Genesis 18–19

Yahweh Appears to Abraham as a Man

18And Yahweh appeared to him^a by the oaks of Mamre. And he was sitting in the doorway of the tent at the heat of the day. ²And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, three men were standing near^b him. And he saw them and ran from the doorway of the tent to meet them. And he bowed down to the ground. ³And he said, “My lord, if I have found favor in your eyes do not pass by your servant. ⁴Let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and rest under the tree. ⁵And let me bring a piece of bread, then^c refresh yourselves.^d Afterward you can pass on, once^e you have passed by with your servant.” Then they said, “Do so as you have said.” ⁶Then^f Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and he said, “Quickly—make three seahs of fine flour for kneading and make bread cakes!” ⁷And Abraham ran to the cattle and took a calf,^g tender and good, and gave it to the servant, and he made haste to prepare it. ⁸Then he took curds and milk, and the calf which he prepared, and set it before them. And he was standing by them under the tree while^h they ate. ⁹And they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “Here, in the tent.” ¹⁰And heⁱ said, “I will certainly return to you in the spring,^j and look, Sarah your wife will have a son.” Now Sarah was listening at the doorway of the tent, and which was behind him. ¹¹Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age;^k the way of women^l had ceased to be for Sarah. ¹²So^m Sarah laughed to herself saying, “After I am worn out and my husband is old, shall this pleasure be to me?” ¹³Then Yahweh said to Abraham, “What is this that Sarah laughed, saying, ‘Is it indeed true that I will bear a child, now that I have grown old?’ ¹⁴Is anything too difficult for Yahweh? At the appointed time I will return to you in the springⁿ and Sarah shall have a son.” ¹⁵But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” because she was afraid. He^o said, “No, but you did laugh.”

¹⁶Then the men set out from there, and they looked down upon Sodom. And Abraham went with them to send them on their way.^{p 17}Then Yahweh said, “Shall I conceal from Abraham what I am going to do? ¹⁸Abraham will surely become a great and strong nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed on account of him. ¹⁹For I have chosen^q him, that he will command his children and his household after him that they will keep the way of Yahweh, to do righteousness and justice, so that Yahweh may bring upon Abraham that which he said to him.” ²⁰Then Yahweh said, “Because the outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sin is very serious,^{r 21}I will go down and I will see. Have they done altogether according to its cry of distress which has come to me? If not, I will know.”

Abraham Intercedes for Sodom

²²And the men turned from there and went toward Sodom. And Abraham was still standing before Yahweh. ²³And Abraham drew near to Yahweh and said, “Will you also sweep away the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴If perhaps there are fifty righteous in the midst of the city, will you also sweep them away and not forgive the place on account of the fifty righteous in her midst? ²⁵Far be it from you to do such a thing as this, to kill the righteous with the wicked, that^s the righteous would be as the wicked! Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do justice?” ²⁶And Yahweh said, “If I find fifty righteous in Sodom, in the midst of the city, then I will forgive the whole place for their sake.” ²⁷Then Abraham answered and said, “Look, please, I was bold to speak to my Lord, but I am dust and ashes. ²⁸Perhaps the fifty righteous are lacking five—will you destroy the whole city on account of the five?” And he answered, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” ²⁹And once again he spoke^t to him and said, “What if^u forty are found there?” And he answered, “I will not do it on account of the forty.” ³⁰And he said, “Please, let not my Lord be angry, and I will speak. What if^v thirty be found there?” And he answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” ³¹And he said, “Please, now, I was bold to speak to my Lord. What if^w twenty be found there?” And he answered, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty.” ³²And he said, “Please, let not my Lord be angry, and I will speak only once more. What if^x ten are found there?” And he answered, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.” ³³Then Yahweh left,^y as he finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

