Sodom’s Depravity

19 Now ^(A)the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and ^(B)Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground.

⁴ Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. ^5 (A)And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? ^(B)Bring them out to us that we ^(C)may know them carnally.”

¹⁵ When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, ^(A)“Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.” ¹⁶ And while he lingered, the men ^(B)took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the ^(C)Lord being merciful to him, ^(D)and they brought him out and set him outside the city. ¹⁷ So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that ^[a]he said, ^(E)“Escape for your life! ^(F)Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape ^(G)to the mountains, lest you be ^[b]destroyed.”

¹⁸ Then Lot said to them, “Please, ^(H)no, my lords! ¹⁹ Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die. ²⁰ See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one; please let me escape there (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.”

²¹ And he said to him, “See, ^(I)I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken. ²² Hurry, escape there. For ^(J)I cannot do anything until you arrive there.”

Therefore ^(K)the name of the city was called ^[c]Zoar.

²³ The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar. ²⁴ Then the Lord rained ^(L)brimstone and ^(M)fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. ²⁵ So He ^[d]overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and ^(N)what grew on the ground.

²⁶ But his wife looked back behind him, and she became ^(O)a pillar of salt.

²⁹ And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God ^(A)remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt.