Through My Bible Yr 03 – March 10
Through My Bible Yr 03 – March 10
Genesis 19
The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
1 The two angels came to Sodom at evening. Lot, who was sitting in the gatehouse of Sodom, saw them and got up to meet them. He bowed down with his face to the ground, 2Ā and he said, āSee now, my lords, please turn aside into your servantās house and spend the night. Wash your feet, and you can get up early and go on your way.ā
They said, āNo, we will spend the night in the street.ā
3Ā But he kept urging them, so they came with him and entered his house. He made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. 4Ā But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from all parts of town. 5Ā They called to Lot and said to him, āWhere are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may be intimate with them.ā [1]
6Ā Lot went out to them and shut the door behind him. 7Ā He said, āPlease, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. 8Ā See now, I have two daughters who have not had relations with a man. Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them whatever seems good to you. Only do not do anything to these men, because they have come under the protection [2] of my roof.ā
9Ā They said, āGet out of our way!ā They also said, āThis fellow came to live here as an alien, and now he appoints himself as a judge. Now we will treat you worse than them!ā They kept pushing Lot back and were ready to break down the door. 10Ā But the men inside reached out and grabbed Lot and pulled him into the house with them and shut the door. 11Ā They struck the men who were pressing against the door of the house, both young and old, with blindness so that they wore themselves out trying to find the door.
12Ā The men said to Lot, āDo you have anyone else here? Sons-in-law, your sons, your daughters, whoever you have in the city, get them out of this place, 13Ā for we are going to destroy this place, because the outcry against it has grown great before the Lord, so the Lord has sent us to destroy it.ā
14Ā So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to his daughters in marriage. He said, āGet up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is going to destroy the city.ā But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.
15Ā When the dawn came, the angels urged Lot, āGet going! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, so that you will not be swept away by the guilt of the city.ā 16Ā But Lot was taking too much time, so the men grabbed his hand, his wifeās hand, and the hands of his two daughters, because of the Lordās compassion for him. They led him out and placed him outside of the city. 17Ā Then when they had taken them out, one of them said, āRun for your life! Donāt look behind you, and donāt stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, so that you are not swept away!ā
18Ā Lot said to them, āOh no, my lord. [3] 19Ā See now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great mercy by saving my life. I cannot flee to the mountains, or this disaster will stick with me, and I will die. 20Ā Look, this city is close enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Please let me flee thereāisnāt it just a little one?āso that my life will be saved.ā
21Ā The man said to him, āVery well, I have granted your request concerning this thing, so I will not overthrow the city that you have spoken about. 22Ā Hurry, flee there, because I cannot do anything until you get there.ā So the city was named Zoar. [4]
23Ā The sun had risen over the land when Lot came to Zoar. 24Ā Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire out of the sky from the Lord. 25Ā He overthrew those cities, as well as all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and whatever grew in the soil.
26Ā But Lotās wife, who was behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
27Ā Abraham got up early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 28Ā He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain. As he looked, he saw that the smoke from the land was going up like the smoke from a kiln.
29Ā And so when God destroyed the cities of the plain, God remembered Abraham and brought Lot out through the middle of the devastation, when he overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.
Lot and His Daughters
30Ā Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the mountains, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. His two daughters were with him. He lived in a cave with his two daughters. 31Ā The firstborn said to the younger, āOur father is old, and there is not a man in the land to come to us as normally takes place everywhere on earth. 32Ā Come on, letās get our father to drink wine, and we will lie down with him, that we may preserve our fatherās seed.ā [5] 33Ā They got their father to drink wine that night, and the firstborn went and lay down with her father. He did not know it when she lay down or when she got up.
34Ā Then the next day the firstborn said to the younger, āLook, last night I lay down with my father. Let us get him to drink wine again tonight. You go and lie down with him, so that we may preserve our fatherās seed.ā 35Ā They got their father to drink wine that night also. Then the younger went and lay with him. He did not know it when she lay down or when she got up. 36Ā In this way both of Lotās daughters became pregnant by their father.
37Ā The firstborn gave birth to a son and named him Moab. [6] He is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38Ā The younger also gave birth to a son and called his name Ben Ammi. [7] He is the father of the people of Ammon to this day.
Footnotes
- Genesis 19:5 Literally that we may know them. Shocking as the crime is, the text places a euphemism into the mouths of the perpetrators. The next verses make their intentions clear.
- Genesis 19:8 Literally the shadow
- Genesis 19:18 The Hebrew has this written as Adonai, the divine name Lord or an emphatic plural my lords. The Greek Old Testament has the singular my lord.
- Genesis 19:22 Zoar means little.
- Genesis 19:32 Seed here refers to semen and to the offspring that result from it.
- Genesis 19:37 In Hebrew Moab sounds like from the father.
- Genesis 19:38 Ben Ammi means son of my people.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage VersionĀ®, EHVĀ®, Ā© 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

