1The two angels arrived in Sodom in the evening. Lot was sitting at the city gate. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.
2He said, "Please, my lords, come to your servant's house, spend the night, wash your feet, and then you can get up early and continue your journey." They said, "No, we will spend the night in the street."
3Lot strongly urged them, so they went into his house with him. He prepared a meal for them, baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
4But before they went to bed, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house—both young and old, all the people from every part of the city.
5They called to Lot and asked him, “Where are the men who came to your house tonight? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them.”
6Lot went outside to them, closing the door behind him.
7He said, “Please, my brothers, don’t do such a wicked thing.
8Listen, I have two daughters who are virgins. Please let me bring them out to you, and you can do whatever you want with them. Just don’t do anything to these men, because they are under the protection of my roof.”
9They replied, “Get back!” Then they said, “This one fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he’s trying to be our judge? We’ll treat you worse than them!” They pushed hard against Lot and came close to breaking down the door.
10But the men inside reached out, pulled Lot back into the house with them, and shut the door.
11They struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both young and old, so they wore themselves out trying to find the door.
12The men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here? Your sons-in-law, your sons, your daughters—and anyone else you have in the city—get them out of this place.
13Because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry against them has become so great before Yahweh that Yahweh has sent us to destroy it.”
14Lot went out and spoke to his future sons-in-law, who were engaged to his daughters. He said, “Get up! Get out of this place, for Yahweh is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.
15When morning came, the angels hurried Lot, saying, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city’s sin.”
16But Lot hesitated. So the men, because Yahweh was merciful to him, grabbed his hand, his wife’s hand, and his two daughters’ hands, and led them out, setting them safely outside the city.
17When they had brought them out, he said, “Escape for your life! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the mountains, or you will be destroyed!”
18Lot said to them, “Oh no, my lords, please!
19Look, your servant has found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness by saving my life. I cannot escape to the mountains, or this disaster might overtake me, and I will die.
20Look, this city is close enough to run to, and it is a small one. Please, let me escape there (it really is a small one, isn’t it?), and my life will be spared.”
21He said to him, “Listen, I have granted your request in this matter as well; I will not overthrow the city you spoke about.
22Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you reach it.” That is why the city was named Zoar.
23The sun had just come up when Lot arrived in Zoar.
24Then Yahweh sent down burning sulfur and fire from the sky, raining it on Sodom and Gomorrah.
25He completely destroyed those cities, the entire plain, everyone living in the cities, and all the plants growing on the ground.
26But Lot's wife looked back as she followed him, and she turned into a pillar of salt.
27Abraham got up early the next morning and went to the place where he had stood before Yahweh.
28He looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and across the whole plain. He watched as smoke rose from the land, like smoke from a furnace.
29When God destroyed the cities of the plain, God remembered Abraham and brought Lot out of the destruction of the cities where Lot had lived.
30Lot left Zoar and went to live in the mountains with his two daughters because he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He lived in a cave with his two daughters.
31The older daughter said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there isn't a man anywhere to have children with us, as is the custom everywhere."
32"Come, let's get our father drunk with wine, and then we'll sleep with him so we can have children and keep our father's family line going."
33They made their father drink wine that night. The older daughter went in and lay with her father, and he didn't know when she lay down or when she got up.
34The next day, the older daughter said to the younger, "I slept with my father last night. Let's get him drunk with wine again tonight. Then you go in and sleep with him, so we can have children and keep our father's family line going."
35They also made their father drink wine that night. The younger daughter went and lay with him, and he didn't know when she lay down or when she got up.
36So both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father.
37The older daughter gave birth to a son and named him Moab. He is the ancestor of the Moabites to this day.
38The younger daughter also gave birth to a son and named him Ben Ammi. He is the ancestor of the Ammonites to this day.