Lot Welcomes the Angels

¹Now the two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them, bowed facedown,

²and said, “My lords, please turn aside into the house of your servant; wash your feet and spend the night. Then you can rise early and go on your way.”“No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”

³But Lot insisted so strongly that they followed him into his house. He prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

⁴Before they had gone to bed, all the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, surrounded the house.

⁵They called out to Lot, saying, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out to us so we can have relations with them!”

⁶Lot went outside to meet them, shutting the door behind him.

⁷“Please, my brothers,” he pleaded, “don’t do such a wicked thing!

⁸Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them to you, and you can do to them as you please. But do not do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”

⁹“Get out of the way!” they replied. And they declared, “This one came here as a foreigner, and he is already acting like a judge! Now we will treat you worse than them.” And they pressed in on Lot and moved in to break down the door.

¹⁰But the men inside reached out, pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door.

¹¹And they struck the men at the entrance, young and old, with blindness, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the door.

Lot Flees to Zoar

¹²Then the two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—a son-in-law, your sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here,

¹³because we are about to destroy this place. For the outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that He has sent us to destroy it.”

¹⁴So Lot went out and spoke to the sons-in-law who were pledged in marriage to his daughters. “Get up,” he said. “Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

¹⁵At daybreak the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.”

¹⁶But when Lot hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters. And they led them safely out of the city, because of the LORD’s compassion for them.

¹⁷As soon as the men had brought them out, one of them said, “Run for your lives! Do not look back, and do not stop anywhere on the plain! Flee to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”

¹⁸But Lot replied, “No, my lords, please!

¹⁹Your servant has indeed found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness by sparing my life. But I cannot run to the mountains; the disaster will overtake me, and I will die.

²⁰Look, there is a town nearby where I can flee, and it is a small place. Please let me flee there—is it not a small place? Then my life will be saved.”

²¹“Very well,” he answered, “I will grant this request as well, and will not demolish the town you indicate.

²²Hurry! Run there quickly, for I cannot do anything until you reach it.” That is why the town was called Zoar.

²³And by the time the sun had risen over the land, Lot had reached Zoar.

The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

²⁴Then the LORD rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens.

²⁵Thus He destroyed these cities and the entire plain, including all the inhabitants of the cities and everything that grew on the ground.

²⁶But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷Early the next morning, Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD.

²⁸He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw the smoke rising from the land like smoke from a furnace.

²⁹So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham, and He brought Lot out of the catastrophe that destroyed the cities where he had lived.

Lot and His Daughters

³⁰Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains—for he was afraid to stay in Zoar—where they lived in a cave.

³¹One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to sleep with us, as is the custom over all the earth.

³²Come, let us get our father drunk with wine so we can sleep with him and preserve his line.”

³³So that night they got their father drunk with wine, and the firstborn went in and slept with her father; he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up.

³⁴The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Look, I slept with my father last night. Let us get him drunk with wine again tonight so you can go in and sleep with him and we can preserve our father’s line.”

³⁵So again that night they got their father drunk with wine, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him; he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up.

³⁶Thus both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father.

³⁷The older daughter gave birth to a son and named him Moab.He is the father of the Moabites of today.

³⁸The younger daughter also gave birth to a son, and she named him Ben-ammi.He is the father of the Ammonites of today.

The Seventh Day

¹Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

²And by the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on that day He rested from all His work.

³Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on that day He rested from all the work of creation that He had accomplished.

Man and Woman in the Garden

⁴This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORDGod made them.

⁵Now no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth, nor had any plant of the field sprouted, for the LORD God had not yet sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground.

⁶But springswelled up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.

⁷Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

⁸And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, where He placed the man He had formed.

⁹Out of the ground the LORD God gave growth to every tree that is pleasing to the eye and good for food. And in the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁰Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it branched into four headwaters:

¹¹The name of the first river is the Pishon; it winds through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.

¹²And the gold of that land is pure, and bdellium and onyx are found there.

¹³The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the whole land of Cush.

¹⁴The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Assyria.And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵Then the LORD God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.

¹⁶And the LORD God commanded him, “You may eat freely from every tree of the garden,

¹⁷but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”

¹⁸The LORD God also said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper.”

¹⁹And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and He brought them to the man to see what he would name each one. And whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.

²⁰The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adamno suitable helper was found.

²¹So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he slept, He took one of the man’s ribsand closed up the area with flesh.

²²And from the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man, He made a woman and brought her to him.

