Beginning

19 And (the) twain angels came to Sodom in the eventide, while Lot sat in the gates of the city. And when he had seen them, he rose, and went to meet them, and worshipped low to the earth, (And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, while Lot sat at the city gates. And when he had seen them, he arose, and went to meet them, and bowed low to the ground,)

² and said, My lords, I beseech, bow ye [down] into the house of your servant, and dwell ye there; wash ye your feet, and in the morrowtide ye shall go into your way (and in the morning ye shall go on your way). Which said, Nay, but we shall dwell in the street.

³ He constrained them greatly, that they should turn (in) to him. And when they entered into his house, he made a feast, and baked therf bread, and they ate. (But he greatly constrained them, that they should turn in at his house. And so when they had entered into his house, he made a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.)

⁴ Forsooth before that they went to sleep, men of the city compassed his house, from a child till to an eld man (from a youth unto an old man), all the people together;

⁵ and they called (to) Lot, and said to him, Where be the men that entered to thee tonight? (Where be the men who have entered into thy house tonight?) bring them out hither, (so) that we (may) know them, that is, by lechery against kind.

⁶ And Lot went out to them behind the back, and closed the door, (And Lot went out to them, and closed the door behind him,)

⁷ and said, I beseech, do not ye, my brethren, do not ye do this evil.

⁸ I have two daughters, that knew not yet (a) man; I shall lead out them to you (I shall lead them out to you), and mis-use ye them as it pleaseth you, so (long as) that ye do none evil to these men, for they (have) entered under the shadow of my roof.

⁹ And they said, Go thou (away) from hence. And again they said, Thou enteredest [in] hither as a comeling; whether that thou shalt deem us? therefore we shall torment thee more than these. And they did violently to Lot full greatly (And they did great violence to Lot). Then it was nigh that they would break (down) the doors;

¹⁰ and lo! the (two) men put (forth their) hand(s), and led in Lot to them (and brought Lot back in with them), and they closed the door.

¹¹ And they smote with blindness they that were withoutforth (And then they struck with blindness those who were outside), from the least till to the most; so that they might not find the door.

¹² Forsooth they said to Lot, Hast thou here any man of thine, (a) husband of thy daughter, or sons, or daughters(?); (if so,) lead thou out of this city all men that be thine,

¹³ for we shall do away this place, for the cry of them increased before the Lord, which sent us that we (should) lose them. (for we shall do away this place, for the outcry against them hath increased before the Lord, who sent us to destroy them.)

¹⁴ And Lot went out, and spake to the husbands (to be) of his daughters, that should take his daughters, and said, Rise ye, and go ye out of this place; for the Lord shall do away this city. And he was seen to them to speak as playing. (And Lot went out, and spoke to the husbands-to-be of his daughters, who were betrothed to his daughters, and said, Rise ye up, and go ye out of this place; for the Lord shall do away this city. But he was seen by them as only to be joking.)

¹⁵ And when the morrowtide was (made), the angels constrained Lot, and said, Rise thou (up), and take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which thou hast, lest also thou perish (al)together in the sin of the city (lest also thou altogether perish amidst the sin of this city).

¹⁶ While he dissembled, they took his hand, and the hand of his wife, and of his two daughters; for the Lord spared him. And they led out him, and set him without the city. (And while he hesitated, they took his hand, and the hand of his wife, and the hands of his two daughters; for the Lord had spared him. And they led them away, and brought them outside the city.)

¹⁷ There they spake to him, and said, Save thou thy life; do not thou behold behind thy back, neither stand thou in all the country(side) about, but make thee safe in the hill(s); lest also thou perish (al)together. (And they spoke to him there, and said, Save thou thy life; do not thou look behind thy back, nor stand thou in all the countryside about, but make thee safe in the hills; lest also thou altogether perish.)

¹⁸ And Lot said to them, My Lord (My lords), I beseech,

¹⁹ for thy servant hath found grace before thee, and thou hast magnified thy grace and mercy, which thou hast done to me, (so) that thou shouldest save my life, (I am most grateful); (but) I may not be saved in the hill(s), lest peradventure evil (over)take me, and I die (but I cannot be saved in the hills, for before that I can get there, the destruction shall surely overtake me, and I shall die);

²⁰ a little city is here beside (there is a little city here), to which I may flee, and I shall be safe therein; whether it is not (such) a little city? and my soul shall live therein.

