Genesis 19:17 T 19
26 The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will
spare the whole place for t heir sake.”
27 Then Abraham spoke up a
gain: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak
to the Lord, t hough I am nothing but dust and ashes, 28 what if the number
of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack
of five people?”
“If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”
29 Once again he spoke to him, “What if only forty are found there?”
He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”
30 Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me s peak. What if only
thirty can be found there?”
He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
31 Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what
if only twenty can be found there?”
He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”
32 Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once
more. What if only ten can be found there?”
He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”
33 When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abra
ham returned home.
Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed
19
The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in
the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and
bowed down with his face to the g
round. 2 “My l ords,” he said, “please turn
aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and
then go on your way early in the morning.”
“No,” they answered, “we will s pend the night in the square.”
3 But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his
house. He prepared a meal for them, baking b
read without yeast, and they
ate. 4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of
Sodom — both young and old — surrounded the house. 5 They called to Lot,
“Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that
we can have sex with them.”
6 Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him 7 and said,
“No, my friends. D
on’t do this wicked thing. 8 Look, I have two daughters who
have never s lept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do
what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have
come under the protection of my roof.”
9 “Get out of our way,” they replied. “This fellow came here as a foreigner,
and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They
kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.
10 But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the h
ouse and
shut the door. 11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house,
young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.
12 The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here — sons-in-law,
sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out
of here, 13 because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord
against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.”
14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry a
his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is
about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.
15 With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your
wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when
the city is punished.”
16 When he hesitated, the men g
rasped his hand and the hands of his wife
and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was
merciful to them. 17 As soon as they had b
rought them out, one of them said,
a 14 Or
were married to