Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed

19 The two angels^(A) arrived at Sodom^(B) in the evening, and Lot^(C) was sitting in the gateway of the city.^(D) When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.^{(E) 2} “My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet^(F) and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.”

“No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”^(G)

³ But he insisted^(H) so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house.^(I) He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast,^(J) and they ate.^{(K) 4} Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom^(L)—both young and old—surrounded the house. ⁵ They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”^(M)

⁶ Lot went outside to meet them^(N) and shut the door behind him ⁷ and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. ⁸ Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”^(O)

⁹ “Get out of our way,” they replied. “This fellow came here as a foreigner,^(P) and now he wants to play the judge!^(Q) We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.

¹⁰ But the men^(R) inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. ¹¹ Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness^(S) so that they could not find the door.

¹² The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you?^(T) Get them out of here, ¹³ because we^(U) are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great^(V) that he has sent us to destroy it.”^(W)

¹⁴ So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry^[a] his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!^(X)” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.^(Y)

¹⁵ With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away^(Z) when the city is punished.^(AA)”

¹⁶ When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters^(AB) and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them.^{(AC) 17} As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives!^(AD) Don’t look back,^(AE) and don’t stop anywhere in the plain!^(AF) Flee to the mountains^(AG) or you will be swept away!”

¹⁸ But Lot said to them, “No, my lords,^[b] please! ¹⁹ Your^[c] servant has found favor in your^[d] eyes,^(AH) and you^[e] have shown great kindness^(AI) to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains;^(AJ) this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. ²⁰ Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it—it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.”

²¹ He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request^(AK) too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. ²² But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar.^[f](AL))

²³ By the time Lot reached Zoar,^(AM) the sun had risen over the land. ²⁴ Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur^(AN) on Sodom and Gomorrah^(AO)—from the Lord out of the heavens.^{(AP) 25} Thus he overthrew those cities^(AQ) and the entire plain,^(AR) destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land.^{(AS) 26} But Lot’s wife looked back,^(AT) and she became a pillar of salt.^(AU)

²⁷ Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord.^{(AV) 28} He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.^(AW)

²⁹ So when God destroyed the cities of the plain,^(AX) he remembered^(AY) Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe^(AZ) that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.^(BA)

Lot and His Daughters

³⁰ Lot and his two daughters left Zoar^(BB) and settled in the mountains,^(BC) for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. ³¹ One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth. ³² Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line^(BD) through our father.”^(BE)

³³ That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.^(BF)

³⁴ The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.”^{(BG) 35} So they got their father to drink wine^(BH) that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.^(BI)

³⁶ So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father.^{(BJ) 37} The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab^[g];^(BK) he is the father of the Moabites^(BL) of today. ³⁸ The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi^[h]; he is the father of the Ammonites^[i](BM) of today.

19 When Jehoshaphat king of Judah returned safely to his palace in Jerusalem, ² Jehu^(A) the seer, the son of Hanani, went out to meet him and said to the king, “Should you help the wicked^(B) and love^[a] those who hate the Lord?^(C) Because of this, the wrath^(D) of the Lord is on you. ³ There is, however, some good^(E) in you, for you have rid the land of the Asherah poles^(F) and have set your heart on seeking God.^(G)”

Jehoshaphat Appoints Judges

⁴ Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem, and he went out again among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim and turned them back to the Lord, the God of their ancestors. ⁵ He appointed judges^(H) in the land, in each of the fortified cities of Judah. ⁶ He told them, “Consider carefully what you do,^(I) because you are not judging for mere mortals^(J) but for the Lord, who is with you whenever you give a verdict. ⁷ Now let the fear of the Lord be on you. Judge carefully, for with the Lord our God there is no injustice^(K) or partiality^(L) or bribery.”

⁸ In Jerusalem also, Jehoshaphat appointed some of the Levites,^(M) priests^(N) and heads of Israelite families to administer^(O) the law of the Lord and to settle disputes. And they lived in Jerusalem. ⁹ He gave them these orders: “You must serve faithfully and wholeheartedly in the fear of the Lord. ¹⁰ In every case that comes before you from your people who live in the cities—whether bloodshed or other concerns of the law, commands, decrees or regulations—you are to warn them not to sin against the Lord;^(P) otherwise his wrath will come on you and your people. Do this, and you will not sin.

¹¹ “Amariah the chief priest will be over you in any matter concerning the Lord, and Zebadiah son of Ishmael, the leader of the tribe of Judah, will be over you in any matter concerning the king, and the Levites will serve as officials before you. Act with courage,^(Q) and may the Lord be with those who do well.”

The Parable of the Weeds

²⁴ Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like^(A) a man who sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵ But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. ²⁶ When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

²⁷ “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’

²⁸ “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.

“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

²⁹ “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”^(B)

The Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast^(C)(D)

³¹ He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like^(E) a mustard seed,^(F) which a man took and planted in his field. ³² Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”^(G)

³³ He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like^(H) yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds^[a] of flour^(I) until it worked all through the dough.”^(J)

³⁴ Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable.^{(K) 35} So was fulfilled^(L) what was spoken through the prophet:

The Parable of the Weeds Explained

³⁶ Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable^(N) of the weeds in the field.”

³⁷ He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man.^{(O) 38} The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one,^{(P) 39} and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest^(Q) is the end of the age,^(R) and the harvesters are angels.^(S)

⁴⁰ “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. ⁴¹ The Son of Man^(T) will send out his angels,^(U) and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. ⁴² They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.^{(V) 43} Then the righteous will shine like the sun^(W) in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.^(X)