¹² Then the two men said to Lot, “Whom else do you have here? A son-in-law and your sons and daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place; ¹³ for we are about to destroy this place, because ^(A)their outcry has become so great before the Lord that ^(B)the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” ¹⁴ So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who ^[a]were to marry his daughters, and said, “Up, ^(C)get out of this place, for the Lord is destroying the city.” ^(D)But he appeared to his sons-in-law ^[b]to be joking.

¹⁵ When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the ^[c]punishment of the city.” ¹⁶ But he hesitated. So the men ^(E)grasped his hand and the hand of his wife and the ^[d]hands of his two daughters, because ^(F)the compassion of the Lord was upon him; and they brought him out and put him outside the city. ¹⁷ When they had brought them outside, ^[e]one said, “^(G)Escape for your life! ^(H)Do not look behind you, and do not stay ^[f]anywhere in the ^(I)surrounding area; escape to ^(J)the ^[g]mountains, or you will be swept away.” ¹⁸ But Lot said to them, “Oh no, my lords! ¹⁹ Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your compassion, which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the ^[h]mountains, for the disaster will overtake me and I will die; ²⁰ now behold, this town is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please, let me escape there (is it not small?) ^[i]so that my life may be saved.” ²¹ And he said to him, “Behold, I grant you this ^[j]request also, not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken. ²² Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the town was named ^[k](K)Zoar.

²³ The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. ²⁴ Then the Lord ^(L)rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of heaven, ²⁵ and ^(M)He overthrew those cities, and all the surrounding area, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. ²⁶ But ^[l]Lot’s wife, from behind him, ^(N)looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.