⁶ if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes,^(A) and made them an example^(B) of what is going to happen to the ungodly;^{(C) 7} and if he rescued Lot,^(D) a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless^{(E) 8} (for that righteous man,^(F) living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— ⁹ if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials^(G) and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.^(H)