Genesis 19

The two messengers came to Sodom at sunset, as Lot was sitting at Sodom’s gate.
When Lot saw them, he rose up to greet them and bowed his head low to the ground, saying, “Wait!
Now I pray you, my lords, turn aside to the house of your servant, and there spend the night,
Wash your feet, and then you can wake early to go on your way.” They said, “No, that’s alright.
We will spend the night out in the streets of the square.” But Lot urged them strongly, so instead
They turned his way and came into his house where he made for them a feast and baked flatbread,
And they ate. They had not yet lain down, when the townsfolk, the men of Sodom, young and old,
All the people from even the outskirts of town, they encircled the house, feeling bold.
They called out to Lot and said to him, “Where are the two men that came to you on this night?
Bring them out to us, we want to know them more intimately!” Lot was stuck in this plight.
He went out to them, to the entrance, shut the door behind him and he said to the band,
“Pray you, brothers, do not be so wicked. I have two daughters who have not known a man,
Pray let me bring them out to you, and you may deal with them however you think is best,
But to these men do nothing because they’ve come under the shelter of my roof as guests.”
But they said, “Step aside!” And said, “This fellow came to sojourn here, and now wants to judge?
Now we’ll do worse things to you than them!” And they pressed hard against Lot. (a serious nudge.)
They stepped closer to break down the door, but the messengers reached out a hand and grabbed Lot,
They pulled him into the house with them and then shut the door. And the men outside were caught
By a dazzling light from the messengers, blinding all men at the door, great and small,
So that all of the men at the entrance were unable to locate the door at all.

Then the messengers said to Lot, “Whom else do you have here? A son-in-law, sons, or daughters?
Anyone whom you have in the city, bring them out of this place, for we shall bring slaughter!
We’re about to bring ruin upon the whole city, how great is their cry before God!
God has sent us to bring it to ruin.” And so Lot went out and spoke to his inlaws.
To his sons-in-law, those who had taken his daughters in marriage, he said, “Up! Get out!
Quick, get out of this place, for God will bring ruin on the city!” But they heard with doubt.
They thought that Lot was joking, it seemed to his son-in-laws that he was like one who jests.
When the dawn came, the messengers urged Lot on, saying, “Up! Take your wife and daughters, lest
You end up swept away in the city’s iniquity.” When he lagged, they grabbed his hand,
And his wife’s hand, and also the hands of his two daughters- for the Lord’s pity was grand,
And they brought him out and left him outside the city. Then one said, “Escape, for your life!
Do not look behind you, don’t stand still on the Plain, but just flee to the hills with your wife.
Otherwise you will be swept away.” But Lot said to one of them, “No, pray, my good lord,
Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have been gracious to have me aboard,
You have saved my life, but I can’t flee to the hills, lest the wickedness cling to me, killing
me.
Now pray, that town is near enough for one to flee to– such a small place– I’d live there willingly,
So my life could be saved.” He replied, “Very well, I will grant you this favor also,
By not overturning this town which you have mentioned. Now move quickly, escape there, go!
For I am unable to do anything until you have arrived in the town, safe.”
Therefore the name of the town was called Zoar (which can be translated as “a small place”).

As the sun rose up over the earth and Lot entered Zoar, the Lord rained from the sky
On Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone, causing all in those cities to die.
And He overturned all of the plain. In those cities all life, man and plant, met a halt.
Now Lot’s wife while escaping looked back behind him, and turned into a pillar of salt.
Abraham left early in the morning to where he had stood in the presence of God,
He looked down on the face of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all of the Plain, and was awed.
For he saw the dense smoke of the land rising up like the dense smoke that comes from a furnace.
So it was, when God brought ruin to the plain’s cities, he kept Abraham in mind, earnest,
And for his sake, God sent Lot from the overturning, away from the midst of destruction
When He overturned all of the cities where Lot had lived before the two men’s instructions.

Lot went up from Zoar and settled in the hills, his two daughters with him to be saved,
For he was afraid to live down in Zoar, therefore all three of them lived in a cave.
The firstborn daughter said to the younger one, “Our father is old, and there is no man
To come in to us, or to know us and consort with us in the way of all the land.
Come, let us make our father drink wine, and lie down with him, so that we may bear offspring.”
So that night they made their father drink wine, then the firstborn went in and lay down with him.
Now the father knew nothing of her laying down, or her rising up. So the next day,
The firstborn daughter said to the younger daughter, “Look, last night with our father I lay.
Let us have him drink wine tonight too, then you go in and lie with him, he’ll never know.
That way our seed will be kept alive.” So that night, they made their father drink wine also.
Then the younger one went and lay down with him, but once again Lot was well ignorant
Of her lying down and rising. So by their father, Lot’s two daughters became pregnant.
The firstborn had a son Moab (meaning “by father”), who fathered today’s Moabites,
And the younger one’s son Ben-Ammi (“son of my kinspeople”) fathered the Ammonites.