Genesis 19:1-29

Good News Translation

The Sinfulness of Sodom

19 When the two angels came to Sodom that evening, Lot was sitting at the city gate. As soon as he saw them, he got up and went to meet them. He bowed down before them ² and said, “Sirs, I am here to serve you. Please come to my house. You can wash your feet and spend the night. In the morning you can get up early and go on your way.”

But they answered, “No, we will spend the night here in the city square.”

³ He kept on urging them, and finally they went with him to his house. Lot ordered his servants to bake some bread and prepare a fine meal for the guests. When it was ready, they ate it.

⁴ Before the guests went to bed, the men of Sodom surrounded the house. All the men of the city, both young and old, were there. ^5 (A)They called out to Lot and asked, “Where are the men who came to stay with you tonight? Bring them out to us!” The men of Sodom wanted to have sex with them.

⁶ Lot went outside and closed the door behind him. ⁷ He said to them, “Friends, I beg you, don't do such a wicked thing! ⁸ Look, I have two daughters who are still virgins. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do whatever you want with them. But don't do anything to these men; they are guests in my house, and I must protect them.”

⁹ But they said, “Get out of our way, you foreigner! Who are you to tell us what to do? Out of our way, or we will treat you worse than them.” They pushed Lot back and moved up to break down the door. ¹⁰ But the two men inside reached out, pulled Lot back into the house, and shut the door. ^11 (B)Then they struck all the men outside with blindness, so that they couldn't find the door.

Lot Leaves Sodom

¹² The two men said to Lot, “If you have anyone else here—sons, daughters, sons-in-law, or any other relatives living in the city—get them out of here, ¹³ because we are going to destroy this place. The Lord has heard the terrible accusations against these people and has sent us to destroy Sodom.”

¹⁴ Then Lot went to the men that his daughters were going to marry, and said, “Hurry up and get out of here; the Lord is going to destroy this place.” But they thought he was joking.

¹⁵ At dawn the angels tried to make Lot hurry. “Quick!” they said. “Take your wife and your two daughters and get out, so that you will not lose your lives when the city is destroyed.” ^16 (C)Lot hesitated. The Lord, however, had pity on him; so the men took him, his wife, and his two daughters by the hand and led them out of the city. ¹⁷ Then one of the angels said, “Run for your lives! Don't look back and don't stop in the valley. Run to the hills, so that you won't be killed.”

¹⁸ But Lot answered, “No, please don't make us do that, sir. ¹⁹ You have done me a great favor and saved my life. But the hills are too far away; the disaster will overtake me, and I will die before I get there. ²⁰ Do you see that little town? It is near enough. Let me go over there—you can see it is just a small place—and I will be safe.”

²¹ He answered, “All right, I agree. I won't destroy that town. ²² Hurry! Run! I can't do anything until you get there.”

Because Lot called it small, the town was named Zoar.^[a]

The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

²³ The sun was rising when Lot reached Zoar. ^24 (D)Suddenly the Lord rained burning sulfur on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah ²⁵ and destroyed them and the whole valley, along with all the people there and everything that grew on the land. ^26 (E)But Lot's wife looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt.

²⁷ Early the next morning Abraham hurried to the place where he had stood in the presence of the Lord. ²⁸ He looked down at Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole valley and saw smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a huge furnace. ²⁹ But when God destroyed the cities of the valley where Lot was living, he kept Abraham in mind and allowed Lot to escape to safety.