(Judges 19:1–30)
1
And the two Angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting at the gate of the city. And when he had seen them, he rose up and went to meet them. And he reverenced prone on the ground.
2
And he said: “I beg you, my lords, turn aside to the house of your servant, and lodge there. Wash your feet, and in the morning you will advance on your way.” And they said, “Not at all. But we will lodge in the street.”
3
He pressed them very much to turn aside to him. And when they had entered his house, he made a feast for them, and he cooked unleavened bread, and they ate.(a)
4
But before they went to bed, the men of the city surrounded the house, from boys to old men, all the people together.
5
And they called out to Lot, and they said to him: “Where are the men who entered to you in the night? Bring them out here, so that we may know them.”
6
Lot went out to them, and blocking the door behind him, he said:
7
“Do not, I ask you, my brothers, do not be willing to commit this evil.
8
I have two daughters who as yet have not known man. I will bring them out to you; abuse them as it pleases you, provided that you do no evil to these men, because they have entered under the shadow of my roof.”(b)
9
But they said, “Move away from there.” And again: “You have entered,” they said, “as a stranger; should you then judge? Therefore, we will afflict you yourself more than them.” And they acted very violently against Lot. And they were now at the point of breaking open the doors.
10
And behold, the men put out their hand, and they pulled Lot in to them, and they closed the door.
11
And they struck those who were outside with blindness, from the least to the greatest, so that they were not able to find the door.
Lot Flees to Zoar
12
Then they said to Lot: “Do you have here anyone of yours? All who are yours, sons-in-law, or sons, or daughters, bring them out of this city.
13
For we will eliminate this place, because the outcry among them has increased before the Lord, who sent us to destroy them.”(c)
14
And so Lot, going out, spoke to his sons-in-law, who were going to receive his daughters, and he said: “Rise up. Depart from this place. For the Lord will destroy this city.” And it seemed to them that he was speaking playfully.
15
And when it was morning, the Angels compelled him, saying, “Arise, take your wife, and the two daughters that you have, lest you also should perish amid the wickedness of the city.”
16
And, since he ignored them, they took his hand, and the hand of his wife, as well as that of his two daughters, because the Lord was sparing him.
17
And they brought him out, and placed him beyond the city. And there they spoke to him, saying: “Save your life. Do not look back. Neither should you stay in the entire surrounding region. But save yourself in the mountain, lest you also should perish.”
18
And Lot said to them: “I beg you, my lord,
19
though your servant has found grace before you, and you have magnified your mercy, which you have shown to me in saving my life, I cannot be saved on the mountain, lest perhaps some misfortune take hold of me and I die.
20
There is a certain city nearby, to which I can flee; it is a little one, and I will be saved in it. Is it not a modest one, and will not my soul live?”
21
And he said to him: “Behold, even now, I have heard your petitions about this, not to overturn the city on behalf of which you have spoken.
22
Hurry and be saved there. For I cannot do anything until you enter there.” For this reason, the name of that city is called Zoar.(d)
23
The sun had risen over the land, and Lot had entered into Zoar.
The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
(Luke 17:20–37)
24
Therefore, the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah sulphur and fire, from the Lord, out of heaven.
25
And he overturned these cities, and all the surrounding region: all the inhabitants of the cities, and everything that springs from the land.
26
And his wife, looking behind herself, was turned into a statue of salt.(e)
27
Then Abraham, rising up in the morning, in the place where he had stood before with the Lord,
28
looked out toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and the entire land of that region. And he saw embers rising up from the land like smoke from a furnace.
29
For when God overthrew the cities of that region, remembering Abraham, he freed Lot from the overthrow of the cities, in which he had dwelt.
Lot and His Daughters
30
And Lot ascended from Zoar, and he stayed on the mountain, and likewise his two daughters with him, (for he was afraid to stay in Zoar) and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters with him.
31
And the elder said to the younger: “Our father is old, and no man remains in the land who can enter to us according to the custom of the whole world.
32
Come, let us inebriate him with wine, and let us sleep with him, so that we may be able to preserve offspring from our father.”
33
And so they gave their father wine to drink that night. And the elder went in, and she slept with her father. But he did not perceive it, neither when his daughter lay down, nor when she rose up.
34
Likewise, the next day, the elder said to the younger: “Behold, yesterday I slept with my father, let us give him wine to drink yet again this night, and you will sleep with him, so that we may save offspring from our father.”
35
And then they gave their father wine to drink that night also, and the younger daughter went in, and slept with him. And not even then did he perceive when she lay down, or when she rose up.
36
Therefore, the two daughters of Lot conceived by their father.
37
And the elder gave birth to a son, and she called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites, even to the present day.
38
Likewise, the younger gave birth to a son, and she called his name Ammon, that is, ‘the son of my people.’ He is the father of the Ammonites, even today.
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