Genesis 19

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 The two angels reached Sodom in the evening, as Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he got up to greet them; and bowing down with his face to the ground,	1 And the two Angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting at the gate of the city. And when he had seen them, he rose up and went to meet them. And he reverenced prone on the ground.
2 he said, "Please, gentlemen, come aside into your servant's house for the night, and bathe your feet; you can get up early to continue your journey." But they replied, "No, we shall pass the night in the town square."	2 And he said: “I beg you, my lords, turn aside to the house of your servant, and lodge there. Wash your feet, and in the morning you will advance on your way.” And they said, “Not at all. But we will lodge in the street.”
3 He urged them so strongly, however, that they turned aside to his place and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking cakes without leaven, and they dined.	3 He pressed them very much to turn aside to him. And when they had entered his house, he made a feast for them, and he cooked unleavened bread, and they ate.
4 Before they went to bed, all the townsmen of Sodom, both young and old--all the people to the last man--closed in on the house.	4 But before they went to bed, the men of the city surrounded the house, from boys to old men, all the people together.
5 They called to Lot and said to him, "Where are the men who came to your house tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have intimacies with them."	5 And they called out to Lot, and they said to him: “Where are the men who entered to you in the night? Bring them out here, so that we may know them.”
6 Lot went out to meet them at the entrance. When he had shut the door behind him,	6 Lot went out to them, and blocking the door behind him, he said:
7 he said, "I beg you, my brothers, not to do this wicked thing.	7 “Do not, I ask you, my brothers, do not be willing to commit this evil.
8 I have two daughters who have never had intercourse with men. Let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you please. But don't do anything to these men, for you know they have come under the shelter of my roof."	8 I have two daughters who as yet have not known man. I will bring them out to you; abuse them as it pleases you, provided that you do no evil to these men, because they have entered under the shadow of my roof.”
9 They replied, "Stand back! This fellow," they sneered, "came here as an immigrant, and now he dares to give orders! We'll treat you worse than them!" With that, they pressed hard against Lot, moving in closer to break down the door.	9 But they said, “Move away from there.” And again: “You have entered,” they said, “as a stranger; should you then judge? Therefore, we will afflict you yourself more than them.” And they acted very violently against Lot. And they were now at the point of breaking open the doors.
10 But his guests put out their hands, pulled Lot inside with them, and closed the door;	10 And behold, the men put out their hand, and they pulled Lot in to them, and they closed the door.
11 at the same time they struck the men at the entrance of the house, one and all, with such a blinding light that they were utterly unable to reach the doorway.	11 And they struck those who were outside with blindness, from the least to the greatest, so that they were not able to find the door.
12 Then the angels said to Lot: "Who else belongs to you here? Your sons (sons-in-law) and your daughters and all who belong to you in the city--take them away from it!	12 Then they said to Lot: “Do you have here anyone of yours? All who are yours, sons-in-law, or sons, or daughters, bring them out of this city.
13 We are about to destroy this place, for the outcry reaching the LORD against those in the city is so great that he has sent us to destroy it."	13 For we will eliminate this place, because the outcry among them has increased before the Lord, who sent us to destroy them.”
14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had contracted marriage with his daughters. "Get up and leave this place," he told them; "the LORD is about to destroy the city." But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.	14 And so Lot, going out, spoke to his sons-in-law, who were going to receive his daughters, and he said: “Rise up. Depart from this place. For the Lord will destroy this city.” And it seemed to them that he was speaking playfully.
15 As dawn was breaking, the angels urged Lot on, saying, "On your way! Take with you your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city."	15 And when it was morning, the Angels compelled him, saying, “Arise, take your wife, and the two daughters that you have, lest you also should perish amid the wickedness of the city.”
16 When he hesitated, the men, by the LORD'S mercy, seized his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters and led them to safety outside the city.	16 And, since he ignored them, they took his hand, and the hand of his wife, as well as that of his two daughters, because the Lord was sparing him.
17 As soon as they had been brought outside, he was told: "Flee for your life! Don't look back or stop anywhere on the Plain. Get off to the hills at once, or you will be swept away."	17 And they brought him out, and placed him beyond the city. And there they spoke to him, saying: “Save your life. Do not look not back. Neither should you stay in the entire surrounding region. But save yourself in the mountain, lest you also should perish.”
