Genesis 19:4–28

⁴But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. ^5uAnd they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? ^vBring them out to us, that we ^wmay know them.” ⁶Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him, ⁷and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. ^8xBehold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” ⁹But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow ^ycame to sojourn, and ^zhe has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down. ¹⁰But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. ¹¹And they struck with ^ablindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door.

¹²Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, ^bbring them out of the place. ¹³For we are about to destroy this place, ^cbecause the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” ¹⁴So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, ^d“Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.

¹⁵As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” ¹⁶But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, ^ethe Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. ¹⁷And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. ^fDo not look back or stop anywhere in the ^gvalley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.” ¹⁸And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords. ¹⁹Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. ²⁰Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!” ²¹He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. ²²Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called ^hZoar.¹

God Destroys Sodom

²³The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. ²⁴Then ⁱthe Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. ²⁵And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. ²⁶But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became ^ja pillar of salt.

²⁷And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had ^kstood before the Lord. ²⁸And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.