CHAPTER 19
1 And twain angels came to Sodom in the eventide, while Lot sat in the gates of the city. And when he had seen them, he rose, and went to meet them, and worshipped or honoured low to the earth,
2 and said, My lords, I beseech, bow ye [down] into the house of your servant, and dwell ye there; wash ye your feet, and in the morrowtide ye shall go into your way. Which said, Nay, but we shall dwell in the street.
3 He constrained them greatly, that they should turn in to him. And when they entered into his house, he made a feast, and baked therf bread, and they ate.
4 Forsooth before that they went to sleep, men of the city compassed his house, from a child till to an eld [or old] man, all the people together;
5 and they called Lot, and said to him, Where be the men that entered to thee tonight? bring them out hither, that we know them, that is, by lechery against kind.
6 And Lot went out to them behind the back, and closed the door,
7 and said, I beseech, do not ye, my brethren, do not ye do this evil.
8 I have two daughters, that knew not yet a man; I shall lead out them to you, and mis-use ye them as it pleaseth you, so that ye do none evil to these men, for they entered under the shadow of my roof.
9 And they said, Go thou from hence. And again they said, Thou enteredest [in] hither as a comeling; whether that thou shalt deem us? therefore we shall torment thee more than these. And they did violently to Lot full greatly. Then it was nigh that they would break the doors;
10 and lo! the men put forth their hands, and led in Lot to them, and they closed the door.
11 And they smote with blindness they that were withoutforth, from the least till to the most; so that they might not find the door.
12 Forsooth they said to Lot, Hast thou here any man of thine, husband of thy daughter, or sons, or daughters; if so, lead thou out of this city all men that be thine,
13 for we shall do away this place, for the cry of them increased before the Lord, which sent us that we lose them.
14 And Lot went out, and spake to the husbands to be of his daughters, that should take his daughters, and said, Rise ye, and go ye out of this place; for the Lord shall do away this city. And he was seen to them to speak as playing.
15 And when the morrowtide was, the angels constrained Lot, and said, Rise thou, and take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which thou hast, lest also thou perish altogether in the sin of the city.
16 While he dissembled, they took his hand, and the hand of his wife, and of his two daughters; for the Lord spared him. And they led out him, and set [or put]him without the city.
17 There they spake to him, and said, Save thou thy life; do not thou behold behind thy back, neither stand thou in all the country about, but make thee safe in the hills; lest also thou perish altogether.
18 And Lot said to them, My Lord, I beseech,
19 for thy servant hath found grace before thee, and thou hast magnified thy grace and mercy, which thou hast done to me, that thou shouldest save my life; I may not be saved in the hills, lest peradventure evil overtake me, and I die;
20 a little city is here beside, to which I may flee, and I shall be safe therein; whether it is not such a little city? and my soul shall live therein.
21 And he said to Lot, Lo! also in this I have received thy prayers, that I destroy not the city, for which thou hast spoken;
22 haste thee, and be thou saved there, for I may not do anything till thou enter [in] thither. Therefore the name of that city was called Zoar.
23 The sun rose on [the] earth, and Lot entered into Zoar.
24 Therefore the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire, from the Lord of heaven,
25 and destroyed these cities, and all the country about; he destroyed all the dwellers of those cities, and all green things of [the] earth.
26 And Lot’s wife looked aback, and she was turned into an image of salt.
27 Forsooth Abraham rising early, went to where he stood before with the Lord,
28 beheld Sodom and Gomorrah, and all the land of that country; and he saw a dead spark going up from the earth, as the smoke of a furnace.
29 For when God destroyed the cities of that country, he had mind of Abraham, and delivered Lot from [the] destroying of the cities in which he dwelled.
30 And Lot went up from Zoar, and dwelled in the hills, and his two daughters with him, for he dreaded to dwell in Zoar; and he dwelled in a den, he and his two daughters with him.
31 And the more daughter said to the less, Our father is eld [or old], and no man is left on earth that may enter [in] to us, by the custom of all earth;
32 come thou, make we him drunken of wine, and sleep we with him, that we may keep the seed of our father.
33 And so they gave to their father to drink wine in that night, and the more, or the elder, daughter entered, and slept with her father; and he feeled not, neither when the daughter lay down, neither when she [a] rose.
34 And the tother day the more daughter said to the less, or the younger, Lo! I slept yesterday with my father; give we to him to drink wine also in this night; and thou sleep with him, that we save the seed of our father.
35 And they gave to their father also in that night to drink wine, and the less daughter entered, and slept with him; and soothly he feeled not then when she lay down, neither when she [a] rose.
36 Therefore the two daughters of Lot conceived of their father.
37 And the more daughter childed a son, and called his name Moab; he is the father of men of Moab unto this present day.
38 And the less daughter childed a son, and called his name Benammi, that is, The son of my people; he is the father of men of Ammon till to [this] day.