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The destruction of Sodom and Gomora
16 THE men rose to leave and stood there looking towards Sodom. Abraham went with them to see them off. 17 Our Lord said:
—Am I going to hide from Abraham what I'm about to do? 18 Abraham
is going to become a great, powerful people, through whom all the peoples of the world are going to be blessed 19 because I know he will command his children, and his descendants after him, to keep the way of Their Lord and do what is good and right so that Their Lord will do to Abraham everything he has said about it.
20 Our Lord said:
—Sodom and Gomora are screaming;
their sin is far too great.
21 I am going down there to see
if they did everything I've been told,
and if not, then I will know.
22 The men turned and went to Sodom. Abraham was still standing in front of Our Lord. 23 Abraham came close and said:
—What, would you destroy just the same the good along with the not good? 24 Maybe there are fifty upright people in the town. What, are you going to destroy it rather than saving it for the sake of the fifty who are honest there? 25 How can you do such a thing and kill good people along with the not good, making no distinction between good and not good. How can it be that he who judges all the world doesn't pass fair judgment!
26 Our Lord said:
—If I find in Sodom fifty upright people in the town, I'll save everyone for their sake.
27 Abraham responded:
—May I speak to my lord although I am only clay and dust. 28 Maybe the fifty upright people will be five short. So what, are you going to wipe out, on account of those five, all the town?
He said:
—I will not wipe it out if I find there forty-five upright people.
29 He spoke to him again, and said:
—What if there are forty there?
He said:
—I won't do it, for the forty.
30 He said:
—Let my lord not be angry when I say:
maybe there will be thirty there.
He said:
—I won't do it if I find thirty there.
31 He said:
—Might I speak to my lord: maybe it will turn out that there are twenty there.
He said:
—I won't wipe it out on account of the twenty.
32 He said:
—May my lord not be angry when I say yet again: maybe it will be found that there are ten there.
He said:
—I won't wipe it out on account of the ten.
33 Our Lord left after his conversation with Abraham, and Abraham
went back home.
19 |
1 The two messengers got to Sodom in the evening when Lot was in the town's plaza. When Lot saw them, he went to meet them. He knelt to the ground. 2 He said:
—If you please, sirs, stop over at my house. Spend the night, wash your feet and in the morning you'll be on your way.
They said:
—No no, we'll spend the night on the highway.
3 He insisted so they stayed. They entered his house. He served them food and baked dry tortillas. They had dinner.
4 Before they went to bed, the men of the town, men of Sodom, surrounded the house: youngsters and old men and folks from all over the town. 5 They spoke to Lot, and said to him:
—Where are the men who came to you tonight? Let them come out, we want to meet them.
6 Lot came outside. He shut the door behind him. 7 He said:
—Brothers, leave them alone. 8 I beg you! Two daughters I have who haven't known a man yet. Let me bring them out and do what you like to them, but don't do anything to these men because that's why they have entered the shade of my home.
9 They said:
—Shut up!
They said:
—This one here moved to our town and look, he wants to judge us! Now we're going to give you worse than to them.
They began pressing against Lot. 10 The men reached out and pulled Lot inside. They locked the door. 11 They caused the men at the entrance to the house to go blind. Not one of them could find the door.
12 The men said to Lot:
—Have you got other people here? In-laws, sons, daughters living in the town: get them out of this town, 13 because we're about to destroy this place, because the outcry to Our Lord against it is tremendous and he has sent us to destroy it.
14 Lot went out and talked to his sons-in-law who were married to his daughters. He said:
—Up with you! Get out of here because Our Lord will destroy this town.
His in-laws made faces as if he were joking.
15 At dawn, the messengers told Lot to hurry, saying:
—Get up, go and get your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you'll perish with the town's evil.
16 He hesitated. The men grasped his hand and his wife's hand and the hand of his two daughters, because Our Lord loved them. They brought them out of the town. 17 While they were bringing them out, he told him:
—Run for your life. Don't look back and don't stop in the whole valley. Run for the mountain to save your life.
18 Lot said to them:
—Oh no, sirs, please! 19 You have shown kindness to your servant, you have truly saved me. But I can't flee to the mountain or else the evil will stick to me and I'll die. 20 Please, this town isn't too far for me to run to. It's so small. Please let me flee to it, it's really small, isn't it? That way I can survive!
21 He said to them:
—Alright then, I'll do what you ask too, I won't wipe out the town that you said. 22 Hurry up, run to it, because I can't do anything until you get there.
That's why the name of the town is Tzoar.
23 The sun rose over the world. Lot
went to Tzoar. 24 Our Lord poured down on Sodom and Gomora sulphur and fire. It came down from Our Lord, it rained down from the sky. 25 It wiped out those towns and all the valley, and all the inhabitants and whatever grew on the land. 26 His wife looked behind her; she became a pillar of salt.
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