¹ Siden åbenbarede HE EN sig for ham ved Mamres Lund, engang han sad i Teltdøren på den hedeste Tid af Dagen.

² Da han så op, fik han Øje på tre Mænd, der stod foran ham. Så snart han fik Øje på dem, løb han dem i Møde fra Teltdøren, bøjede sig til Jorden

³ og sagde: "Herre, hvis jeg har fundet Nåde for dine Øjne, så gå ikke din Træl forbi!

⁴ Lad der blive hentet lidt Vand, så I kan tvætte eders Fødder og hvile ud under Træet.

⁵ Så vil jeg bringe et Stykke Brød, for at I kan styrke eder; siden kan I drage videre - da eders Vej nu engang har ført eder forbi eders Træl!" De svarede: "Gør, som du siger!"

⁶ Da skyndte Abraham sig ind i Teltet til Sara og sagde: "Tag hurtigt tre Mål fint Mel, ælt det og bag Kager deraf!"

⁷ Så ilede han ud til Kvæget, tog en fin og lækker Kalv og gav den til Svenden, og han tilberedte den i Hast.

⁸ Derpå tog han Surmælk og Sødmælk og den tilberedte Kalv, satte det for dem og gik dem til Hånde under Træet, og de spiste.

⁹ Da sagde de til ham: "Hvor er din Hustru Sara?" Han svarede: "Inde i Teltet!"

¹⁰ Så sagde han: "Næste År ved denne Tid kommer jeg til dig igen, og så har din Hustru Sara en Søn!" Men Sara lyttede i Teltdøren bag ved dem;

¹¹ og da Abraham og Sara var gamle og højt oppe i Årene, og det ikke mere gik Sara på Kvinders Vis,

¹² lo hun ved sig selv og tænkte: "Skulde jeg virkelig føle Attrå. nu jeg er affældig, og min Herre er gammel?"

¹³ Da sagde HE EN til Abraham: "Hvorfor ler Sara og tænker: Skulde jeg virkelig føde en Søn. nu jeg er gammel?

¹⁴ Skulde noget være umuligt for Herren? Næste År ved denne Tid kommer jeg til dig igen, og så har Sara en Søn!"

¹⁵ Men Sara nægtede og sagde: "Jeg lo ikke!" Thi hun frygtede. Men han sagde: "Jo, du lo!"

¹⁶ Så brød Mændene op derfra hen ad Sodoma til, og Abraham gik med for at følge dem på Vej.

¹⁷ Men HE EN sagde ved sig selv: "Skulde jeg vel dølge for Abraham, hvad jeg har i Sinde at gøre.

¹⁸ da Abraham dog skal blive til et stort og mægtigt Folk, og alle Jordens Folk skal velsignes i ham?

¹⁹ Jeg har jo udvalgt ham, for at han skal pålægge sine Børn og sine Efterkommere at vogte på HE ENs Vej ved at øve etfærdighed og et, for at HE EN kan give Abraham alt, hvad han har forjættet ham."

²⁰ Da sagde HE EN: "Sandelig. Skriget over Sodoma og Gomorra er stort, og deres Synd er såre svar.

²¹ Derfor vil jeg stige ned og se. om de virkelig har handlet så galt. som det lyder til efter Skriget over dem, der har nået mig - derom vil jeg have Vished!"

²² Da vendte Mændene sig bort derfra og drog ad Sodoma til; men HE EN blev stående foran Abraham.

²³ Og Abraham trådte nærmere og sagde: "Vil du virkelig udrydde retfærdige sammen med gudløse?

²⁴ Måske findes der halvtredsindstyve retfærdige i Byen; vil du da virkelig udrydde dem og ikke tilgive Stedet for de halvtredsindstyve retfærdiges Skyld, som findes derinde.

²⁵ Det være langt fra dig at handle således: at ihjelslå retfærdige sammen med gudløse, så de retfærdige får samme Skæbne som de gudløse - det være langt.fra dig! Skulde den, der dømmer hele Jorden, ikke selv øve et?"

