Genesis 19:14 | New International Reader’s Version

New International Reader’s Version

The Lord destroys Sodom and Gomorrah

1 The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening. Lot was sitting near the gate of the city. When Lot saw the angels, he got up to greet them. He bowed down with his face to the ground. 2 ‘My lords’, he said, ‘please come to my house. You can wash your feet and spend the night there. Then you can go on your way early in the morning.’ ‘No’, they answered. ‘We’ll spend the night in the town square.’ 3 But Lot wouldn’t give up. So they went with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them. He baked bread without using yeast. And they ate. 4 Before Lot and his guests had gone to bed, all the men came from every part of the city of Sodom. Young and old men alike surrounded the house. 5 They called out to Lot. They said, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us. We want to have sex with them.’ 6 Lot went outside to meet them. He shut the door behind him. 7 He said, ‘No, my friends. Don’t do such an evil thing. 8 Look, I have two daughters that no man has ever slept with. I’ll bring them out to you now. Then do to them what you want to. But don’t do anything to these men. I’ve brought them inside so they can be safe.’ 9 ‘Get out of our way!’ the men of Sodom replied to Lot. ‘You came here as an outsider. Now you want to act like a judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.’ They kept trying to force Lot to open the door. Then they moved forward to break it down. 10 But the angels inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. 11 Then they made the men who were at the door of the house blind. They blinded both young and old men so that they couldn’t find the door. 12 The two angels said to Lot, ‘Do you have any other family members here? Do you have sons-in-law, sons, daughters or any other relatives in the city? Get them out of here! 13 We are going to destroy this place. Many have cried out to the LORD against the people of this city. So he has sent us to destroy it.’ 14 Then Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law. They had promised to marry his daughters. He said, ‘Hurry up! Get out of this place! The LORD is about to destroy the city!’ But his sons-in-law thought he was joking. 15 The sun was coming up. So the angels tried to get Lot to leave. They said, ‘Hurry up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here. Get out! If you don’t, you will be swept away when the city is destroyed.’ 16 Lot didn’t move right away. So the men grabbed him by the hand. They also took hold of the hands of his wife and two daughters. They led all of them safely out of the city. The LORD had mercy on them. 17 As soon as the angels had brought them out, one of them spoke. He said, ‘Run for your lives! Don’t look back! Don’t stop anywhere in the valley! Run to the mountains! If you don’t, you will be swept away!’ 18 But Lot said to them, ‘No, my lords! Please! 19 You have done me a big favour. You have been very kind to me by sparing my life. But I can’t run to the mountains. I won’t be able to escape this horrible thing that’s going to happen. And then I’ll die. 20 Look, here’s a town near enough to run to. It’s small. Let me run to it. It’s very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.’ 21 The LORD said to Lot, ‘All right. I will also give you what you are asking for. I will not destroy the town you are talking about. 22 But run there quickly. I can’t do anything until you reach it.’ The town was named Zoar. Zoar means Small. 23 By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. 24 Then the LORD sent down burning sulphur. It came down like rain on Sodom and Gomorrah. It came from the LORD. It came out of the sky. 25 The LORD destroyed these cities and the whole valley. All the people who were living in the cities were wiped out. So were the plants in the land. 26 But Lot’s wife looked back. When she did, she became a pillar made out of salt. 27 Early the next morning Abraham got up. He returned to the place where he had stood in front of the LORD. 28 He looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole valley. He saw thick smoke rising from the land. It looked like smoke from a furnace. 29 So when God destroyed the cities of the valley, he showed concern for Abraham. He brought Lot out safely when he destroyed the cities where Lot had lived.

Lot and his daughters

30 Lot and his two daughters left Zoar. They went to live in the mountains because Lot was afraid to stay in Zoar. So he and his daughters lived in a cave. 31 One day the elder daughter spoke to the younger one. She said, ‘Our father is old. People all over the earth have men to marry and have children with. We do not. 32 So let’s get our father to drink wine. Then we can sleep with him. We can use our father to continue our family line.’ 33 That night they got their father to drink wine. Then the elder daughter went in and slept with him. He wasn’t aware when she lay down or when she got up. 34 The next day the elder daughter spoke to the younger one again. She said, ‘Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight. Then you go in and sleep with him. We can use our father to continue our family line.’ 35 So they got their father to drink wine that night also. Then the younger daughter slept with him. Again he wasn’t aware when she lay down or when she got up. 36 So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. 37 The elder daughter had a son. She named him Moab. He’s the father of the Moabites of today. 38 The younger daughter also had a son. She named him Ben-Ammi. He’s the father of the Ammonites of today.

English Standard Version

God Rescues Lot

1 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth (Ge 18:22) 2 and said, “My lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the town square.” (Ge 18:4; Jud 4:18; Lu 24:28; Heb 13:2)

Ge 18:4Jud 4:18Lu 24:28Heb 13:2

3 But he pressed them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. 4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. 5 And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.” (Ge 13:13; Jud 19:22; Isa 3:9; Ro 1:24; Ro 1:27; Jud 1:7)

Ge 13:13Jud 19:22Isa 3:9Ro 1:24Ro 1:27Jud 1:7

6 Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him, 7 and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. 8 Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” (Jud 19:24) 9 But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down. (Ge 13:12; Ex 2:14) 10 But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. 11 And they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door. (2Ki 6:18; Ac 13:11) 12 Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place. (2Pe 2:7; 2Pe 2:9; Re 18:4) 13 For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” (Ge 18:20) 14 So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting. (Nu 16:21; Nu 16:26; Nu 16:45; Jer 51:6)

Nu 16:21Nu 16:26Nu 16:45Jer 51:6

15 As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” 16 But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. (Ps 34:22) 17 And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.” (Ge 13:10; Ge 19:26; Mt 24:16) 18 And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords. 19 Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. 20 Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!” 21 He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. 22 Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.^[1] (Ge 14:2)

God Destroys Sodom

23 The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. 24 Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. (De 29:23; Jer 20:16; Jer 50:40; La 4:6; Am 4:11; Zep 2:9; Lu 17:29; 2Pe 2:6)

De 29:23Jer 20:16Jer 50:40La 4:6Am 4:11Zep 2:9Lu 17:292Pe 2:6

25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. 26 But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. (Lu 17:32) 27 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. (Ge 18:22) 28 And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace. 29 So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived. (Ge 8:1)

Lot and His Daughters

30 Now Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters. (Ge 19:17; Ge 19:19) 31 And the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth. 32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” 33 So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father. He did not know when she lay down or when she arose. 34 The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight also. Then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” 35 So they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. 36 Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. 37 The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab.^[2] He is the father of the Moabites to this day. (De 2:9) 38 The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi.^[3] He is the father of the Ammonites to this day. (De 2:19)