Chapter 19

The Doom of Sodom

1 Now the atwo angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When bLot saw them, he rose to meet them and 1bowed down with his 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 urged them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; aand he prepared a feast for them, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

4 Before they lay down, athe men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people 1from every quarter;

5 and they called to Lot and said to him, “aWhere are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may 1have relations with 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, aI have two daughters who have not 1had relations with man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them 2whatever you like; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the 3shelter of my roof.”

9 But they said, “Stand aside.” Furthermore, they said, “This one came in 1as an alien, and already ahe is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them.” So they pressed hard against 2Lot and came near to break the door.

10 But athe men reached out their 1hands and brought Lot into the house 2with them, and shut the door.

11 aThey 1struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and 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 whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place;

13 for we are about to destroy this place, because atheir outcry has become so great before the Lord that bthe Lord has sent us to destroy it.”

14 Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who 1were to marry his daughters, and said, “Up, aget out of this place, for the Lord will destroy the city.” bBut he appeared to his sons-in-law 2to be jesting.

15 When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the 1punishment of the city.”

16 But he hesitated. So the men aseized his hand and the hand of his wife and the 1hands of his two daughters, for bthe compassion of the Lord was upon him; and they brought him out, and put him outside the city.

17 When they had brought them outside, 1one said, “aEscape for your life! bDo not look behind you, and do not stay 2anywhere in the cvalley; escape to dthe 3mountains, or you will 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 saving my life; but I cannot escape to the 1mountains, for the disaster will overtake me and I will 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?) 1that my life may be saved.”

21 He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this 1request also, not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken.

22 “Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the town was called 1aZoar.

23 The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar.

24 Then the Lord arained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven,

25 and aHe overthrew those cities, and all the 1valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.

26 But his wife, from behind him, alooked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

27 Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to athe place where he had stood before the Lord;

28 and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the 1valley, and he saw, and behold, athe smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a 2furnace.

29 Thus it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the 1valley, that aGod remembered Abraham, and bsent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.

Lot Is Debased

30 Lot went up from Zoar, and 1astayed in the 2mountains, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to 3stay in Zoar; and he 1stayed 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 1on earth to acome in to us after the manner of the earth.

32 “Come, alet us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him that we may preserve 1our family 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 On the following day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine tonight also; then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve 1our family 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 were with child by their father.

37 The firstborn bore a son, and called his name aMoab; 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 1sons of aAmmon to this day.

Chapter 20

Abraham’s Treachery

1 Now Abraham journeyed from athere toward the land of bthe 1Negev, and 2settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he sojourned in cGerar.

2 Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “aShe is my sister.” So bAbimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.

3 aBut God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Behold, byou are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is 1married.”

4 Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, awill You slay a nation, even though 1blameless?

5 “Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she aherself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In bthe integrity of my heart and the innocence of my 1hands I have done this.”

6 Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also 1akept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her.

7 “Now therefore, restore the man’s wife, for ahe is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”

8 So Abimelech arose early in the morning and called all his servants and told all these things in their hearing; and the men were greatly frightened.

9 aThen Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And 1how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom ba great sin? You have done to me 2things that ought not to be done.”

10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What have you 1encountered, that you have done this thing?”

11 Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely there is no afear of God in this place, and bthey will kill me because of my wife.

12 “Besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife;

13 and it came about, when aGod caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is 1the kindness which you will show to me: 2everywhere we go, bsay of me, “He is my brother.” ’ ”

14 aAbimelech then took sheep and oxen and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and restored his wife Sarah to him.

15 Abimelech said, “aBehold, my land is before you; 1settle wherever 2you please.”

16 To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your abrother a thousand pieces of silver; behold, it is 1your vindication before all who are with you, and before all men you are cleared.”

17 aAbraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maids, so that they bore children.

18 aFor the Lord had closed fast all the wombs of the household of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

Chapter 21

Isaac Is Born

1 aThen the Lord took note of Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had 1promised.

2 aSo Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at bthe appointed time of which God had spoken to him.

3 Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, aIsaac.

4 Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was aeight days old, as God had commanded him.

5 Now Abraham was aone hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

6 Sarah said, “God has made alaughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh 1with me.”

7 And she said, “aWho would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

8 The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

Sarah Turns against Hagar

9 Now Sarah saw athe son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, 1bmocking.

10 Therefore she said to Abraham, “aDrive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son 1Isaac.”

11 aThe matter 1distressed Abraham greatly because of his son.

12 But God said to Abraham, “1Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for athrough Isaac 2your descendants shall be named.

13 “And of athe son of the maid I will make a nation also, because he is your 1descendant.”

14 So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a 1skin of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba.

15 When the water in the skin was used up, she 1left the boy under one of the bushes.

16 Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, “Do not let me 1see the boy die.” And she sat opposite him, and alifted up her voice and wept.

17 God aheard the lad crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter with you, Hagar? bDo not fear, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is.

18 “Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him by 1the hand, afor I will make a great nation of him.”

19 Then God aopened her eyes and she saw ba well of water; and she went and filled the 1skin with water and gave the lad a drink.

20 aGod was with the lad, and he grew; and he 1lived in the wilderness and became an archer.

21 aHe 1lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Covenant with Abimelech

22 Now it came about at that time that aAbimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, “bGod is with you in all that you do;

23 now therefore, aswear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my posterity, but according to the kindness that I have shown to you, you shall show to me and to the land in which you have sojourned.”

24 Abraham said, “I swear it.”

25 But Abraham 1complained to Abimelech because of the well of water which the servants of Abimelech ahad seized.

26 And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor did I hear of it 1until today.”

27 Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and athe two of them made a covenant.

28 Then Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.

29 Abimelech said to Abraham, “What do these seven ewe lambs mean, which you have set by themselves?”

30 He said, “You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand so that it may be a awitness to me, that I dug this well.”

31 Therefore he called that place aBeersheba, because there the two of them took an oath.

32 So they made a covenant at Beersheba; and Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, arose and returned to the land of the Philistines.

33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there ahe called on the name of the Lord, the bEverlasting God.

34 And Abraham sojourned ain the land of the Philistines for many days.