Genesis 19 · Parashat Vayera

And there came two angels to Sedom at evening, and Lot sat in the gate of Sedom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face to the ground;

and he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and you may rise up early, and go your ways. And they said, No; but we will abide in the street all night.

And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in to him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.

But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sedom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:

and they called to Lot, and said to him, Where are the men who came in to thee this night? bring them out to us, that we may know them.

And Lot went out at the door to them, and shut the door after him,

And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.

Behold now, I have two daughters who have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do to them as is good in your eyes: only to these men do nothing; seeing that they have come under the shadow of my roof.

And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee than with them. And they strongly urged the man, Lot, and came near to break the door.

But the men put out their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut the door.

And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

And the men said to Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place:

for we will destroy this place, because the cry of them has grown great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.

And Lot went out, and spoke to his sons in law, who married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy the city. But he seemed to his sons in law as one that jested.

And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, who are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.

And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord being merciful to him: and they brought him out, and set him outside the city.

And it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.

And Lot said to them, Oh, not so, my Lord:

behold now, thy servant has found favour in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shown to me in saving my life; I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:

behold now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape there, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.

And he said to him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for which thou hast spoken.

Haste thee, escape there; for I cannot do anything till thou be come there. Therefore the name of the city was called Żo῾ar.

The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Żo῾ar.

Then the Lord rained upon Sedom and upon ῾Amora brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven;

and He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.

But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

And Avraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord:

and he looked toward Sedom and ῾Amora, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up like the smoke of a furnace.

And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Avraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt.

And Lot went up out of Żo῾ar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Żo῾ar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.

And the firstborn said to the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth:

come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.

And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said to the younger, Behold, I lay last night with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.

Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.

And the firstborn bore a son, and called his name Mo᾽av: he is the father of Mo᾽av to this day.

And the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-῾ammi: he is the father of the children of ῾Ammon to this day.