. And he sent her away with the child, and she went, wandering about in the wilderness, in Beersheba. 15 And when the water was finished from the skin, she put the child under one of the bushes. 16 And she went and she sat a good distance away,[ah] for she said, “Let me not see the child’s death.” So she sat away from him and lifted up her voice and wept. 17 And God heard the cry[ai] of the boy and the angel of God called to Hagar from the heavens and said to her, “What is the matter[aj] Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the cry[ak] of the boy from where he is.[al] 18 Get up, take up the boy and take him with your hand, for I will make him a great nation.” 19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave a drink to the boy. 20 And God was with the boy, and he grew and lived in the wilderness. And he became an expert with a bow.[am] 21 And he lived in the wilderness of Paran. And his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
The Covenant Between Abraham and Abimelech
22 And it happened that at that time, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “God is with you, in all that you do. 23 So now, swear to me here by God that you will not deal with me falsely, or with my descendants, or my posterity. According to the kindness that I have done to you, you shall pledge to do with me and with the land where you have dwelled as an alien.” 24 And Abraham said, “I swear.” 25 Then Abraham complained to Abimelech on account of the well of water that servants of Abimelech had seized. 26 And Abimelech said, “I do not know who did this thing, neither did you tell me, nor have I heard of it except for today.” 27 And Abraham took sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech. And the two of them made[an] a covenant. 28 Then Abraham set off seven ewe-lambs of the flock by themselves. 29 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe-lambs that you have set off by themselves?” 30 And he said, “You shall take the seven ewe-lambs from my hand as proof on my behalf[ao] that I dug this well.” 31 Therefore that place is called Beersheba, because there the two of them swore an oath. 32 And they made[ap] a covenant at Beersheba. And Abimelech, and Phicol his army commander stood and returned to the land of the Philistines. 33 And he[aq] planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of Yahweh, the everlasting God.[ar] 34 And Abraham dwelled as an alien in the land of the Philistines many days.
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