rsv Genesis:18-19 SEEK
Seeker Overlay ON
*
And the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre ,
as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day .
*
He lifted up his eyes and looked ,
and behold ,
three men stood in front of him .
When he saw them ,
he ran from the tent door to meet them ,
and bowed himself to the earth ,
*
and said , "
My lord ,
if I have found favor in your sight ,
do not pass by your servant .
*
Let a little water be brought ,
and wash your feet ,
and rest yourselves under the tree ,
*
while I fetch a morsel of bread ,
that you may refresh yourselves ,
and after that you may pass on--since you have come to your servant ."
So they said , "
Do as you have said ."
*
And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah ,
and said , "
Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal ,
knead it ,
and make cakes ."
*
And Abraham ran to the herd ,
and took a calf ,
tender and good ,
and gave it to the servant ,
who hastened to prepare it .
*
Then he took curds ,
and milk ,
and the calf which he had prepared ,
and set it before them ;
and he stood by them under the tree while they ate .
*
They said to him , "
Where is Sarah your wife ?"
And he said , "
She is in the tent ."
*
The LORD said , "
I will surely return to you in the spring ,
and Sarah your wife shall have a son ."
And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him .
*
Now Abraham and Sarah were old ,
advanced in age ;
it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women .
*
So Sarah laughed to herself ,
saying , "
After I have grown old ,
and my husband is old ,
shall I have pleasure ?"
*
The LORD said to Abraham , "
Why did Sarah laugh ,
and say , `
Shall I indeed bear a child ,
now that I am old ?'
*
Is anything too hard for the LORD ?
At the appointed time I will return to you ,
in the spring ,
and Sarah shall have a son ."
*
But Sarah denied ,
saying , "
I did not laugh ";
for she was afraid .
He said , "
No ,
but you did laugh ."
*
Then the men set out from there ,
and they looked toward Sodom ;
and Abraham went with them to set them on their way .
*
The LORD said , "
Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do ,
*
seeing that Abraham shall become a great and mighty nation ,
and all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by him ?
*
No ,
for I have chosen him ,
that he may charge his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice ;
so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him ."
*
Then the LORD said , "
Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomor '
rah is great and their sin is very grave ,
*
I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry which has come to me ;
and if not ,
I will know ."
*
So the men turned from there ,
and went toward Sodom ;
but Abraham still stood before the LORD .
*
Then Abraham drew near ,
and said , "
Wilt thou indeed destroy the righteous with the wicked ?
*
Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city ;
wilt thou then destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it ?
*
Far be it from thee to do such a thing ,
to slay the righteous with the wicked ,
so that the righteous fare as the wicked !
Far be that from thee !
Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ?"
*
And the LORD said , "
If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city ,
I will spare the whole place for their sake ."
*
Abraham answered , "
Behold ,
I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord ,
I who am but dust and ashes .
*
Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking ?
Wilt thou destroy the whole city for lack of five ?"
And he said , "
I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there ."
*
Again he spoke to him ,
and said , "
Suppose forty are found there ."
He answered , "
For the sake of forty I will not do it ."
*
Then he said , "
Oh let not the Lord be angry ,
and I will speak .
Suppose thirty are found there ."
He answered , "
I will not do it ,
if I find thirty there ."
*
He said , "
Behold ,
I have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord .
Suppose twenty are found there ."
He answered , "
For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it ."
*
Then he said , "
Oh let not the Lord be angry ,
and I will speak again but this once .
Suppose ten are found there ."
He answered , "
For the sake of ten I will not destroy it ."
*
And the LORD went his way ,
when he had finished speaking to Abraham ;
and Abraham returned to his place .
*
The two angels came to Sodom in the evening ;
and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom .
When Lot saw them ,
he rose to meet them ,
and bowed himself with his face to the earth ,
*
and said , "
My lords ,
turn aside ,
I pray you ,
to your servant '
s house and spend the night ,
and wash your feet ;
then you may rise up early and go on your way ."
They said , "
No ;
we will spend the night in the street ."
