Bible / Genesis
Genesis 19
World English Bible, Catholic edition, in plain modern English. About the translations
Douay-Rheims Bible, Challoner revision, the traditional Catholic English Bible. About the translations
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 come 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 through the door, and shut the door after himself.
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 we will deal worse with you than with them!” They pressed hard on the man Lot, and came near to break the door.
10 But the men reached out 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 whomever 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 so great before the LORD that the LORD 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 the LORD 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, the LORD 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 the LORD rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD 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 Lot’s wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
27 Abraham went up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD.
28 He looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and saw that the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace.
29 When God destroyed the cities of the plain, 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 on 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 family line.”
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’s make him drink wine again tonight. You go in, and lie with him, that we may preserve our father’s family line.”
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.
1 And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of the city. And seeing them, he rose up and went to meet them: and worshipped prostrate to the ground.
2 And said: I beseech you, my lords, turn in to the house of your servant, and lodge there: wash your feet, and in the morning you shall go on your way. And they said: No, but we will abide in the street.
3 He pressed them very much to turn in unto him: and when they were come into his house, he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate:
4 But before they went to bed, the men of the city beset the house, both young and old, all the people together.
5 And they called Lot, and said to him: Where are the men that came in to thee at night? bring them out hither, that we may know them:
6 Lot went out to them, and shut the door after him, and said:
7 Do not so, I beseech you, my brethren, do not commit this evil.
8 I have two daughters who, as yet, have not known man; I will bring them out to you, and abuse you them as it shall please you, so that you do no evil to these men, because they are come in under the shadow of my roof.
9 But they said: Get thee back thither. And again: Thou camest in, said they, as a stranger, was it to be a judge? therefore we will afflict thee more than them. And they pressed very violently upon Lot: and they were even at the point of breaking open the doors.
10 And behold the men put out their hand, and drew in Lot unto them, and shut the door.
11 And them, that were without, they struck with blindness from the least to the greatest, so that they could not find the door.
12 And they said to Lot: Hast thou here any of thine? son in law, or sons, or daughters, all that are thine bring them out of this city:
13 For we will destroy this place, because their cry is grown loud before the Lord, who hath sent us to destroy them.
14 So Lot went out, and spoke to his sons in law that were to have his daughters, and said: Arise: get you out of this place, because the Lord will destroy this city. And he seemed to them to speak as it were in jest.
15 And when it was morning, the angels pressed him, saying: Arise, take thy wife, and the two daughters that thou hast: lest thou also perish in the wickedness of the city.
16 And as he lingered, they took his hand, and the hand of his wife, and of his two daughters, because the Lord spared him.
17 And they brought him forth, and set him without the city: and there they spoke to him, saying: Save thy life: look not back, neither stay thou in all the country about: but save thy self in the mountain, lest thou be also consumed.
18 And Lot said to them: I beseech thee, my Lord,
19 Because thy servant hath found grace before thee, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewn to me, in saving my life, and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil seize me, and I die.
20 There is this city here at hand, to which I may flee, it is a little one, and I shall be saved in it: is it not a little one, and my soul shall live?
21 And he said to him: Behold also in this, I have heard thy prayers, not to destroy the city for which thou hast spoken.
22 Make haste, and be saved there: because I cannot do any thing till thou go in thither. Therefore the name of that city was called Segor.
23 The sun was risen upon the earth, and Lot entered into Segor.
24 And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven.
25 And he destroyed these cities, and all the country about, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the earth.
26 And his wife looking behind her, was turned into a statue of salt.
27 And Abraham got up early in the morning, and in the place where he had stood before with the Lord:
28 He looked towards Sodom and Gomorrha, and the whole land of that country: and he saw the ashes rise up from the earth as the smoke of a furnace.
29 Now when God destroyed the cities of that country, remembering Abraham, he delivered Lot out of the destruction of the cities wherein he had dwelt.
30 And Lot went up out of Segor, and abode in the mountain, and his two daughters with him (for he was afraid to stay in Segor) and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters with him.
