15 With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept awayg when the city is punished.h”

16 When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughtersi and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them.j 17 As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives!k Don’t look back,l and don’t stop anywhere in the plain!m Flee to the mountainsn or you will be swept away!”

18 But Lot said to them, “No, my lords,b please! 19 Yourc servant has found favor in yourd eyes,o and youe have shown great kindnessp to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains;q this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. 20 Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it—it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.”

21 He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this requestr too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. 22 But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar.f s)

23 By the time Lot reached Zoar,t the sun had risen over the land.