Genesis 19 · WEB
The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
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The two angels came to Sodom at evening. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them. He bowed himself with his face to the earth,
2and said, "See now, my lords, please turn aside into your servant's house, stay all night, wash your feet, and you can rise up early and go on your way." They said, "No, but we will stay in the street all night."
3He urged them greatly, and they came in with him and entered his house. He made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
4But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house — both young and old, all the people from every quarter.
5They called to Lot, and said to him, "Where are the men who came in to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them."
6Lot went out to them to the door, and shut the door after him.
7He said, "Please, my brothers, don't act so wickedly.
8See now, I have two daughters who have not known man. Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as is good in your eyes. Only don't do anything to these men, because they have come under the shadow of my roof."
9They said, "Stand back!" Then they said, "This one came in to live as a foreigner, and he is always judging. Now we will deal worse with you than with them!" They pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door.
10But the men reached out their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door.
11They struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door.
12The men said to Lot, "Do you have anybody else here? Sons-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whoever you have in the city, bring them out of this place;
13for we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before Yahweh, and Yahweh has sent us to destroy it."
14Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters, and said, "Get up! Get out of this place, for Yahweh will destroy the city." But he seemed to his sons-in-law like he was joking.
15When the morning came, the angels hurried Lot, saying, "Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the iniquity of the city."
16But he lingered; and the men grabbed his hand, his wife's hand, and his two daughters' hands, Yahweh being merciful to him; and they brought him out, and set him outside of the city.
17When they had taken them out, one of them said, "Escape for your life! Don't look behind you, and don't stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be consumed!"
18Lot said to them, "Oh, not so, my lord.
19See now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your loving kindness, which you have shown to me in saving my life. I can't escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake me, and I die.
20See now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh let me escape there (isn't it a little one?), and my soul will live."
21He said to him, "Behold, I have granted your request concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.
22Hurry, escape there, for I can't do anything until you arrive there." The name of the city was called Zoar.
23The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar.
24Then Yahweh rained sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah — from Yahweh out of the sky.
25He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew on the ground.
26But his wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
27Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before Yahweh.
28He looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and looked; and saw that the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace.
29When God destroyed the cities of the plain, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the middle of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.
30Lot went up out of Zoar, and lived in the mountain, and his two daughters were with him; for he was afraid to live in Zoar. He lived in a cave with his two daughters.
31The firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in to us in the way of all the earth.
32Come, let's make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve our father's offspring."
33They made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father. He didn't know when she lay down, nor when she arose.
34The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, "Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let's make him drink wine again tonight. Then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve our father's offspring."
35They made their father drink wine that night also. The younger arose, and lay with him. He didn't know when she lay down, nor when she arose.
36Thus both of Lot's daughters were with child by their father.
37The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day.
38The younger also bore a son, and called his name Ben Ammi. He is the father of the children of Ammon to this day.
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Summary
Two angels arrive in Sodom and are welcomed by Lot. The men of Sodom demand sexual access to the visitors, and only the angels' intervention prevents violence. The angels warn Lot to flee with his family; Lot lingers and must be physically dragged out by the angels. God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and sulfur, and Lot's wife disobeys the command not to look back and becomes a pillar of salt. Lot and his daughters take refuge in a cave; his daughters, despairing of future, get Lot drunk and conceive — producing the ancestors of Moab and Ammon.
Themes
- Divine judgment on unrepentant sin and wickedness
- The danger of spiritual complacency (Lot's lingering)
- Looking back at what God has delivered you from
- God's mercy even in judgment — saving Lot because of Abraham
- The long-term consequences of moral compromise
Key verses
- Gen 19:24 — “Then Yahweh rained sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah — from Yahweh out of the sky.”
- Gen 19:26 — “But his wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.”
- Gen 19:29 — “When God destroyed the cities of the plain, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the middle of the overthrow.”
Context & background
The sin of Sodom is presented as encompassing gross sexual violence and violation of hospitality, which was one of the gravest offenses in ancient Near Eastern culture. Ezekiel 16:49 adds that Sodom's sins included pride, excess food, prosperous ease, and failure to help the poor and needy. Lot's offer of his daughters is morally shocking, showing how badly his judgment had been corrupted by years of living in Sodom. "God remembered Abraham" (v. 29) is the key to Lot's salvation — not his own righteousness but Abraham's intercession. The origins of Moab and Ammon — Israel's persistent enemies and neighbors — are here traced to this shameful episode.
Cross-references
- 2 Peter 2:6-8 — God condemned Sodom but rescued righteous Lot
- Jude 7 — Sodom and Gomorrah serve as an example of eternal fire
- Luke 17:28-32 — Jesus warns: "Remember Lot's wife" — don't look back when the Kingdom comes
- Matthew 10:15 — Sodom and Gomorrah will have a more tolerable judgment than those who reject Jesus
- Revelation 11:8 — "Sodom" used as a metaphor for spiritual wickedness