*
But he urged them strongly ;
so they turned aside to him and entered his house ;
and he made them a feast ,
and baked unleavened bread ,
and they ate .
*
But before they lay down ,
the men of the city ,
the men of Sodom ,
both young and old ,
all the people to the last man ,
surrounded the house ;
*
and they called to Lot , "
Where are the men who came to you tonight ?
Bring them out to us ,
that we may know them ."
*
Lot went out of the door to the men ,
shut the door after him ,
*
and said , "
I beg you ,
my brothers ,
do not act so wickedly .
*
Behold ,
I have two daughters who have not known man ;
let me bring them out to you ,
and do to them as you please ;
only do nothing to these men ,
for they have come under the shelter of my roof ."
*
But they said , "
Stand back !"
And they said , "
This fellow came to sojourn ,
and he would play the judge !
Now we will deal worse with you than with them ."
Then they pressed hard against the man Lot ,
and drew near to break the door .
*
But the men put forth their hands and brought Lot into the house to them ,
and shut the door .
*
And they struck with blindness the men who were at the door of the house ,
both small and great ,
so that they wearied themselves groping for the door .
*
Then the men said to Lot , "
Have you any one else here ?
Sons-in-law ,
sons ,
daughters ,
or any one you have in the city ,
bring them out of the place ;
*
for we are about to destroy this place ,
because the outcry against its people has become great before the LORD ,
and the LORD has sent us to destroy it ."
*
So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law ,
who were to marry his daughters , "
Up ,
get out of this place ;
for the LORD is about to destroy the city ."
But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting .
*
When morning dawned ,
the angels urged Lot ,
saying , "
Arise ,
take your wife and your two daughters who are here ,
lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city ."
*
But he lingered ;
so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand ,
the LORD being merciful to him ,
and they brought him forth and set him outside the city .
*
And when they had brought them forth ,
they said , "
Flee for your life ;
do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley ;
flee to the hills ,
lest you be consumed ."
*
And Lot said to them , "
Oh ,
no ,
my lords ;
*
behold ,
your servant has found favor in your sight ,
and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life ;
but I cannot flee to the hills ,
lest the disaster overtake me ,
and I die .
*
Behold ,
yonder city is near enough to flee to ,
and it is a little one .
Let me escape there--is it not a little one ?--
and my life will be saved !"
*
He said to him , "
Behold ,
I grant you this favor also ,
that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken .
*
Make haste ,
escape there ;
for I can do nothing till you arrive there ."
Therefore the name of the city was called Zo '
ar .
*
The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zo '
ar .
*
Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomor '
rah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven ;
*
and he overthrew those cities ,
and all the valley ,
and all the inhabitants of the cities ,
and what grew on the ground .
*
But Lot '
s wife behind him looked back ,
and she became a pillar of salt .
*
And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD ;
*
and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomor '
rah and toward all the land of the valley ,
and beheld ,
and lo ,
the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace .
*
So it was that ,
when God destroyed the cities of the valley ,
God remembered Abraham ,
and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow ,
when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt .
*
Now Lot went up out of Zo '
ar ,
and dwelt in the hills with his two daughters ,
for he was afraid to dwell in Zo '
ar ;
so he dwelt in a cave with his two daughters .
*
And the first-born said to the younger , "
Our father is old ,
and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth .
*
Come ,
let us make our father drink wine ,
and we will lie with him ,
that we may preserve offspring through our father ."
*
So they made their father drink wine that night ;
and the first-born went in ,
and lay with her father ;
he did not know when she lay down or when she arose .
*
And on the next day ,
the first-born said to the younger , "
Behold ,
I lay last night with my father ;
let us make him drink wine tonight also ;
then you go in and lie with him ,
that we may preserve offspring through our father ."
*
So they made their father drink wine that night also ;
and the younger arose ,
and lay with him ;
and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose .
*
Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father .
*
The first-born bore a son ,
and called his name Moab ;
he is the father of the Moabites to this day .
*
The younger also bore a son ,
and called his name Ben-ammi ;
he is the father of the Ammonites to this day .
*
From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb ,
and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur ;
and he sojourned in Gerar .