²And when he had lifted up his eyes, there appeared to him three men standing near to him: and as soon as he saw them, he ran to meet them from the door of his tent, and adored down to the ground.

³And he said: Lord, if I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away from thy servant.

⁴But I will fetch a little water, and wash ye your feet, and rest ye under the tree.

⁵And I will set a morsel of bread, and strengthen ye your heart, afterwards you shall pass on: for therefore are you come aside to your servant. And they said: Do as thou hast spoken.

⁶Abraham made haste into the tent to Sara, and said to her: Make haste, temper together three measures of flour, and make cakes upon the hearth.

⁷And he himself ran to the herd, and took from thence a calf, very tender and very good, and gave it to a young man, who made haste and boiled it.

⁸He took also butter and milk, and the calf which he had boiled, and set before them: but he stood by them under the tree.

⁹And when they had eaten, they said to him: Where is Sara thy wife? He answered: Lo she is in the tent.

¹⁰And he said to him: I will return and come to thee at this time, life accompanying, and Sara, thy wife, shall have a son. Which when Sara heard, she laughed behind the door of the tent.

¹¹Now they were both old, and far advanced in years, and it had ceased to be with Sara after the manner of women.

¹²And she laughed secretly, saying: After I am grown old, and my lord is an old man, shall I give myself to pleasure?

¹³And the Lord said to Abraham: Why did Sara laugh, saying: Shall I, who am an old woman, bear a child indeed?

¹⁴Is there any thing hard to God? According to appointment I will return to thee at this same time, life accompanying, and Sara shall have a son.

¹⁵Sara denied, saying: I did not laugh: for she was afraid. But the Lord said: Nay; but thou didst laugh.

¹⁶And when the men rose up from thence, they turned their eyes towards Sodom: and Abraham walked with them, bringing them on the way.

¹⁷And the Lord said: Can I hide from Abraham what I am about to do:

¹⁸Seeing he shall become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth shall be blessed?

¹⁹For I know that he will command his children, and his household after him, to keep the way of the Lord, and do judgment and justice: that for Abraham’s sake, the Lord may bring to effect all the things he hath spoken unto him.

²⁰And the Lord said: The cry of Sodom and Gomorrha is multiplied, and their sin is become exceedingly grievous.

²¹I will go down and see whether they have done according to the cry that is come to me; or whether it be not so, that I may know.

²²And they turned themselves from thence, and went their way to Sodom: but Abraham as yet stood before the Lord.

²³And drawing nigh, he said: Wilt thou destroy the just with the wicked?

²⁴If there be fifty just men in the city, shall they perish withal? and wilt thou not spare that place for the sake of the fifty just, if they be therein?

²⁵Far be it from thee to do this thing, and to slay the just with the wicked, and for the just to be in like case as the wicked; this is not beseeming thee: thou who judgest all the earth, wilt not make this judgment.

²⁶And the Lord said to him: If I find in Sodom fifty just within the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.

²⁷And Abraham answered, and said: Seeing I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord, whereas I am dust and ashes.

²⁸What if there be five less than fifty just persons? wilt thou for five and forty destroy the whole city: And he said: I will not destroy it, if I find five and forty.

²⁹And again he said to him: But if forty be found there, what wilt thou do? He said: I will not destroy it for the sake of forty.

³⁰Lord, saith he, be not angry, I beseech thee, if I speak: What if thirty shall be found there? He answered: I will not do it, if I find thirty there.

³¹Seeing, saith he, I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord: What if twenty be found there? He said: I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty.

³²I beseech thee, saith he, be not angry, Lord, if I speak yet once more: What if ten shall be found there? And he said: I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.

³³And the Lord departed, after he had left speaking to Abraham: and Abraham returned to his place.

Chapter 19

And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of the city. And seeing them, he rose up and went to meet them: and worshipped prostrate to the ground.

²And said: I beseech you, my lords, turn in to the house of your servant, and lodge there: wash your feet, and in the morning you shall go on your way. And they said: No, but we will abide in the street.