18 "Oh, no, my lord!" replied Lot.	18 And Lot said to them: “I beg you, my lord,
19 "You have already thought enough of your servant to do me the great kindness of intervening to save my life. But I cannot flee to the hills to keep the disaster from overtaking me, and so I shall die.	19 though your servant has found grace before you, and you have magnified your mercy, which you have shown to me in saving my life, I cannot be saved on the mountain, lest perhaps some misfortune take hold of me and I die.
20 Look, this town ahead is near enough to escape to. It's only a small place. Let me flee there--it's a small place, isn't it?--that my life may be saved."	20 There is a certain city nearby, to which I can flee; it is a little one, and I will be saved in it. Is it not a modest one, and will not my soul live?”
21 "Well, then," he replied, "I will also grant you the favor you now ask. I will not overthrow the town you speak of.	21 And he said to him: “Behold, even now, I have heard your petitions about this, not to overturn the city on behalf of which you have spoken.
22 Hurry, escape there! I cannot do anything until you arrive there." That is why the town is called Zoar.	22 Hurry and be saved there. For I cannot do anything until you enter there.” For this reason, the name of that city is called Zoar.
23 The sun was just rising over the earth as Lot arrived in Zoar;	23 The sun had risen over the land, and Lot had entered into Zoar.
24 at the same time the LORD rained down sulphurous fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah (from the LORD out of heaven).	24 Therefore, the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah sulphur and fire, from the Lord, out of heaven.
25 He overthrew those cities and the whole Plain, together with the inhabitants of the cities and the produce of the soil.	25 And he overturned these cities, and all the surrounding region: all the inhabitants of the cities, and everything that springs from the land.
26 But Lot's wife looked back, and she was turned into a pillar of salt.	26 And his wife, looking behind herself, was turned into a statue of salt.
27 Early the next morning Abraham went to the place where he had stood in the LORD'S presence.	27 Then Abraham, rising up in the morning, in the place where he had stood before with the Lord,
28 As he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole region of the Plain, he saw dense smoke over the land rising like fumes from a furnace.	28 looked out toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and the entire land of that region. And he saw embers rising up from the land like smoke from a furnace.
29 Thus it came to pass: when God destroyed the Cities of the Plain, he was mindful of Abraham by sending Lot away from the upheaval by which God overthrew the cities where Lot had been living.	29 For when God overthrew the cities of that region, remembering Abraham, he freed Lot from the overthrow of the cities, in which he had dwelt.
30 Since Lot was afraid to stay in Zoar, he and his two daughters went up from Zoar and settled in the hill country, where he lived with his two daughters in a cave.	30 And Lot ascended from Zoar, and he stayed on the mountain, and likewise his two daughters with him, (for he was afraid to stay in Zoar) and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters with him.
31 The older one said to the younger: "Our father is getting old, and there is not a man on earth to unite with us as was the custom everywhere.	31 And the elder said to the younger: “Our father is old, and no man remains in the land who can enter to us according to the custom of the whole world.
32 Come, let us ply our father with wine and then lie with him, that we may have offspring by our father."	32 Come, let us inebriate him with wine, and let us sleep with him, so that we may be able to preserve offspring from our father.”
33 So that night they plied their father with wine, and the older one went in and lay with her father; but he was not aware of her lying down or her getting up.	33 And so they gave their father wine to drink that night. And the elder went in, and she slept with her father. But he did not perceive it, neither when his daughter lay down, nor when she rose up.
34 Next day the older one said to the younger: "Last night it was I who lay with my father. Let us ply him with wine again tonight, and then you go in and lie with him, that we may both have offspring by our father."	34 Likewise, the next day, the elder said to the younger: “Behold, yesterday I slept with my father, let us give him wine to drink yet again this night, and you will sleep with him, so that we may save offspring from our father.”
35 So that night, too, they plied their father with wine, and then the younger one went in and lay with him; but again he was not aware of her lying down or her getting up.	35 And then they gave their father wine to drink that night also, and the younger daughter went in, and slept with him. And not even then did he perceive when she lay down, or when she rose up.
36 Thus both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father.	36 Therefore, the two daughters of Lot conceived by their father.
37 The older one gave birth to a son whom she named Moab, saying, "From my father." He is the ancestor of the Moabites of today.	37 And the elder gave birth to a son, and she called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites, even to the present day.
38 The younger one, too, gave birth to a son, and she named him Ammon, saying, "The son of my kin." He is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today.	38 Likewise, the younger gave birth to a son, and she called his name Ammon, that is, ‘the son of my people.’ He is the father of the Ammonites, even today.