²⁶ Da sagde HE EN: "Dersom jeg finder halvtredsindstyve retfærdige i Sodoma, i selve Byen, vil jeg for deres Skyld tilgive hele Stedet!"

²⁷ Men Abraham tog igen til Orde: "Se, jeg har dristet mig til at tale til min Herre, skønt jeg kun er Støv og Aske!

²⁸ Måske mangler der fem i de halvtredsindstyve retfærdige - vil du da ødelægge hele Byen for fems Skyld?" Han svarede: "Jeg vil ikke ødelægge Byen, hvis jeg finder fem og fyrretyve i den."

²⁹ Men han blev ved at tale til ham: "Måske findes der fyrretyve i den!" Han. svarede: "For de fyrretyves Skyld vil jeg lade det være."

³⁰ Men han sagde: "Min Herre må ikke blive vred, men lad mig tale: Måske findes der tredive i den!" Han svarede: "Jeg skal ikke gøre det, hvis jeg finder tredive i den."

³¹ Men han sagde: "Se, jeg har dristet mig til at tale til min Herr: Måske findes de tyve i den!" Han svarede: "For de tyves Skyld vil jeg lade være at ødelægge den."

³² Men han sagde: "Min Herre må ikke blive vred, men lad mig kun tale denne ene Gang endnu; måske findes der ti i den!" Han svarede: "For de tis Skyld vil jeg lade være at ødelægge den."

³³ Da nu HE EN havde talt ud med Abraham, gik han bort; og Abraham vendte tilbage til sin Bolig.

¹ 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,

² and he 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."

³ He urged them greatly, and they came in with him, and entered into his house. He made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

⁴ But 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.

⁵ They 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."

⁶ Lot went out to them to the door, and shut the door after him.

⁷ He said, "Please, my brothers, don't act so wickedly.

⁸ See now, I have two virgin daughters. Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them what seems good to you. Only don't do anything to these men, because they have come under the shadow of my roof."

⁹ They said, "Stand back!" Then they said, "This one fellow came in to live as a foreigner, and he appoints himself a judge. Now will we deal worse with you, than with them!" They pressed hard on the man Lot, and drew near to break the door.

¹⁰ But the men put forth their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door.

¹¹ They 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.

¹² The 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 the place:

¹³ for we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before Yahweh that Yahweh has sent us to destroy it."

¹⁴ Lot 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 to be joking.

¹⁵ When the morning came, then 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."

¹⁶ But he lingered; and the men grabbed his hand, his wife's hand, and his two daughters' hands, Yahweh being merciful to him; and they took him out, and set him outside of the city.

¹⁷ It came to pass, when they had taken them out, that he 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!"

¹⁸ Lot said to them, "Oh, not so, my lord.

¹⁹ See 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.

²⁰ See 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."

²¹ He 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.

²² Hurry, escape there, for I can't do anything until you get there." Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

²³ The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.

²⁴ Then Yahweh rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah sulfur and fire from Yahweh out of the sky.

²⁵ He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew on the ground.

²⁶ But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷ Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before Yahweh.

²⁸ He 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.

²⁹ It happened, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the middle of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.

³⁰ Lot went up out of Zoar, and lived in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to live in Zoar. He lived in a cave with his two daughters.

³¹ The 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.

³² Come, let's make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve our father's seed."

³³ They 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.

³⁴ It came to pass on the next day, that the firstborn said to the younger, "Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine again, tonight. You go in, and lie with him, that we may preserve our father's seed."

³⁵ They made their father drink wine that night also. The younger went and lay with him. He didn't know when she lay down, nor when she got up.

³⁶ Thus both of Lot's daughters were with child by their father.

³⁷ The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day.

³⁸ The younger also bore a son, and called his name Ben Ammi. He is the father of the children of Ammon to this day.