Lot’s Visitors

19 That evening the two angels came to the city of Sodom. Lot was sitting near the city gates and saw the angels. {Lot thought they were men traveling through town.} Lot got up and went to them and bowed down on the ground. ²Lot said, “Sirs, please come to my house, and I will serve you. There you can wash your feet and stay the night. Then tomorrow you can continue your journey.” The angels answered, “No, we will stay the night in the square.*” ³But Lot continued to ask them to come to his house. So the angels agreed to go to Lot’s house. They went to Lot’s house. Lot gave them something to drink. Lot cooked some bread for the angels, and they ate it. ⁴That evening, just before bedtime, men from every part of town came to Lot’s house. The men from Sodom stood around the house and called to Lot. They said, ⁵“Where are the two men (angels) that came to you tonight? Bring them out to us. We want to have sex with them.” ⁶Lot went outside, and closed the door behind him. ⁷Lot said to the men, “No! Friends, I beg you, please don’t do this evil thing! ⁸Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man before. I will give my daughters to you. You can do anything you want with them. But please don’t do anything to these men. These men have come to my house, and I must protect them.* ⁹The men surrounding the house answered, “Then, you come here!” The men said to themselves, “This man Lot came to our city as a visitor. Now he wants to tell us how we should live!” Then the men said to Lot, “We will do worse things to you than to them.” So the men started moving closer and closer to Lot. They were about to break down the door. ¹⁰But the two men staying with Lot opened the door, pulled Lot back inside the house, and closed the door. ¹¹Then they did something to the men outside the door—they caused all those evil men, young and old, to become blind. So the men trying to get in the house could not find the door. The Escape From Sodom ¹²The two men said to Lot, “Are there any other people from your family living in this city? Do you have any sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or any other people from your family here? If so, then you should tell them to leave now. ¹³We are going to destroy this city. The Lord heard how evil this city is, so he sent us to destroy it.” ¹⁴So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, the men who had married his {other} daughters. Lot said, “Hurry and leave this city! The Lord will soon destroy it!” But those men thought Lot was joking. ¹⁵The next morning at dawn, the angels were trying to make Lot hurry. They said, “This city will be punished. So take your wife and your two daughters who are still with you and leave this place. Then you will not be destroyed with the city.” ¹⁶But Lot was confused {and did not hurry to leave}. So the two men (angels) held the hands of Lot and his wife and his two daughters. The two men led Lot and his family out of the city safely. The Lord was kind to Lot and his family. ¹⁷So the two men brought Lot and his family out of the city. After they were out, one of the men said, “Now run to save your life! Don’t look back at the city. And don’t stop any place in the valley. Run until you are in the mountains. If you stop, then you will be destroyed with the city!” ¹⁸But Lot said to the two men, “Sirs, please don’t force me to run so far! ¹⁹You have been very kind to me, your servant. You have been very kind to save me. But I can’t run all the way to the mountains. What if I am too slow and something happens? I will be killed! ²⁰Look, there is a very small town near here. Let me run to that town. I can run to that town and be safe.” ²¹The angel said to Lot, “Fine. I’ll let you do that. I won’t destroy that town. ²²But run there fast. I can’t destroy Sodom until you are safely in that town.” (That town is named Zoar,* because it is a small town.) Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed ²³Lot was entering Zoar just as the sun was coming up. ²⁴At the same time, the Lord began to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. The Lord caused fire and burning sulfur to fall out of the sky from the Lord. ²⁵So the Lord destroyed those cities. The Lord destroyed the whole valley—all the plants and all the people living in the cities. ²⁶While they were running away, Lot’s wife looked back at the city and became a block of salt. ²⁷Early that same morning, Abraham got up and went to the place where he stood before the Lord. ²⁸Abraham looked down toward the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham looked at all the land in the valley. Abraham saw much smoke rising from the land. It looked like smoke from a very big fire. ²⁹God destroyed the cities in the valley. But when God did this, he remembered Abraham {and did not destroy Abraham’s nephew}. Lot had been living among the cities in the valley. But God sent Lot away from there before he destroyed those cities.