The Rescue of Lot from Sodom

19And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening. And Lot was sitting in the gateway of Sodom. Then Lot saw them and stood up to meet them. And he bowed down with his face to the ground. ²And he said, “Behold, my lords, please turn aside into the house of your servant and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you can rise early and go on your way.” And they said, “No, but we will spend the night in the square.” ³But he urged them strongly,^a and they turned aside with him and came into his house. And he made a meal for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. ⁴Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man,^b surrounded the house. ⁵And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we may know^c them.” ⁶But Lot went out to them at the entrance, and he shut the door behind him. ⁷And he said, “No, my brothers, please do not do such a wrong thing. ⁸Behold, I have two daughters who have not known^d a man. Please, let me bring them out to you; then do to them as it seems good in your eyes. Only to these men do not do this thing, since they came under my roof^e for protection.” ⁹But they said, “Step aside!” Then they said, “This fellow^f came to dwell as a foreigner and he acts as a judge! Now we shall do worse to you than them!” And they pressed very hard against the man, against Lot, and they drew near to break the door. ¹⁰Then the men reached out with their hands and brought Lot in to them, into the house, and they shut the door. ¹¹And the men who were at the entrance of the house they struck with blindness, both small and great, and they were unable to find the entrance. ¹²Then the men said to Lot, “Who is here with you? Bring out from the place your sons-in-law, and your sons and your daughters, and all who are with you in the city. ¹³For we are about to destroy this place, because their cry has become great before Yahweh. Yahweh sent us to destroy it.” ¹⁴Then Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were taking^g his daughters and said, “Get up! Go out from this place, because Yahweh is going to destroy the city!” But it seemed like a joke^h in the eyes of his sons-in-law. ¹⁵And as the dawn came up the angels urged Lot saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are staying with you,ⁱ lest you be destroyed with the punishment of the city.” ¹⁶But when he lingered, the men seized him by his hand and his wife’s hand, and his two daughters by hand, on account of the mercy of Yahweh upon him. And they brought him out and set him outside of the city. ¹⁷And after bringing them outside one said, “Flee for your life; do not look behind you, and do not stand anywhere in the plain. Flee to the mountains lest you be destroyed.” ¹⁸And Lot said to them, “No, please, my lords. ¹⁹Behold, your servant has found favor in your eyes and you have shown me great kindness^j in saving my life. But I cannot flee to the mountains, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. ²⁰Behold, this city is near enough to flee there, and it is a little one. Please, let me flee there. Is it not a little one? Then my life shall be saved.” ²¹And he said to him, “Behold, I will grant this favor as well;^k that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. ²²Escape there quickly, for I cannot do this thing until you get there.” Therefore, the name of the city was called Zoar.

The Destruction of Sodom

²³After the sun had risen^l upon the earth and Lot had entered Zoar, ²⁴Yahweh rained down from heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yahweh. ²⁵And he overthrew those cities and the whole plain, and the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation of the ground. ²⁶But his^m wife looked back,ⁿ and she became a pillar of salt. ²⁷And Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before Yahweh. ²⁸And he looked down upon the surface of Sodom and Gomorrah, and upon the whole surface of the land, the plain. And he saw that,^o behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a smelting furnace. ²⁹So it was, when God destroyed the cities of the plain that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out from the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.

Lot and His Daughters

³⁰And Lot went out from Zoar and settled in the hill country^p with his two daughters, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. So he lived in a cave, he and his two daughters. ³¹And the firstborn daughter said to the younger one, “Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to come in to us according to the manner of all the land. ³²Come, let us give our father wine to drink and let us lie with him^q that we may secure descendants through our father.”^{r 33}And they gave their father wine to drink that night, and the firstborn went and lay with her father, but he did not know when she lay down or when she got up. ³⁴And it happened that, the next day the firstborn said to the younger one, “Look, I laid with my father last night. Let us give him wine to drink also tonight, then go and lie with him that we may secure descendants through our father.”^{s 35}And they gave their father wine to drink again that night, and the younger got up and lay with him, but he did not know when she lay down or when she got up. ³⁶And the two daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. ³⁷…