31 And the elder said to the younger: Our father is old, and there is no man left on the earth, to come in unto us after the manner of the whole earth.
32 Come, let us make him drunk with wine, and let us lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.
33 And they made their father drink wine that night: and the elder went in, and lay with her father: but he perceived not, neither when his daughter lay down, nor when she rose up.
34 And the next day the elder said to the younger: Behold I lay last night with my father, let us make him drink wine also to night, and thou shalt lie with him, that we may save seed of our father.
35 They made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in, and lay with him: and neither then did he perceive when she lay down, nor when she rose up.
36 So the two daughters of Lot were with child by their father.
37 And the elder bore a son, and she called his name Moab: he is the father of the Moabites unto this day.
38 The younger also bore a son, and she called his name Ammon; that is, the son of my people: he is the father of the Ammonites unto this day.
This chapter in the Catechism and the early Church
Where the Catechism of the Catholic Church cites these verses (from its footnotes on vatican.va), and where the earliest Church Fathers quote them (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, public domain). Short quotes only; follow the links for the full text. The Catechism uses modern verse numbers, so these are listed by chapter.
- Genesis 19:10 in modern Bibles
Read the Fathers
“And Lot sat in the gate of Sodom;' and what follows until, But the men put forth their hands, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door of the house;”
Quoted in Dialogue with Trypho, St. Justin Martyr (c. AD 160), Chapter LVI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
- Genesis 19:13 in modern BiblesCCC 1867
Read the Catechism
- CCC 1867 “The catechetical tradition also recalls that there are "sins that cry to heaven": the blood of Abel, The sin of the Sodomites,…”
- Genesis 19:16 in modern Bibles
Read the Fathers
“And the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulphur and fire from the Lord out of heaven; and He overthrew these cities, and all the neighbourhood.' ”
Quoted in Dialogue with Trypho, St. Justin Martyr (c. AD 160), Chapter LVI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
- Genesis 19:23 in modern Bibles
Read the Fathers
“It is thus: The sun was risen on the earth, and Lot entered into Segor (Zoar); and the Lord rained on Sodom sulphur and fire from the Lord out of heaven, and overthrew these cities and all the neighbourhood.' ”
Quoted in Dialogue with Trypho, St. Justin Martyr (c. AD 160), Chapter LVI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
- Genesis 19:24 in modern Bibles
Read the Fathers
“And again, referring to the destruction of the Sodomites, the Scripture says, "Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah fire and brimstone from the Lord out of heaven.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book III, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter VI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
- Genesis 19:27 in modern Bibles
Read the Fathers
“And lifting up his eyes, he saw, and behold, three men stood before him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the door of his tent; and he bowed himself toward the ground, and said;' " (and so on;)”
Quoted in Dialogue with Trypho, St. Justin Martyr (c. AD 160), Chapter LVI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
- Genesis 19:28 in modern Bibles
Read the Fathers
“And lifting up his eyes, he saw, and behold, three men stood before him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the door of his tent; and he bowed himself toward the ground, and said;' " (and so on;)”
Quoted in Dialogue with Trypho, St. Justin Martyr (c. AD 160), Chapter LVI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
- Genesis 19:31 in modern Bibles
Read the Fathers
“… the younger, And there is not a man on the earth to enter in unto us after the manner of all the earth: come, let us make our father drunk with wine, and let us lie with him, and raise up seed from our father.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
- Genesis 19:32 in modern Bibles
Read the Fathers
“… the younger, And there is not a man on the earth to enter in unto us after the manner of all the earth: come, let us make our father drunk with wine, and let us lie with him, and raise up seed from our father.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
- Genesis 19:33 in modern Bibles
Read the Fathers
“As says the Scripture: "And that night the elder went in and lay with her father; and Lot knew not when she lay down, nor when she arose.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
- Genesis 19:35 in modern Bibles
Read the Fathers
“… and lay with her father; and Lot knew not when she lay down, nor when she arose." And the same thing took place in the case of the younger: "And he knew not," it is said, "when she slept with him, nor when she arose.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1