1 In the evening, the two angels {malakhim: heavenly messengers} arrived at Sodom. Lot was seated at the gate of Sodom; when he noticed them, he stood to greet them and bowed down, his face {appayim: full prostration posture} toward the ground.
2 He said, “Please, my lords {adonai: courteous address}, turn aside to your servant’s house, stay the night, and wash your feet {ragleichem: guest refreshment custom}. Then you may rise early in the morning and go on your way.” But they replied, “No; we will stay the night in the public square.”
3 But he urged them strongly, and they turned aside to him and came into his house. He made a feast {mishteh: special meal} for them, baked unleavened bread {matsot: bread without yeast}, and they ate.
4 Before they lay down, the men of the city—the men of Sodom—gathered around the house, from the youngest {minnaar: youth stage} to the oldest, all the people from every quarter {mikatseh: outer limits}.
5 They called to Lot {Lot: host in Sodom} and asked, “Where are the men who came to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may know {yada: have intimate relations} them.”
6 Lot went out to them at the entrance {petach: threshold area}, and he shut the door behind him {acharav: following his own movement}.
7 He said, “No, please, my brothers {akhai: family allies}; do not commit wicked acts {tareu: malicious wrongdoing}.”
8 Behold, please, I have two daughters who have not known a man {ish: sexual relations}. Let me, please, bring them out to you, and you may do to them as is good in your eyes {be'eineikhem: personal assessment}. Only, do not do anything to these men, because for this reason they have come under the shadow of my roof.
9 But they said, “Move aside {gesh: step away}!” And they said, “This one came here to sojourn {lagur: temporary resident}, and now he will surely judge! Now we will harm you more than them.” They pressed hard against the man—against Lot—and drew near to break the door.
10 But the men {anashim: angelic rescuers} reached out their hand, pulled Lot {Lot: protected guest} back inside to themselves, and shut the door.
11 And they struck the men at the entrance of the house with blindness, from the least {mikaton: smallest or youngest} to the greatest, so that they wore themselves out trying to find the entrance {petakh: main doorway}.
12 Then the men {anashim: angelic messengers} said to Lot, “Do you still have anyone here—your son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and anyone who belongs to you in the city? Bring them out {hotse: actively rescue} of this place.”
13 For we are destroying this place, because their outcry {tsaakah: urgent justice-cry} has become great before the presence of the LORD {YHWH, Holy Judge}; therefore the LORD has sent us to destroy it.
14 And Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, those who had taken {lokchei: pledged to marry} his daughters, and said, “Get up, go out from this place, because the LORD {YHWH, Impending Judge} is about to destroy the city.” But to his sons-in-law he seemed like one joking.
15 As the dawn was rising, the angels {malakhim: heavenly messengers} urged Lot, saying, “Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are found here, lest you be swept away in the punishment {avon: corporate wickedness} of the city.”
16 As he hesitated, the men seized his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters in the compassion {chemlah: merciful rescue} of the LORD {YHWH, Powerful Deliverer} toward him. Then they brought him out and set him down outside the city.
17 And it came to pass, as he brought them outside, he said, “Escape for your life {nefesh: essential being}! Do not look behind you, and do not stop anywhere in the plain {kikkar: valley region}. Escape to the mountain, lest you be destroyed.”
18 Lot said to them, “No, my lords {adonai: honored superiors}, please {al-na: urgent appeal}!”
19 Behold, please, your servant has found favor {khen: gracious acceptance} in your eyes, and you have magnified your kindness {khesed: steadfast mercy} that you have done with me to preserve my life; but I am not able to escape to the mountain, lest the evil overtake me and I die.
20 See now, this city {ha’ir: specific nearby refuge} lies close for flight, and it is small. Please let me escape there—surely it is but a small place?—so that my soul {nafshi: vulnerable life} may live.
21 And He said to him, “Behold, I have shown favor {nasati: granted favor} to you also concerning this matter {davar: particular request}, so that I will not overthrow the city which you have spoken of.”
22 Swiftly flee there, for I cannot do anything {davar: any act} until you arrive. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar {Tso'ar: very small}.
23 The sun had risen over the land when Lot {Lot: Abraham’s relative} came into Zoar {tsoarah: small nearby town}.
24 Then the LORD {YHWH, Holy Judge} caused brimstone {gofrit: burning sulfur} and fire to rain upon Sodom and Gomorrah, from the LORD out of the heavens.
25 So He {YHWH, Supreme Judge} overturned those cities, all the plain {kikkar: fertile valley}, all the inhabitants of the cities, and the vegetation of the ground.
26 But his wife {ishah: covenant spouse} looked back from behind him, and she became a column of salt {melach: judgment salt}.
27 Abraham rose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood in the presence {p'nei: immediate nearness} of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Witness}.
28 And he looked out over the surface {penei: visible expanse} of Sodom and Gomorrah and over all the surface of the land of the plain, and he saw—and behold—smoke {kitor: dense vapor} was rising from the land like the smoke of a furnace.
29 It happened that when God {Elohim, Righteous Judge} destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham and sent Lot out from the midst of the overthrow {hahafekhah: catastrophic destruction} of the cities in which Lot had dwelt.
30 Lot went up from Zoar and settled in the mountain, and his two daughters were with him; for he was afraid {yare: felt intense terror} to dwell in Zoar, so he lived in the cave {mearah: secluded shelter}, he and his two daughters.
31 Then the older {bekhira: firstborn daughter} said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man in the land to come to us according to the custom {derekh: social manner} of all the earth.”
32 Come, let us give our father {avinu: household patriarch} wine to drink and lie with him so that we may preserve offspring {zera: family line} from our father.
33 So they made their father drink {vatashkena: induced to drink} wine that night. Then the elder daughter came in and lay with {shakhav: sexual relations} her father. He did not know when she lay down or when she got up.
34 And it happened on the next day that the older {habekhira: firstborn daughter} said to the younger, “Behold, I lay with my father last night. Let us make him drink wine also tonight, and you go in and lie with him, and we will preserve offspring {zera: generational line} from our father.”
35 So they likewise gave their father wine to drink that night, and the younger {hatse’irah: second-born daughter} got up and lay with him; yet he was not aware {yada‘: be aware} when she lay down or when she got up.
36 Then the two daughters of Lot became pregnant {harah: conceive offspring} by their father {av: household leader}.
37 And the firstborn {bechirah: eldest daughter} bore a son and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites {avi-Moav: national founder} to this day.
38 And the younger {hatsirah: second-born daughter} also gave birth to a son, and she called his name Ben-Ammi. He is the father of the sons of Ammon {venei-ammon: enduring Ammonite clan} to this day.