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Lot’s Guests Are Assaulted

19 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gateway. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed with his face touching the ground. He said, “Please, gentlemen, why don’t you come to my home and spend the night? ⌞You can⌟ wash your feet there. Then early tomorrow morning you can continue your journey.”

“No,” they answered, “we’d rather spend the night in the city square.”

But he insisted so strongly that they came with him and went into his home. He prepared a special dinner for them, baked some unleavened bread, and they ate. Before they had gone to bed, all the young and old male citizens of Sodom surrounded the house. They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to ⌞stay with⌟ you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”

Then Lot went outside and shut the door behind him. “Please, my friends, don’t be so wicked,” he said. “Look, I have two daughters who have never had sex. Why don’t you let me bring them out to you? Do whatever you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, since I’m responsible for them.”

But the men yelled, “Get out of the way! This man came here to stay awhile. Now he wants to be our judge! We’re going to treat you worse than those men.” They pushed hard against Lot and lunged forward to break down the door. 10 The men ⌞inside⌟ reached out, pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. 11 Then they struck all the men who were in the doorway of the house, young and old alike, with blindness so that they gave up trying to find the door.

Lot Leaves Sodom, and the Cities Are Destroyed

12 Then the men asked Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—any in-laws, sons, daughters, or any other relatives in the city? Get them out of here 13 because we’re going to destroy this place. The complaints to the Lord against its people are so loud that the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”

14 So Lot went out and spoke to the men engaged to his daughters. He said, “Hurry! Get out of this place, because the Lord is going to destroy the city.” But they thought he was joking.

15 As soon as it was dawn, the angels urged Lot by saying, “Quick! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you’ll be swept away when the city is punished.” 16 When he hesitated, the men grabbed him, his wife, and his two daughters by their hands, because the Lord wanted to spare Lot. They brought them safely outside the city. 17 As soon as they were outside, one ⌞of the angels⌟ said, “Run for your lives! Don’t look behind you, and don’t stop on the plain. Run for the hills, or you’ll be swept away!”

18 Lot answered, “Oh no! 19 Even though you’ve been so good to me and though you’ve been very kind to me by saving my life, I can’t run as far as the hills. This disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. 20 Look, there’s a city near enough to flee to, and it’s small. Why don’t you let me run there? Isn’t it small? Then my life will be saved.”

21 The angel said to him, “Alright, I will grant you this request too. I will not destroy the city you’re talking about. 22 Run there quickly, because I can’t do anything until you get there.” (The city is named Zoar [Small].)

23 The sun had just risen over the land as Lot came to Zoar. 24 Then the Lord made burning sulfur and fire rain out of heaven on Sodom and Gomorrah. 25 He destroyed those cities, the whole plain, all who lived in the cities, and whatever grew on the ground. 26 Lot’s wife looked back and turned into a column of salt.

27 Early the next morning Abraham came to the place where he had stood in front of the Lord. 28 When he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land in the plain, he saw smoke rising from the land like the thick smoke of a furnace.

29 When God destroyed the cities on the plain, he remembered Abraham. Lot was allowed to escape from the destruction that came to the cities where he was living.

Lot’s Daughters Have Sons by Their Father

30 Lot left Zoar because he was afraid to stay there. He and his two daughters settled in the mountains where they lived in a cave. 31 The older daughter said to the younger one, “Our father is old. No men are here. We can’t get married as other people do. 32 Let’s give our father wine to drink. Then we’ll go to bed with him so that we’ll be able to preserve our family line through our father.” 33 That night they gave their father wine to drink. Then the older one went to bed with her father. He didn’t know when she came to bed or when she got up. 34 The next day the older daughter said to the younger one, “I did it! Last night I went to bed with my father. Let’s give him wine to drink again tonight. Then you go to bed with him so that we’ll be able to preserve our family line through our father.” 35 That night they gave their father wine to drink again. Then the younger one went to bed with him. He didn’t know when she came to bed or when she got up. 36 So Lot’s two daughters became pregnant by their father. 37 The older one gave birth to a son and named him Moab. He is the ancestor of the Moabites of today. 38 The younger daughter also gave birth to a son and named him Ben Ammi. He is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today.

Abraham Deceives Abimelech

20 Abraham moved to the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was living in Gerar, Abraham told everyone that his wife Sarah was his sister. So King Abimelech of Gerar sent men to take Sarah. God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him, “You’re going to die because of the woman that you’ve taken! She’s a married woman!” Abimelech hadn’t come near her, so he asked, “Lord, will you destroy a nation even if it’s innocent? Didn’t he tell me himself, ‘She’s my sister,’ and didn’t she even say, ‘He’s my brother’? I did this in all innocence and with a clear conscience.”

“Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience,” God said to him in the dream. “In fact, I kept you from sinning against me. That’s why I didn’t let you touch her. Give the man’s wife back to him now, because he’s a prophet. He will pray for you, and you will live. But if you don’t give her back, you and all who belong to you are doomed to die.”

Early in the morning Abimelech called together all his officials. He told them about all of this, and they were terrified. Then Abimelech called for Abraham and asked him, “What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you that you would bring such a serious sin on me and my kingdom? You shouldn’t have done this to me.” 10 Abimelech also asked Abraham, “What were you thinking when you did this?”

11 Abraham said, “I thought that because there are no God-fearing people in this place, I’d be killed because of my wife. 12 Besides, she is my sister—my father’s daughter but not my mother’s. She is also my wife. 13 When God had me leave my father’s home and travel around, I said to her, ‘Do me a favor: Wherever we go, say that I’m your brother.’ ”

14 Then Abimelech took sheep, cattle, and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham. He also gave his wife Sarah back to him. 15 Abimelech said, “Look, here’s my land. Live anywhere you like.” 16 He said to Sarah, “Don’t forget, I’ve given your brother 25 pounds of silver. This is to silence any criticism against you from everyone with you. You’re completely cleared.”

17 Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female slaves so that they could have children. 18 (The Lord had made it impossible for any woman in Abimelech’s household to have children because of Abraham’s wife Sarah.)

God Provides for Hagar and Ishmael

21 The Lord came to help Sarah and did for her what he had promised. So she became pregnant, and at the exact time God had promised, she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. Abraham named his newborn son Isaac. When Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him as God had commanded. Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born.

Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me. Who would have predicted to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet, I have given him a son in his old age.”

The child grew and was weaned. On the day Isaac was weaned, Abraham held a big feast. Sarah saw that Abraham’s son by Hagar the Egyptian was laughing at Isaac. 10 She said to Abraham, “Get rid of this slave and her son, because this slave’s son must never share the inheritance with my son Isaac.” 11 Abraham was upset by this because of his son Ishmael. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Don’t be upset about the boy and your slave. Listen to what Sarah says because through Isaac your descendants will carry on your name. 13 Besides, I will make the slave’s son into a nation also, because he is your child.”

14 Early the next morning Abraham took bread and a container of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder. He also gave her the boy and sent her on her way. So she left and wandered around in the desert near Beersheba. 15 When the water in the container was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went about as far away as an arrow can be shot and sat down. She said to herself, “I don’t want to watch the boy die.” So she sat down and sobbed loudly.

17 God heard the boy crying, and the Messenger of God called to Hagar from heaven. “What’s the matter, Hagar?” he asked her. “Don’t be afraid! God has heard the boy crying from the bushes. 18 Come on, help the boy up! Take him by the hand, because I’m going to make him into a great nation.”

19 God opened her eyes. Then she saw a well. She filled the container with water and gave the boy a drink.

20 God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became a skilled archer. 21 He lived in the desert of Paran, and his mother got him a wife from Egypt.

Abraham’s Agreement with Abimelech

22 At that time Abimelech, accompanied by Phicol, the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do. 23 Now, swear an oath to me here in front of God that you will never cheat me, my children, or my descendants. Show me and the land where you’ve been living the same kindness that I have shown you.”

24 Abraham said, “I so swear.”

25 Then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well which Abimelech’s servants had seized. 26 Abimelech replied, “I don’t know who did this. You didn’t tell me, and I didn’t hear about it until today.”

27 Abraham took some sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made an agreement. 28 Then Abraham set apart seven female lambs from the flock. 29 Abimelech asked him, “What is the meaning of these seven female lambs you have set apart?”

30 Abraham answered, “Accept these lambs from me so that they may be proof [a] that I dug this well.” 31 This is why that place is called Beersheba,[b] because both of them swore an oath there.

32 After they made the treaty at Beersheba, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, left and went back to the land of the Philistines. 33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba and worshiped the Lord, the Everlasting God, there. 34 Abraham lived a long time in the land of the Philistines.

Footnotes

  1. 21:30 Or “a witness.”
  2. 21:31 Beersheba can mean either “Well of the Seven” or “Well of the Oath.”

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