Lots Escape From A Wicked City

And Abraham went along with them to start them on their way. Jehovah

said, "The complaint has come that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah have

committed great and terrible sins. I will go down and see whether they

have done exactly as the complaint comes to me; and if they have not, I

will know."



Then the men turned from there and looked off in the direction of Sodom.



Then Abraham drew near t Jehovah and said, "Wilt thou sweep away the

righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are within the city fifty

people who are righteous. Wilt thou sweep away and not spare the place

for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from thee to do this:

to slay the righteous with the wicked! And that the righteous should be

treated as the wicked, far be it from thee! Shall not the Judge of all

the earth do what is just?" Jehovah said, "If I find in the city of

Sodom fifty who are righteous, I will spare the whole place for their

sake." Abraham answered, "I have dared to speak to Jehovah, even though

I am but dust and ashes. Suppose there be five lacking of the fifty

righteous. Wilt thou sweep away all the city for lack of five?" Jehovah

said, "I will not sweep it away, if I find forty-five there."



Then Abraham spoke to him again, and said, "Suppose forty are found

there?" He replied, "For the sake of forty I will not do it." Then

Abraham said, "Oh, let not Jehovah be angry, but let me speak. Suppose

thirty are found there?" He answered, "I will not do it, if I find

thirty there." Then Abraham said, "Thou seest that I have dared to speak

to Jehovah. Suppose twenty are found there?" He replied, "For the sake

of twenty I will not destroy it." Then Abraham said, "Oh, let not

Jehovah be angry, but let me speak just once more. Suppose ten are found

there?" And he said, "For the sake of the ten I will not destroy it."

Then Jehovah went his way, and Abraham returned home.



Two angels in human form came to Sodom in the evening, as Lot was

sitting at the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose up to meet

them, and he bowed with his face to the earth and said, "Sirs, turn

aside, I beg of you, into your servant's house and spend the night and

wash your feet; then you can rise up early and go on your way." They

said, "No, we will spend the night in the street." But he urged them so

strongly that they went with him and entered his house. And he made a

feast for them and baked bread made without yeast, and they ate.



But before they had lain down, the people of Sodom, both young and old,

all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. And they called

out to Lot, "Where are the men who came in to you to-night? Bring them

out to us that we may do to them what we desire."



Then Lot went out to them at the entrance of his house, but he shut the

door after him. And he said, "I beg of you, my friends, do not do what

is wrong. Do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shadow

of my roof." But they replied, "Stand back, or we will treat you worse

than them." And they pressed hard against Lot and advanced to break the

door. But the men reached out and drew Lot to them into the house and

shut the door. Then they smote the men who were at the door of the

house, both small and great, with blindness, so that they grew tired of

searching for the door.



Then the men said to Lot, "Have you any one else here? Bring your

sons-in-law, your sons, and daughters, and whoever you have in the city

out of this place, for we are about to destroy it, because great

complaint concerning the people has come to Jehovah and he has sent us

to destroy it." So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, "Up, go out

of this place, for Jehovah will destroy the city." But his sons-in-law

thought he was only jesting.



When the dawn appeared, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Get up, take your

wife and your two daughters that you may not be swept away in the

punishment of the city." When he hesitated, the men took him by the hand

and led him and his wife and his two daughters outside the city, for

Jehovah was merciful to him.



When they had brought them outside, they said, "Run for your life; do

not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the

heights, that you may not be swept away!" But Lot said to them, "Oh,

sirs, not so! See, your servant has found favor with you, and you have

shown great mercy to me in saving my life. I cannot escape to the

heights, lest some evil overtake me, and I die. See now, this village is

near enough to run to, and it is small. Oh, let me escape there, and my

life will be saved." Jehovah said to him, "I have also granted you this

favor, in that I will not destroy the village of which you have spoken.

Make haste, escape to it, for I can do nothing until you arrive there."



The sun had risen when Lot came to Zoar. Then Jehovah caused brimstone

and fire from heaven to rain upon Sodom and Gomorrah, and he destroyed

those cities and all the plain, with all the people who lived in it and

all that grew on the ground. But Lot's wife, who was following him,

looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.



Early in the morning Abraham rose and went to the place where he had

stood before Jehovah; and as he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah and

all the plain, he saw the smoke of the land going up as the smoke of a

smelting-furnace.