That evening the two
angels came to the entrance of the city of Sodom. Lot was sitting there, and
when he saw them, he stood up to meet them. Then he welcomed them and bowed
with his face to the ground. “My lords,” he said, “come to my home to wash
your feet, and be my guests for the night. You may then get up early in the
morning and be on your way again.”
“Oh no,” they replied.
“We’ll just spend the night out here in the city square.”
But Lot insisted, so at
last they went home with him. Lot prepared a feast for them, complete with
fresh bread made without yeast, and they ate. But before they retired for
the night, all the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and
surrounded the house. They shouted to Lot, “Where are the men who came to spend
the night with you? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!”
So Lot stepped outside to
talk to them, shutting the door behind him. “Please, my brothers,” he begged,
“don’t do such a wicked thing. Look, I have two virgin daughters. Let me bring
them out to you, and you can do with them as you wish. But please, leave these
men alone, for they are my guests and are under my protection.”
“Stand back!” they
shouted. “This fellow came to town as an outsider, and now he’s acting like our
judge! We’ll treat you far worse than those other men!” And they lunged toward
Lot to break down the door.
But the two
angels reached out, pulled Lot into the house, and bolted the
door. 11 Then they blinded all the men, young and old, who were at
the door of the house, so they gave up trying to get inside.
Meanwhile, the angels
questioned Lot. “Do you have any other relatives here in the city?” they asked.
“Get them out of this place—your sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone
else. For we are about to destroy this city completely. The outcry against
this place is so great it has reached the Lord, and he has sent us to
destroy it.”
So Lot rushed out to tell
his daughters’ fiancés, “Quick, get out of the city! The Lord is
about to destroy it.” But the young men thought he was only joking.
At dawn the next morning
the angels became insistent. “Hurry,” they said to Lot. “Take your wife and
your two daughters who are here. Get out right now, or you will be swept away
in the destruction of the city!”
When Lot still hesitated,
the angels seized his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and
rushed them to safety outside the city, for the Lord was
merciful. When they were safely out of the city, one of the angels
ordered, “Run for your lives! And don’t look back or stop anywhere in the
valley! Escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”
“Oh no, my lord!” Lot
begged. “You have been so gracious to me and saved my life, and you have
shown such great kindness. But I cannot go to the mountains. Disaster would
catch up to me there, and I would soon die. See, there is a small village
nearby. Please let me go there instead; don’t you see how small it is? Then my
life will be saved.”
“All right,” the angel
said, “I will grant your request. I will not destroy the little
village. But hurry! Escape to it, for I can do nothing until you arrive
there.” (This explains why that village was known as Zoar, which means “little
place.”)
Lot reached the village
just as the sun was rising over the horizon. Then the Lord rained
down fire and burning sulfur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah. He
utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plain,
wiping out all the people and every bit of vegetation. But Lot’s wife
looked back as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of
salt.
Abraham got up early that
morning and hurried out to the place where he had stood in the Lord’s
presence. He looked out across the plain toward Sodom and Gomorrah and
watched as columns of smoke rose from the cities like smoke from a furnace.
But God had listened to
Abraham’s request and kept Lot safe, removing him from the disaster that
engulfed the cities on the plain.
Afterward Lot left Zoar
because he was afraid of the people there, and he went to live in a cave in the
mountains with his two daughters. One day the older daughter said to her
sister, “There are no men left anywhere in this entire area, so we can’t get
married like everyone else. And our father will soon be too old to have
children. Come, let’s get him drunk with wine, and then we will have sex
with him. That way we will preserve our family line through our father.”
So that night they got
him drunk with wine, and the older daughter went in and had intercourse with her
father. He was unaware of her lying down or getting up again.
The next morning the
older daughter said to her younger sister, “I had sex with our father last
night. Let’s get him drunk with wine again tonight, and you go in and have sex
with him. That way we will preserve our family line through our
father.” So that night they got him drunk with wine again, and the younger
daughter went in and had intercourse with him. As before, he was unaware of her
lying down or getting up again.
As a result, both of
Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their own father. When the older
daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Moab. He became the ancestor
of the nation now known as the Moabites. When the younger daughter gave
birth to a son, she named him Ben-ammi. He became the ancestor of the nation
now known as the Ammonites.
“I am the Lord, and
I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already
destroyed. Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have scorned my
decrees and failed to obey them. Now return to me, and I will return to you,”
says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
If
the Lord of Heaven’s Armies had not spared a few of us, we
would have been wiped out like Sodom, destroyed like Gomorrah.
"Come now, let’s
settle this," says the Lord. Though your sins are like
scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like
crimson, I will make them as white as wool.
But if we
confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all wickedness.
~ Source : Genesis
19:1-38; Malachi 3:6,7; Isaiah 1:9,18; 1 John 1:9 ; [Holy Bible -NLT] taken
from https://www.biblegateway.com
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