Birth of Isaac Promised

18 Now ^(A)the Lord appeared to ^[a]Abraham by the ^[b](B)oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. ² When he raised his eyes and looked, behold, three ^(C)men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed down to the ground, ³ and said, “^[c]My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not ^[d]pass Your servant by. ⁴ Please let a little water be brought and ^(D)wash ^[e]your feet, and make yourselves comfortable under the tree; ⁵ and I will ^[f](E)bring a piece of bread, so that you may ^[g]refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have ^[h]visited your servant.” And they said, “So do as you have said.” ⁶ So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “^[i]Quickly, prepare three ^[j]measures of fine flour, knead it, and make bread cakes.” ⁷ Abraham also ran to the herd, and took a tender and ^[k]choice calf and gave it to the servant, and he hurried to prepare it. ⁸ He took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he was standing by them under the tree ^[l]as they ate.

⁹ Then they said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” ¹⁰ He said, “^(F)I will certainly return to you ^[m]at this time next year; and behold, your wife Sarah will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him. ¹¹ Now ^(G)Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was ^(H)past ^[n]childbearing. ¹² So Sarah laughed ^[o]to herself, saying, “^(I)After I have become old, am I to have pleasure, my ^(J)lord being old also?” ¹³ But the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I actually give birth to a child, when I am so old?’ ^14 (K)Is anything too ^[p]difficult for the Lord? At the ^(L)appointed time I will return to you, ^[q]at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” ¹⁵ Sarah denied it, however, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

¹⁶ Then ^(M)the men rose up from there, and looked down toward Sodom; and Abraham was walking with them to send them off.

The Doom of Sodom

19 Now the ^(A)two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. When ^(B)Lot saw them, he stood up to meet them and ^[a]bowed down with his face to the ground. ² And he said, “Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” They said, “No, but we shall spend the night in the public square.” ³ Yet he strongly urged them, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; ^(C)and he prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. ⁴ Before they lay down, ^(D)the men of the city—the men of Sodom—surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people ^[b]from every quarter; ⁵ and they called to Lot and said to him, “^(E)Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may ^[c]have relations with them.” ⁶ But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him, ⁷ and said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. ⁸ Now look, ^(F)I have two daughters who have not ^[d]had relations with any man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them ^[e]whatever you like; only do not do anything to these men, because they have come under the ^[f]shelter of my roof.” ⁹ But they said, “Get out of the way!” They also said, “This one came in ^[g]as a foreigner, and already ^(G)he is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them!” So they pressed hard against ^[h]Lot and moved forward to break the door. ¹⁰ But ^(H)the men reached out their ^[i]hands and brought Lot into the house ^[j]with them, and shut the door. ¹¹ Then ^(I)they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, from the small to the great, so that they became weary of trying to find the doorway.

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 ^(J)their outcry has become so great before the Lord that ^(K)the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” ¹⁴ So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who ^[k]were to marry his daughters, and said, “Up, ^(L)get out of this place, for the Lord is destroying the city.” ^(M)But he appeared to his sons-in-law ^[l]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 ^[m]punishment of the city.” ¹⁶ But he hesitated. So the men ^(N)grasped his hand and the hand of his wife and the ^[n]hands of his two daughters, because ^(O)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, ^[o]one said, “^(P)Escape for your life! ^(Q)Do not look behind you, and do not stay ^[p]anywhere in the ^(R)surrounding area; escape to ^(S)the ^[q]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 ^[r]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?) ^[s]so that my life may be saved.” ²¹ And he said to him, “Behold, I grant you this ^[t]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 ^[u](T)Zoar.

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

²⁷ Now Abraham got up early in the morning and went to ^(X)the place where he had stood before the Lord;