Lot and His Daughters

³⁰Lot was afraid to stay in Zoar. So he and his two daughters went to live in the mountains. They lived in a cave there. ³¹One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Everywhere on the earth, men and women marry {and have a family}. But our father is old and there are no men around here to give us children. ³²So let’s get our father drunk with wine. Then we can have sexual relations with him. That way we can use our father to keep our family alive!” ³³That night the two girls went to their father and got him drunk with wine. Then the older daughter went into her father’s bed and had sexual relations with him. Lot {was so drunk} that he did not even know when she came to bed or when she got up. ³⁴The next day, the older daughter said to the younger daughter, “Last night I went to bed with my father. Let’s get him drunk with wine again tonight. Then you can go into his bed and have sex with him. In this way we can use our father to have children and our family will not come to an end.” ³⁵So that night the two girls got their father drunk with wine. Then the younger daughter went into his bed and had sexual relations with him. Again, Lot {was so drunk} that he did not know when she came to bed or when she got up. ³⁶Both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant. Their father was the father of their babies. ³⁷The older daughter gave birth to a son. She named him Moab.* Moab is the father of all the Moabite people living today. ³⁸The younger daughter also gave birth to a son. She named him Ben-Ammi.* Ben-Ammi is the father of all the Ammonite people living today.

square An open area in a city near the city gates. Travelers often camped there when they came to town. I must protect them If a person invited a traveler to stay with him, then he was also promising to protect the traveler. So Lot was trying to protect these men, even if it meant that he might lose his own daughters. Zoar This name means “small.” Moab In Hebrew, this name sounds like “From father.” Ben-Ammi In Hebrew, this name sounds like “Son of my father” or “Son of my people.”

Abraham Goes to Gerar

20 Abraham left that place and traveled to the Negev.* Abraham settled in the city of Gerar, between Kadesh and Shur. While in Gerar, ²Abraham told people that Sarah was his sister. Abimelech, king of Gerar, heard this. Abimelech wanted Sarah, so he sent some servants to take her. ³But one night, God spoke to Abimelech in a dream. God said, “You will die. That woman you took is married.” ⁴But Abimelech had not yet slept with Sarah. So Abimelech said, “Lord, I am not guilty. Would you kill an innocent person? ⁵Abraham himself told me, ‘This woman is my sister.’ And the woman also said, ‘This man is my brother.’ I am innocent. I did not know what I was doing.” ⁶Then God said to Abimelech in a dream, “Yes, I know that you are innocent. And I know that you did not know what you were doing. I saved you. I did not allow you to sin against me. I was the One who did not allow you to sleep with her. ⁷So give Abraham his wife again. Abraham is a prophet.* He will pray for you, and you will live. But if you do not give Sarah back to Abraham, then I promise that you will die. And all your family will die with you.” ⁸So very early the next morning, Abimelech called all his servants and told them about the dream. The servants were scared. ⁹Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “Why have you done this to us? What wrong did I do against you? Why did you lie and say that she was your sister? You brought much trouble to my kingdom. You should not have done these things to me. ¹⁰What were you afraid of? Why did you do these things to me?” ¹¹Then Abraham said, “{I was afraid.} I thought no one in this place respected God. I thought someone would kill me to get Sarah. ¹²She is my wife, but she is also my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother. ¹³God led me away from my father’s house. God led me to wander to many different places. When that happened, I told Sarah, ‘Do something for me; wherever we go, tell people you are my sister.’” ¹⁴{Then Abimelech understood what had happened.} So Abimelech gave Sarah back to Abraham. Abimelech also gave Abraham some sheep, cattle, and slaves. ¹⁵And Abimelech said, “Look all around you. This is my land. You may live any place you want.” ¹⁶Abimelech said to Sarah, “I gave your brother Abraham 1,000 pieces of silver. I did this to show that I am sorry for all these things. I want everyone to see that I did the right thing.” ^17–18The Lord made all the women in Abimelech’s family not able to have children. God did this because Abimelech had taken Sarah, Abraham’s wife. But Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his servant girls.

Negev The desert area in the southern part of Judah. prophet A person God called to speak for him.