²¹ And he said to Lot, Lo! also in this I have received thy prayers, that I destroy not the city, for which thou hast spoken; (And he said to Lot, Lo! also in this I have received thy prayers, and I shall not destroy the city, of which thou hast spoken;)

²² haste thee, and be thou saved there, for I may not do anything till thou enter [in] thither. Therefore the name of that city was called Zoar. (haste thee, and be thou made safe there, for I shall not do anything until thou hast entered in there. And so that is why that city was called Zoar, or Small.)

²³ (And so) The sun rose (up) on [the] earth, and Lot entered into Zoar.

²⁴ Therefore the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire, from the Lord of heaven, (And so the Lord rained down fire and brimstone from the heavens on Sodom and Gomorrah,)

²⁵ and destroyed these cities, and all the country(side) about; he destroyed all the dwellers of those cities (he destroyed all the inhabitants of those cities), and all (the) green things of [the] earth.

²⁶ And Lot’s wife looked aback, and she was turned into an image of salt. (And Lot’s wife looked back, and she was turned into a pillar of salt.)

²⁷ Forsooth Abraham rising (up) early, (went to) where he (had) stood before with the Lord,

²⁸ (and) beheld Sodom and Gomorrah, and all the land of that country(side) (about); and he saw a dead spark going up from the earth, as the smoke of a furnace.

²⁹ For when God destroyed the cities of that country(side), he had mind of Abraham, and delivered Lot from [the] destroying of the cities in which he dwelled.

³⁰ And Lot went up from Zoar, and dwelled in the hill(s), and his two daughters with him, for he dreaded to dwell in Zoar; and he dwelled in a den (and he lived in a cave), he and his two daughters with him.

³¹ And the more daughter said to the less (And the elder daughter said to the younger one), Our father is eld, and no man is left on (the) earth that may enter [in] to us, by the custom of all (the) earth;

³² come thou, make we him drunken of wine, and sleep we with him, that we may keep the seed of our father. (come thou, make we him drunk with wine, and sleep we with him, so that we can keep our father’s seed, or our father’s family, alive.)

³³ And so they gave to their father to drink wine in that night (And so that night they gave their father some wine to drink), and the more, or the elder, daughter entered, and slept with her father; and he feeled not, neither when the daughter lay down, neither when she [a]rose.

³⁴ And the tother day the more daughter said to the less, or the younger (one), Lo! I slept yesterday with my father; give we to him to drink wine also in this night; and thou sleep with him, that we save the seed of our father. (And the next day the elder daughter said to the younger one, Lo! yesterday I slept with my father; tonight we shall also give him some wine to drink, and then thou sleep with him, so that we shall most assuredly save our father’s seed, or our father’s family.)

³⁵ And they gave to their father also in that night to drink wine, and the less daughter entered, and slept with him; and soothly he feeled not then when she lay down, neither when she [a]rose. (And so also that night they gave their father some wine to drink, and the younger daughter entered, and slept with him; and truly he felt nothing when she lay down, nor when she arose.)

³⁶ Therefore the two daughters of Lot conceived of their father. (And so Lot’s two daughters conceived by their father.)

³⁷ And the more daughter childed a son, and called his name Moab; he is the father of (the) men of Moab unto this present day.

³⁸ And the less daughter childed a son, and called his name Benammi, that is, The son of my people; he is the father of (the) men of Ammon till to [this] day.

20 Abraham went forth from thence into the land of the south, and dwelled betwixt Kadesh and Shur, and was a pilgrim in Gerar; (And Abraham went forth from there to the land of the south, and lived between Kadesh and Shur, and was a foreigner in Gerar;)

² and (again) he said of Sarah, his wife, She is my sister. Therefore Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent (for her), and took her (And so Abimelech, king of Gerar, had her brought to him).

³ Soothly God came to Abimelech by a sweven in the night (And God came to Abimelech by a dream in the night), and said to him, Lo! thou shalt die, for the woman which thou hast taken, for she hath an husband.

⁴ Forsooth Abimelech [had] touched not her; and he said, Lord, whether thou shalt slay (a) folk unknowing and just? (But Abimelech had not yet touched her; and he said, Lord, shalt thou slay an unknowing and a righteous nation?)

⁵ Whether he said not to me, She is my sister, and she said, He is my brother? In the simpleness of mine heart, and in the cleanness of mine hands, I did this (I did this with a pure heart, and with clean hands).

