Yahweh Destroys Sodom and Gomorrah

19:1-29

19 That evening the two angels arrived at the city of Sodom, while Lot was sitting at the gate of the city. When Lot saw them, he stood up and greeted them and then bowed before them with his face to the ground to show respect. 2 Then he said to them, “Sirs, please listen to this: Please come to my house so that I can serve you and you can lodge for the night there. That way too you can wash the dust off your feet. Then tomorrow morning you can get up early and continue traveling.” But the two angels replied, “Thank you, but we will just stay in the public square tonight.” 3 However Lot continued to urgently invite them until they finally agreed and went with him to his house. Then Lot prepared a big meal for them, including some flat bread, and they sat down and ate the meal.

4 But after supper, before they could lie down to sleep, all the men in the city of Sodom surrounded Lot’s house, including men of all ages. In fact, all the people from every part of the city were there. 5 Then they shouted to Lot, “Where are the two men who came to lodge with you tonight? Bring them outside to us so that we can have relations with them!” 6 But Lot went outside near the doorway to talk to them, and he closed the door of the house behind him. 7 Then he pleaded with them, “I beg you, my friends, do not do such an evil thing! 8 Listen to this please: My two daughters have never had marital relations with a man. Allow me to bring them out to you instead so that you can do with them whatever you want. But do not harm these men, because they are my guests and I am responsible for their safety.” 9 But the men of Sodom shouted at him, “Get out of our way!” Then they complained to each other, “This guy came here as a foreigner, and now he thinks that he can judge us!” Then they shouted at Lot, “We will do worse things to you than we do to your two guests!” Then they started shoving hard against Lot and surged forward to break through the door of his house. 10 But Lot’s two guests opened the door, reached outside and quickly pulled him back into the house with them and closed the door. 11 Then those two men who were angels caused the men who were at the door of the house to be blind, including every last one of them, so that they exhausted themselves groping around trying to find the door.

12 Then the two angels asked Lot, “Do you have any other relatives here in Sodom? If you have sons-in-law or sons or daughters or any other members of your family here, then quickly get them away from this city, 13 because we are about to destroy it. Yahweh has heard that the people of this city are guilty of serious sins, so he has sent us to destroy the city.” 14 So Lot went to his future sons-in-law who were engaged to his daughters, and he warned them, “Hurry up and leave this city, because Yahweh is about to destroy it!” But his sons-in-law thought that he was joking, so they ignored him.

15 Early the next morning, the two angels urged Lot, “Hurry up and take your wife and your two daughters out of the city so that you will not die when God punishes the people of the city.” 16 Lot hesitated, but Yahweh was being merciful to him, so the two men took hold of Lot’s hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and led them out of the city. 17 As soon as the angels had taken them outside the city, one of them said to Lot, “Run away from here as fast as you can! Do not look behind you, and do not delay in the valley for any reason! Go quickly to the hill country, or else you will die!” 18 But Lot replied to them, “I beg you, sirs, do not make us do that. 19 Listen to me please: You have treated me well even though I am unimportant, and you have been very kind to me and saved my life. But I am not able to run all the way to the mountains before the disaster occurs and kills me. 20 So listen to this please: That town up ahead is near enough to run to in time, and it is just a small town. Please let us run there, and do not destroy it. After all, it is very small. Then we can stay alive.” 21 The angel replied to Lot, “Alright, I will allow you to go to the small town that you’re talking about, and I will not destroy it. 22 But hurry up now and run there, because I cannot destroy anything until you get there.” Since Lot said the town was small, the name of the town is Zoar which means “small”.

23 The sun was rising over the land as Lot and his family reached the town of Zoar. 24 Then Yahweh caused fire and burning rocks to fall like heavy rain from the sky on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. 25 In that way, he completely destroyed those two cities and the rest of the valley, including everyone who lived in the cities and all the plants in the area. 26 But Lot’s wife, who was walking behind him, glanced back at the city, and immediately she turned into a statue of solid salt rock.

27 Early that same morning, Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood with Yahweh the previous day. 28 He looked down at the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and all the rest of the valley. There in front of him, he saw that lots of thick smoke was billowing up over the land like smoke from a huge fire. 29 When God destroyed the cities in the valley, he did not forget Abraham or his request. So he saved Lot from the catastrophe that he had sent to completely destroy the cities where Lot had been living.