Yahweh Appears to Abraham

18 Then ^(A)Yahweh appeared to him by the ^[a](B)oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. ² And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three ^(C)men were standing nearby; he saw, and he ran from the tent door to meet them, and he bowed himself to the earth, ³ and he said, “^[b]My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not ^[c]pass Your servant by. ⁴ Please let a little water be brought and ^(D)wash your feet, and ^[d]rest yourselves under the tree; ⁵ and let me ^[e](E)bring a piece of bread, that you may ^[f]refresh your hearts; after that you may pass on, since in such a manner you have passed by your servant.” And they said, “So you shall do, as you have said.” ⁶ So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, “^[g]Hurry, prepare ^[h]three seahs of fine flour, knead it, and make bread cakes.” ⁷ Abraham also ran to the herd and took a tender and ^[i]choice calf and gave it to his young man, and he hurried to prepare it. ⁸ Then he took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and placed it before them; and he was standing by them under the tree, and they ate.

⁹ Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” ¹⁰ And He said, “^(F)I will surely return to you ^[j]at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door which was behind him. ¹¹ Now ^(G)Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was ^(H)past ^[k]childbearing. ¹² And Sarah laughed ^[l]to herself, saying, “^(I)After I am worn out, shall I have pleasure, my ^(J)lord being old also?” ¹³ And Yahweh said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I indeed ^[m]bear a son, when I am so old?’ ^14 (K)Is anything too ^[n]difficult for Yahweh? At the ^(L)appointed time I will return to you, ^[o]at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” ¹⁵ Then Sarah denied it however, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

Yahweh and Abraham Speak About Sodom

¹⁶ Then ^(M)the men rose up from there and looked down toward Sodom; and Abraham was walking with them to send them off. ^17 (N)Now Yahweh said, “Shall I conceal from Abraham ^(O)what I am about to do, ¹⁸ since Abraham will surely become a great and ^[p]mighty nation, and in him ^(P)all the nations of the earth will be blessed? ¹⁹ For I have ^[q](Q)known him, so that he may ^(R)command his children and his household after him, ^(S)that they keep the way of Yahweh to do righteousness and justice, so that Yahweh may bring upon Abraham ^(T)what He has spoken about him.” ²⁰ So Yahweh said, “^(U)The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. ²¹ I will ^(V)go down now and see whether they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”

²² Then ^(W)the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before ^(X)Yahweh. ²³ Then Abraham came near and said, “^(Y)Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴ Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not ^[r]spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? ²⁵ Far be it from You to do ^[s]such a thing, to put to death the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not ^(Z)the Judge of all the earth do justice?” ²⁶ So Yahweh said, “^(AA)If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will ^[t]spare the whole place on their account.” ²⁷ And Abraham answered and said, “Now behold, I have ^[u]ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but ^(AB)dust and ashes. ²⁸ Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the whole city because of five?” And He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” ²⁹ Then he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose forty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it on account of the forty.” ³⁰ Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” ³¹ And he said, “Now behold, I have ^[v]ventured to speak to the Lord; suppose twenty are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the twenty.” ³² Then he said, “^(AC)Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the ten.” ³³ And as soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham, ^(AD)Yahweh departed, and Abraham returned to his place.

Yahweh Destroys Sodom and Gomorrah

19 Then the ^(A)two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. ^(B)Lot saw them and rose to meet them and ^[a]bowed down with his ^[b]face to the ground. ² And he said, “Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” They said however, “No, but we shall spend the night in the square.” ³ Yet he pressed them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; ^(C)and he made a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. ⁴ Before they lay down, ^(D)the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, from young to old, all the people ^[c]from every quarter; ⁵ and they called to Lot and said to him, “^(E)Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may ^[d]know them.” ⁶ But Lot went out to them at the doorway and shut the door behind him, ⁷ and said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. ⁸ Now behold, ^(F)I have two daughters who have not known a man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them what is good in your eyes; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the ^[e]shelter of my roof.” ⁹ But they said, “Step aside.” Furthermore, they said, “This one came to sojourn, and already ^(G)he is persistently acting like a judge; now we will treat you more wickedly than them.” So they pressed hard against ^[f]Lot and stepped up to break the door. ¹⁰ But ^(H)the men reached out their ^[g]hands and brought Lot into the house ^[h]with them and shut the door. ^11 (I)And they ^[i]struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, from small to great, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway.

¹² Then the two men said to Lot, “Whom else have you here? A son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and everyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place; ¹³ for we are about to destroy this place because ^(J)their outcry has become great before Yahweh, so ^(K)Yahweh has sent us to destroy it.” ¹⁴ And Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who ^[j]were to marry his daughters, and said, “Get up, ^(L)get out of this place, for Yahweh will destroy the city.” ^(M)But he appeared to his sons-in-law ^[k]to be jesting.

¹⁵ Now at the ^[l]breaking of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the ^[m]punishment of the city.” ¹⁶ But he hesitated. So the men ^(N)seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the ^[n]hands of his two daughters, for ^(O)the compassion of Yahweh was upon him; and they brought him out and put him outside the city. ¹⁷ Now it happened, as they brought them outside, ^[o]one said, “^(P)Escape for your life! ^(Q)Do not look behind you, and do not stay ^[p]anywhere in the ^(R)valley; escape to ^(S)the ^[q]mountains, lest you be swept away.” ¹⁸ But Lot said to them, “Oh no, my lords! ¹⁹ Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your lovingkindness, which you have shown me by preserving my life; but I cannot escape to the ^[r]mountains, lest calamity overtake me and I die; ²⁰ now behold, this town is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please, let me escape there (is it not small?) ^[s]that my life may be preserved.” ²¹ And he said to him, “Behold, I grant you this ^[t]request also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. ²² Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called ^[u](T)Zoar.

²³ The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. ²⁴ And Yahweh ^(U)rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yahweh out of heaven, ²⁵ and ^(V)He overthrew those cities, and all the ^[v]valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. ²⁶ Then his wife, from behind him, ^(W)looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷ Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to ^(X)the place where he had stood before Yahweh; ²⁸ and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the ^[w]valley, and he saw, and behold, ^(Y)the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a ^[x]furnace.

²⁹ Thus it happened, when God destroyed the cities of the ^[y]valley, that ^(Z)God remembered Abraham and ^(AA)sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.

Lot and His Daughters

³⁰ And Lot went up from Zoar and ^[z](AB)stayed in the ^[aa]mountains, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to ^[ab]stay in Zoar; and he ^[ac]stayed in a cave, he and his two daughters. ³¹ Then the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man ^[ad]on earth to ^(AC)come in to us after the manner of the earth. ³² Come, ^(AD)let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him that we may preserve our seed through our father.” ³³ So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. ³⁴ Now it happened on the following day, that the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine tonight also; and you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve our seed through our father.” ³⁵ So they made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger arose and lay with him; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. ³⁶ Thus both the daughters of Lot conceived by their father. ³⁷ And the firstborn bore a son and called his name ^(AE)Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸ As for the younger, she also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi; he is the father of the ^[ae]sons of ^(AF)Ammon to this day.