⁶ And the Lord said to him, And I know that thou didest by simple heart, and therefore I kept thee, lest thou didest sin against me, and I suffered not that thou touchedest her; (And the Lord said to him, Yea, I know that thou didest this with a pure heart, and so I kept thee, so that thou didest not sin against me, and I did not allow thee to touch her;)

⁷ now therefore yield thou the wife to her husband, for he is a prophet; and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live; soothly if thou wilt not yield her, know thou that thou shalt die by death, thou, and all things that be thine (but if thou wilt not give her back to him, know thou that thou shalt die, thou, and all who be thine).

⁸ And at once Abimelech rose (up) by night, and called (for) all his servants, and spake all these words in the ears of them; and all men dreaded greatly (and all the men had great fear).

⁹ Soothly Abimelech called also Abraham (And then Abimelech called for Abraham), and said to him, What hast thou done to us? what sinned we against thee, that thou hast brought in on me and on my realm (such) a great sin? thou hast done to us which things thou oughtest not to do.

¹⁰ And again Abimelech asked, and said, What thing sawest thou, that thou wouldest do this? (And again Abimelech asked Abraham, Why did thou do this?)

¹¹ (And) Abraham answered, I thought within me, and said, In hap the dread of God is not in this place; and they shall slay me for my wife;

¹² in other manner forsooth and she is my sister verily, (for she is) the daughter of my father, and not the daughter of my mother; and I wedded her into wife; (and truly in one way she is my sister, for she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and so I wedded her for a wife;)

¹³ soothly after that God led me out of the house of my father, I said to her, Thou shalt do this mercy with me in each place to which we shall enter; thou shalt say, that I am thy brother. (and after that God led me out of my father’s house, I said to her, Thou shalt do this mercy for me in each place to which we shall enter; thou shalt say that I am thy brother.)

¹⁴ Therefore Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and servants, and handmaids, and gave to Abraham; and he yielded to him Sarah, his wife, (And so Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and male and female slaves, and gave them to Abraham; and he gave him back his wife Sarah,)

¹⁵ and said, The land is before you; dwell thou, wherever it pleaseth thee.

¹⁶ Forsooth Abimelech said to Sarah, Lo! I gave a thousand pieces of silver to thy brother; this shall be to thee into (a) covering of (the) eyes, to all men that be with thee; and whither ever thou goest, have thou mind that thou art taken. (And Abimelech said to Sarah, Lo! I have given a thousand pieces of silver to thy brother; this shall be proof to all thy own people that thou art guiltless; but wherever thou goest, remember that thou art already taken.)

¹⁷ Soothly for Abraham prayed, God cured Abimelech, and his wife, and handmaids, and they childed; (And because Abraham prayed to God, God cured Abimelech, and his wife, and his slave-girls, and they gave birth;)

¹⁸ for God had closed each womb of the house of Abimelech, for Sarah, the wife of Abraham. (for God had closed up each womb in Abimelech’s household, because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.)

21 Forsooth God visited Sarah, as he promised, and [ful]filled those things, that he spake.

² And she conceived, and childed a son in her eld (age), in the time wherein God before-said to her. (And she conceived, and bare a son in her old age, at the time which God had spoken of before to her.)

³ And Abraham called the name of his son, whom Sarah childed to him, Isaac.

⁴ And Abraham circumcised him in the eighth day, as God commanded to him, (And Abraham circumcised him on the eighth day, as God had commanded to him,)

⁵ when he was of an hundred years; for Isaac was born in this age of the father. (when he was a hundred years old; for this was the age of his father when Isaac was born.)

⁶ And Sarah said, The Lord hath made laughing to me (The Lord hath made me to laugh), and whoever shall hear (about this) shall laugh with me.

⁷ And again she said, Who should hear, and believe to Abraham (And she added, For who would have said to Abraham), that Sarah should give sucking to a son, whom she childed to him, (when he is) now an eld man?

⁸ Therefore the child increased, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast in the day of his weaning (and Abraham made a great feast on the day of his weaning).

⁹ And when Sarah saw the son of Hagar (the) Egyptian, playing, or doing idolatry, with Isaac her son, (And when Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, mocking her son Isaac,)

¹⁰ she said to Abraham, Cast out this handmaid and her son; for the son of the handmaid shall not be heir with my son Isaac. (she said to Abraham, Send away this slave-girl and her son; for the slave-girl’s son shall not be heir with my son Isaac.)

