Genesis 18:16–19:28

Yahweh and Abraham Speak About Sodom

¹⁶Then ^athe men rose up from there and looked down toward Sodom; and Abraham was walking with them to send them off.

^17aNow Yahweh said, “Shall I conceal from Abraham ^bwhat I am about to do,

¹⁸since Abraham will surely become a great and ¹mighty nation, and in him ^aall the nations of the earth will be blessed?

¹⁹“For I have ^1aknown him, so that he may ^bcommand his children and his household after him, ^cthat they keep the way of Yahweh to do righteousness and justice, so that Yahweh may bring upon Abraham ^dwhat He has spoken about him.”

²⁰So Yahweh said, “^aThe outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave.

²¹“I will ^ago down now and see whether they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”

²²Then ^athe men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before ^bYahweh.

²³Then Abraham came near and said, “^aWill You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

²⁴“Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not ¹spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it?

²⁵“Far be it from You to do ¹such a thing, to put to death the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not ^athe Judge of all the earth do justice?”

²⁶So Yahweh said, “^aIf I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will ¹spare the whole place on their account.”

²⁷And Abraham answered and said, “Now behold, I have ¹ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but ^adust and ashes.

²⁸“Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the whole city because of five?” And He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”

²⁹Then he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose forty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it on account of the forty.”

³⁰Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

³¹And he said, “Now behold, I have ¹ventured to speak to the Lord; suppose twenty are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the twenty.”

³²Then he said, “^aOh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the ten.”

³³And as soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham, ^aYahweh departed, and Abraham returned to his place.

CHAPTER 19

Yahweh Destroys Sodom and Gomorrah

¹Then the ^atwo angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. ^bLot saw them and rose to meet them and ¹bowed down with his ²face to the ground.

²And 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.”

³Yet he pressed them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; ^aand he made a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

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

⁵and 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 ¹know them.”

⁶But Lot went out to them at the doorway and shut the door behind him,

⁷and said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly.

⁸“Now behold, ^aI have two daughters who have not known a man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them what is good in your eyes; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the ¹shelter of my roof.”

⁹But they said, “Step aside.” Furthermore, they said, “This one came to sojourn, and already ^ahe is persistently acting like a judge; now we will treat you more wickedly than them.” So they pressed hard against ¹Lot and stepped up to break the door.

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

^11aAnd they ¹struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, from small to great, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway.

¹²Then the two men said to Lot, “Whom else have you here? A son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and everyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place;

¹³for we are about to destroy this place because ^atheir outcry has become great before Yahweh, so ^bYahweh has sent us to destroy it.”

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

¹⁵Now at the ¹breaking of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the ²punishment of the city.”

¹⁶But 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 Yahweh was upon him; and they brought him out and put him outside the city.

¹⁷Now it happened, as they 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, lest you be swept away.”

¹⁸But 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 preserving my life; but I cannot escape to the ¹mountains, lest calamity overtake me and I die;

²⁰now 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 preserved.”

²¹And he said to him, “Behold, I grant you this ¹request also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.

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

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

²⁴And Yahweh ^arained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yahweh out of heaven,

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

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

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

²⁸and 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 went up like the smoke of a ²furnace.