19:1 The two angels came¹ to Sodom in the evening, while Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom.² When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them and he bowed down with his face to the ground.

19:2 And he said, “Here, my Lords, please turn aside to the house of your servant. Stay the night³ and wash your feet, and then you can be on your way early in the morning.”⁴

But they said, “No, but we will spend the night in the street.”⁵

19:3 But he urged⁶ them persistently, so they turned aside with him and entered his house. And he prepared a feast for them, baking bread without yeast; and they ate. 19:4 Before they could lie down,⁷ all the men from every part of the city of Sodom⁸ both young and old, from every part of the city surrounded the house. 19:5 And they called out to Lot, and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex⁹ with them.”

19:6 And Lot went outside to them and shut the door behind him. 19:7 And he said, “No, my brothers. Do not do so wickedly. 19:8 Look, I have two daughters who have not had sex with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them what is pleasing in your sight. Only do not do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection¹⁰ of my roof.”¹¹

19:9 But they said, “Get back!¹² This one came to live here as a foreigner¹³ and now he tries to judge us.¹⁴ We will now do more harm¹⁵ to you than to them.” And they kept¹⁶ pressing in on Lot until¹⁷ they drew near to break down the door.

19:10 So the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into them into the house, and shut the door. 19:11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, from the youngest to the oldest,¹⁸ so that they wore themselves out trying to find¹⁹ the door. 19:12 And the men said to Lot, “Who else do you have here²⁰—sons-in-law, or sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city? Get them out of this²¹ place, 19:13 because we are going to destroy²² this place, because the outcry about it²³ is so great before the LORD that the LORD has sent us to destroy it.

19:14 Then Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were about to marry his daughters;²⁴ and he said, “Hurry, get out of this place, because the LORD is going to destroy²⁵ the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law like a mocker.²⁶

19:15 At dawn²⁷ the angels hurried Lot, saying, “Get up, your wife and your two daughters who are here,²⁸ lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.”²⁹ 19:16 When he lingered, the men grabbed his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters—the LORD having compassion on them³⁰—and led them away and set them outside the city. 19:17 And when they had brought them outside, they said, “Flee³¹ for your lives; do not look³² behind you; do not stop anywhere in the region; flee to the mountains lest you be swept away.”

19:18 But Lot said to them, “No, please, Lord.³³ 19:19 Your³⁴ servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have acted with great³⁵ kindness³⁶ to me in sparing³⁷ my life; but I am not able to flee to the mountains, lest this disaster³⁸ overtake³⁹ me and I die.⁴⁰ 19:20 Look, this city is near to flee to, and it’s just a little one. Let me flee there—it is just a little place. Then I⁴¹ will live.”

19:21 And he said, “Very well, I will grant this request also,⁴² so that I will not overthrow⁴³ the city of which you speak. 19:22 Flee quickly⁴⁴ there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive⁴⁵ there. That is why the town was called Zoar.⁴⁶

19:23 The sun rose⁴⁷ over the land when Lot entered Zoar.⁴⁸ 19:24 Then the LORD rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire⁴⁹ from the LORD from the heavens.⁵⁰ 19:25 So he overthrew those cities, and all the region,⁵¹ and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew⁵² from the ground. 19:26 But Lot’s⁵³ wife looked back intently⁵⁴ and she became a pillar of salt.

19:27 And Abraham got up early in the morning and went⁵⁵ to the place where he had stood before the LORD. 19:28 And he looked toward⁵⁶ Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of that region, and he looked, and the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.⁵⁷

19:29 So when God destroyed⁵⁸ the cities of the region, God remembered⁵⁹ Abraham and took Lot out from the midst of the destruction when he destroyed the cities in which Lot had lived.

19:30 Lot⁶⁰ went up from Zoar with his two daughters and settled in the mountain, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave, he and his two daughters. 19:31 Later⁶¹ his firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man in the earth to go in to us, according to the way of all the world. 19:32 Come, let’s make our father drink wine so that we may lie⁶² with him to preserve⁶³ the family⁶⁴ from our father.”

19:33 So that night they made their father drink wine, and the firstborn came and lay with her father; and he did not know when she lay down or when she got up. 19:34 Then in the morning the firstborn said to the younger, “Since I lay with my father last night, let’s make him drink wine also tonight, and then you go and lie with him, to preserve the family from our father.” 19:35 So they made their father drink wine that night as well, and the younger arose and lay with him; and he did not know when she lay down and when she got up.

19:36 So the two daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. 19:37 And the firstborn gave birth to a son, and she called his name Moab;⁶⁵ he is the father of the Moabites of today. 19:38 And as for the younger, she also gave birth to a son, and called his name Ben-Ammi;⁶⁶ he is the father of the Ammonites of today.