³He pressed them very much to turn in unto him: and when they were come into his house, he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate:

⁴But before they went to bed, the men of the city beset the house, both young and old, all the people together.

⁵And they called Lot, and said to him: Where are the men that came in to thee at night? bring them out hither, that we may know them:

⁶Lot went out to them, and shut the door after him, and said:

⁷Do not so, I beseech you, my brethren, do not commit this evil.

⁸I have two daughters who, as yet, have not known man; I will bring them out to you, and abuse you them as it shall please you, so that you do no evil to these men, because they are come in under the shadow of my roof.

⁹But they said: Get thee back thither. And again: Thou camest in, said they, as a stranger, was it to be a judge? therefore we will afflict thee more than them. And they pressed very violently upon Lot: and they were even at the point of breaking open the doors.

¹⁰And behold the men put out their hand, and drew in Lot unto them, and shut the door.

¹¹And them, that were without, they struck with blindness from the least to the greatest, so that they could not find the door.

¹²And they said to Lot: Hast thou here any of thine? son in law, or sons, or daughters, all that are thine bring them out of this city:

¹³For we will destroy this place, because their cry is grown loud before the Lord, who hath sent us to destroy them.

¹⁴So Lot went out, and spoke to his sons in law that were to have his daughters, and said: Arise: get you out of this place, because the Lord will destroy this city. And he seemed to them to speak as it were in jest.

¹⁵And when it was morning, the angels pressed him, saying: Arise, take thy wife, and the two daughters that thou hast: lest thou also perish in the wickedness of the city.

¹⁶And as he lingered, they took his hand, and the hand of his wife, and of his two daughters, because the Lord spared him.

¹⁷And they brought him forth, and set him without the city: and there they spoke to him, saying: Save thy life: look not back, neither stay thou in all the country about: but save thy self in the mountain, lest thou be also consumed.

¹⁸And Lot said to them: I beseech thee, my Lord,

¹⁹Because thy servant hath found grace before thee, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewn to me, in saving my life, and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil seize me, and I die.

²⁰There is this city here at hand, to which I may flee, it is a little one, and I shall be saved in it: is it not a little one, and my soul shall live?

²¹And he said to him: Behold also in this, I have heard thy prayers, not to destroy the city for which thou hast spoken.

²²Make haste, and be saved there: because I cannot do any thing till thou go in thither. Therefore the name of that city was called Segor.

²³The sun was risen upon the earth, and Lot entered into Segor.

²⁴And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven.

²⁵And he destroyed these cities, and all the country about, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the earth.

²⁶And his wife looking behind her, was turned into a statue of salt.

²⁷And Abraham got up early in the morning, and in the place where he had stood before with the Lord:

²⁸He looked towards Sodom and Gomorrha, and the whole land of that country: and he saw the ashes rise up from the earth as the smoke of a furnace.

²⁹Now when God destroyed the cities of that country, remembering Abraham, he delivered Lot out of the destruction of the cities wherein he had dwelt.

³⁰And Lot went up out of Segor, and abode in the mountain, and his two daughters with him (for he was afraid to stay in Segor) and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters with him.

³¹And the elder said to the younger: Our father is old, and there is no man left on the earth, to come in unto us after the manner of the whole earth.

³²Come, let us make him drunk with wine, and let us lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

³³And they made their father drink wine that night: and the elder went in, and lay with her father: but he perceived not, neither when his daughter lay down, nor when she rose up.

³⁴And the next day the elder said to the younger: Behold I lay last night with my father, let us make him drink wine also tonight, and thou shalt lie with him, that we may save seed of our father.

³⁵They made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in, and lay with him: and neither then did he perceive when she lay down, nor when she rose up.

³⁶So the two daughters of Lot were with child by their father.

³⁷And the elder bore a son, and she called his name Moab: he is the father of the Moabites unto this day.

³⁸The younger also bore a son, and she called his name Ammon; that is, the son of my people: he is the father of the Ammonites unto this day.

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