Genesis 19:29 | 41 them , bak ing bread with out yeast , and they ate .
4
Be fore they had gone to bed , all the men from ev ery part of the city of Sod om — both young and old — sur round ed the house . 5 They called to Lot , “ Where are the men who came to you to night ? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them .”
6
Lot went out side to meet them and shut the door be hind him 7 and said , “ No , my friends . Don ’ t do this wick ed thing . 8 Look , I have two daugh ters who have nev er slept with a man . Let me bring them out to you , and you can do what you like with them . But don ’ t do any thing to these men , for they have come un der the pro tec tion of my roof .”
9
“ Get out of our way ,” they re plied . “ This fel low came here as a for eign er , and now he wants to play the judge ! We ’ ll treat you worse than them .” They kept bring ing pres sure on Lot and moved for ward to break down the door .
10
But the men in side reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door . 11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house , young and old , with blind ness so that they could not find the door .
12
The two men said to Lot , “ Do you have any one else here — sons-in-law , sons or daugh ters , or anyone else in the city who be longs to you ? Get them out of here , 13 be cause we are go ing to de stroy this place . The out cry to the Lord against its peo ple is so great that he has sent us to de stroy it .”
14
So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law , who were pledged to mar ry a his daugh ters . He said , “ Hur ry and get out of this place , be cause the Lord is about to de stroy the city !” But his sons-in-law thought he was jok ing .
15
With the com ing of dawn , the an gels urged Lot , say ing , “ Hur ry ! Take your wife and your two daugh ters who are here , or you will be swept away when the city is pun ished .”
16
When he hes i tat ed , the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daugh ters and led them safe ly out of the city , for the Lord was mer ci ful to them . 17 As soon as they had brought them out , one of them said , “ Flee for your lives ! Don ’ t look back , and don ’ t stop any where in the plain ! Flee to the moun tains or you will be swept away !”
18
But Lot said to them , “ No , my lords , b please !
19
Your c ser vant has found fa vor in your c eyes , and you c have shown great kind ness to me in spar ing my life . But I can ’ t flee to the moun tains ; this disas ter will over take me , and I ’ ll die . 20 Look , here is a town near enough to run to , and it is small . Let me flee to it — it is very small , isn ’ t it ? Then my life will be spared .”
21
He said to him , “ Very well , I will grant this re quest too ; I will not over throw the town you speak of . 22 But flee there quick ly , be cause I can not do any thing un til you reach it .” ( That is why the town was called Zoar . d )
23
By the time Lot reached Zoar , the sun had ris en over the land . 24 Then the Lord rained down burn ing sul fur on Sod om and Go mor rah — from the Lord out of the heav ens . 25 Thus he over threw those cit ies and the en tire plain , de stroy ing all those liv ing in the cit ies — and also the veg e ta tion in the land . 26 But Lot ’ s wife looked back , and she be came a pil lar of salt .
27
Ear ly the next morn ing Abra ham got up and re turned to the place where he had stood be fore the Lord . 28 He looked down to ward Sod om and Go mor rah , to ward all the land of the plain , and he saw dense smoke ris ing from the land , like smoke from a fur nace .
29
So when God de stroyed the cit ies of the plain , he re mem bered Abra ham , and he brought Lot
a
14 Or were married to b
18 Or No , Lord ; or No , my lord c
19 The Hebrew is singular . d
22 Zoar means small .
19:5 we can have sex with them The men of Sodom seek to humiliate Lot ’ s guests by raping them . While the attempted rape is terrible , other OT passages ( Lev 18:22,24 ; 20:13,23 ) also indicate that homosexuality was regarded as a repugnant Canaanite practice . In addition , Eze 16:49 indicates that Sodom also had a reputation for excess and injustice . Sodom and Gomorrah is regularly used in the OT as an example of general wickedness and lawlessness ( e . g ., Jer 23:14 ). 19:8 you can do what you like with them Hospitality toward strangers was generally considered a moral imperative in the ancient Near East . This honor code meant that Lot could not turn the strangers over to the men of Sodom . In a patriarchal culture , daughters would have been viewed in lesser terms than Lot ’ s male guests . However , Mesopotamian law codes parallel to Biblical laws make it clear that violating a betrothed woman — which Lot ’ s daughters were ( Ge 19:14 ) — was a crime punishable by death . According to even ancient Near Eastern customs , then , Lot understood just how evil offering his daughters to the men was , but he may have considered it a lesser evil . 19:9 This fellow came here as a foreigner Lot is an outsider whom the native inhabitants do not consider of equal legal or ethnic status . He cannot appeal to them on the basis of kinship . 19:14 his sons-in-law thought he was joking Lot ’ s sons-in-law cannot take him seriously . Until now , Lot ’ s behavior hasn ’ t reflected a life centered on God ’ s will , so their skepticism comes as no surprise . 19:16 When he hesitated The delay shows either extraordinary stupidity or , more likely , deplorable spiritual character .
19:23 – 29 After Lot flees from Sodom , Yahweh destroys Sodom and Gomorrah with fire from heaven ( see v . 24 ). Despite the angels ’ instructions ( v . 17 ), Lot ’ s wife looks back at the destruction and becomes a pillar of salt . Abraham goes to the place where he interceded on behalf of Sodom and sees the destruction ( vv . 27 – 28 ). The text notes that Yahweh delivered Lot because of Abraham ( see v . 29 and note ).
19:26 a pillar of salt Lot ’ s wife disobeyed the command of the angels ( v . 17 ). The result of her hesitancy was inclusion in the judgment against Sodom and Gomorrah . 19:29 remembered There were not ten righ teous people found in Sodom ( see 18:32 ), but Yahweh extends his mercy beyond what Abraham asked by saving Lot .