²³And the man said:“This is now bone of my bonesand flesh of my flesh;she shall be called ‘woman,’for out of man she was taken.”

²⁴For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

²⁵And the man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed.

The Serpent’s Deception

¹Now the serpentwas more crafty than any beast of the field that the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’”

²The woman answered the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden,

³but about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You must not eat of it or touch it, or you will die.’”

⁴“You will not surely die,” the serpent told the woman.

⁵“For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

⁶When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.

⁷And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; so they sewed together fig leaves and made coverings for themselves.

God Arraigns Adam and Eve

⁸Then the man and his wife heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the breezeof the day, and they hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

⁹But the LORD God called out to the man, “Where are you?”

¹⁰“I heard Your voice in the garden,” he replied, “and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”

¹¹“Who told you that you were naked?” asked the LORD God. “Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

¹²And the man answered, “The woman whom You gave me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

¹³Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”“The serpent deceived me,” she replied, “and I ate.”

The Fate of the Serpent

¹⁴So the LORD God said to the serpent:“Because you have done this,cursed are you above all livestockand every beast of the field!On your belly will you go,and dust you will eat,all the days of your life.

¹⁵And I will put enmity between you and the woman,and between your seed and her seed.He will crush your head,and you will strike his heel.”

The Punishment of Mankind

¹⁶To the woman He said:“I will sharply increase your pain in childbirth;in pain you will bring forth children.Your desire will be for your husband,and he will rule over you.”

¹⁷And to Adam He said:“Because you have listened to the voice of your wifeand have eaten from the treeof which I commanded you not to eat,cursed is the ground because of you;through toil you will eat of itall the days of your life.

¹⁸Both thorns and thistles it will yield for you,and you will eat the plants of the field.

¹⁹By the sweat of your browyou will eat your bread,until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken.For dust you are,and to dust you shall return.”

²⁰And Adam named his wife Eve,because she would be the mother of all the living.

The Expulsion from Paradise

²¹And the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and He clothed them.

²²Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil. And now, lest he reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever...”

²³Therefore the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.

²⁴So He drove out the man and stationed cherubim on the east side of the Garden of Eden, along with a whirling sword of flame to guard the way to the tree of life.

Into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit

¹In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge;let me never be put to shame;save me by Your righteousness.

²Incline Your ear to me;come quickly to my rescue.Be my rock of refuge,the stronghold of my deliverance.

³For You are my rock and my fortress;lead me and guide me for the sake of Your name.

⁴You free me from the net laid out for me,for You are my refuge.

⁵Into Your hands I commit my spirit;You have redeemed me, O LORD, God of truth.

⁶I hatethose who cling to worthless idols,but in the LORD I trust.

⁷I will be glad and rejoice in Your loving devotion,for You have seen my affliction;You have known the anguish of my soul.

⁸You have not delivered me to the enemy;You have set my feet in the open.

⁹Be merciful to me, O LORD,for I am in distress;my eyes fail from sorrow,my soul and body as well.

¹⁰For my life is consumed with griefand my years with groaning;my iniquity has drained my strength,and my bones are wasting away.

¹¹Among all my enemies I am a disgrace,and among my neighbors even more.I am dreaded by my friends—they flee when they see me on the street.

¹²I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind.I am like a broken vessel.

¹³For I hear the slander of many;there is terror on every side.They conspire against meand plot to take my life.

¹⁴But I trust in You, O LORD;I say, “You are my God.”

¹⁵My times are in Your hands;deliver me from my enemiesand from those who pursue me.

¹⁶Make Your face shine on Your servant;save me by Your loving devotion.

¹⁷O LORD, let me not be ashamed,for I have called on You.Let the wicked be put to shame;let them lie silent in Sheol.

¹⁸May lying lips be silenced—lips that speak with arrogance against the righteous,full of pride and contempt.

¹⁹How great is Your goodnesswhich You have laid up for those who fear You,which You have bestowed before the sons of menon those who take refuge in You!

²⁰You hide them in the secret place of Your presencefrom the schemes of men.You conceal them in Your shelterfrom accusing tongues.

²¹Blessed be the LORD,for He has shown me His loving devotionin a city under siege.

²²In my alarm I said,“I am cut off from Your sight!”But You heard my plea for mercywhen I called to You for help.

²³Love the LORD, all His saints.The LORD preserves the faithful,but fully repays the arrogant.

²⁴Be strong and courageous,all you who hope in the LORD.