¹¹ Abraham took this heavily for his son; (And Abraham took this heavily, or was deeply troubled, for Ishmael was also his son;)

¹² and God said to him, Be it not seen sharp to thee on the child, and on thine handmaid; all things which Sarah saith to thee, hear thou her voice, for in Isaac (the) seed shall be called to thee; (but God said to him, Do not thou fret over the boy and the slave-girl; hear thou all the things which Sarah saith to thee, for thy promised descendants shall come through Isaac;)

¹³ but also I shall make the son of the handmaid into a great folk, for he is thy seed. (but I shall also make the son of the slave-girl into a great nation, for he is also thy descendant.)

¹⁴ And so Abraham rose early, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and put it on Hagar’s shoulder, and he betook (to) her the child^[a], and let go her; and when she had gone, she went out of the way in the wilderness of Beersheba. (And so Abraham rose up early, and took some bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it to Hagar, and put it on her shoulder, and he gave the boy to her, and sent her away; and when she had gone out a ways, she went off the way into the wilderness of Beersheba.)

¹⁵ And when the water in the bottle was ended, she cast away the child under a tree that was there; (And when there was no more water in the bottle, she pushed the boy away under a tree that was there;)

¹⁶ and she went away, and she sat (down) even against (him), as far as a bow may cast; for she said, I shall not see the child dying (I shall not watch my own child die!); and she sat (over) against (him), and raised [up] her voice, and wept.

¹⁷ Forsooth the Lord heard the voice of the child, and the angel of the Lord called Hagar from heaven, and said, What doest thou, Hagar? do not thou dread, for God hath heard the voice of the child, from the place wherein he is. (And the Lord heard the boy crying, and the angel of the Lord called to Hagar from heaven, and said, What doest thou, Hagar? do not thou fear, for God hath heard your boy crying from where he is.)

¹⁸ Rise thou, and take the child, and hold his hand; for I shall make him into a great folk. (Rise thou up, and have the boy stand up, and take his hand; for I shall make him into a great nation.)

¹⁹ And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water, and she went, and filled the bottle, and she gave drink to the child (and she gave her boy a drink);

²⁰ and (God) was with him, and he increased, and dwelled in wilderness (and lived in the wilderness), and he was made a young man (who was) an archer,

²¹ and dwelled in the desert of Paran; and his mother took to him a wife of the land of Egypt. (and he lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother found him a wife from the land of Egypt.)

²² In the same time, Abimelech, and Phicol, prince of his host (Now at that time, Abimelech, with Phicol, the ruler of his army), said to Abraham, God is with thee in all things that thou doest;

²³ therefore swear thou by God that thou harm not me, and mine heirs, and my kindred; but by the mercy which I did to thee, do thou to me, and to the land in which thou livedest (as) a comeling. (and so swear thou by God that thou shalt not harm me, nor my heirs, nor my family; but that thou shalt do the same mercy to me, and to the land in which thou livedest as a newcomer, which I have shown to thee.)

²⁴ And Abraham said, I shall swear (I swear).

²⁵ And he blamed Abimelech for the well of water, which his servants took away by violence. (But then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well of water, which his servants had taken away from him by force.)

²⁶ And Abimelech answered, I wist not who did this thing, but also thou showedest not to me, and I heard not (of it) except today. (And Abimelech answered, I do not know who did this thing, and thou hast not told me about it, and I have not heard about it until today.)

²⁷ And so Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave to Abimelech, and both smote together a bond of peace. (And Abraham took some sheep and oxen, and gave them to Abimelech, and they made a covenant together.)

²⁸ And (then) Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock asides half.

²⁹ And Abimelech said to him, What will these seven ewe lambs (mean) to themselves, which thou madest stand asides half? (And Abimelech said to him, What mean ye with these seven ewe lambs, which thou hast made to stand aside?)

³⁰ And he said, Thou shalt take of mine hand seven ewe lambs, that those be into witnessing to me, for I digged this well. (And he said, Take thou these seven ewe lambs from me, and by accepting them, thou agreeth that I have dug this well.)

³¹ Therefore that place was called Beersheba, (that is, The Well of the Oath^[b],) for ever either swore there;

³² and they made bond of peace for the well of an oath. Forsooth Abimelech rose, and Phicol, the prince of his chivalry, and they turned again into the land of Palestines. (and so they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech, and Phicol, the ruler of his cavalry, arose, and they returned to the land of the Philistines.)

³³ Soothly Abraham planted a wood in Beersheba, and inwardly called there (on) the name of [the] everlasting God;

³⁴ and he was an earth-tiller, or a comeling, of the land of Palestines in many days. (and as a newcomer, he worked the soil in the land of the Philistines, for many days.)