Sodom and Gomorrah

Title ideas: God destroyed cities where people did wicked things. God destroyed Sodom.God condemns evil. Righteous or evil?

One day, three men [actually the Lord and two angels in human form] came to tell Abraham and Sarah about the son they would have. Afterward, they [the three men] left to go observe [see] the people in Sodom city. Abraham walked a short distance with them as they left.

The Lord considered Abraham to be his friend. He intended to bless all the nations on the earth through Abraham, so [therefore] he told Abraham what he was going to do.

He said to Abraham, “I have heard that the people who live in the cities called Sodom and Gomorrah do very evil things. So I will go down now to confirm that those reports are true.”

Two of the men went on toward Sodom, but the Lord remained with Abraham for a while.

Abraham asked the Lord, “Will you really treat righteous [good acting] people and wicked [bad acting] people the same? If you find fifty righteous people in the city, will you still destroy it? I know you are the Judge for all people and you do only what is right.”

The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in Sodom, I will not destroy the entire city for their sake.”

Then Abraham asked again, “Even though I am worth nothing [more than dust and ashes], let me speak again. If there are only forty-five righteous people in the city, will you destroy the city?”

And the Lord said, “If I find forty-five righteous people there, I will not destroy the city.”

Then Abraham asked the Lord for forty. Then he asked again for thirty, and then for twenty. And each time he asked, the Lord responded to him with the same answer.

Finally Abraham said, “Lord, please do not get angry; I will speak only once more.”

“If you find only ten righteous people in the city, will you destroy it?”

The Lord said, “For the sake of the ten righteous people, I will not destroy the city.”

When the Lord finished talking, He went on his way. Then Abraham returned [came back] to his tent.

That evening, down in the valley, the two men came to [entered into] the city of Sodom. Those two men were angels sent from God.

Lot, Abraham’s nephew, met the two men and insisted [pressed them] that they stay at his house that night. Lot prepared a big feast for them to eat.

After eating, as they [Lot and his household] were preparing to sleep, all the men of Sodom surrounded Lot’s house and continuously shouted to Lot, “Bring out the men [your visitors] who came to your house so we can have sex [play sex / have sexual relations] with them!!”

Lot stepped outside and shut the door behind him. Then he said to the crowd, “Please, my friends, don’t do such an evil thing. These men are my guests and I must protect them!”

But the men of Sodom refused to listen to Lot. They wanted so much to play [have] sex with [rape] the men that they began to attack [press on] Lot, trying to break the door [to his house].

But the two messengers [angels] pulled Lot back into his house and bolted [strongly shut / secured] the door. Then the messengers [angels] caused the men of Sodom to become blind so they could not find the door. Finally, the evil men stopped trying to get inside.

Then the messengers [angels] said to Lot, “If you have any relatives here, quickly get them out of this wicked city because the Lord God has sent us to completely destroy it!”

So Lot rushed out [from his house into the city] to warn the two men who were going to marry his two daughters He said to them urgently, “Quick, get out of the city because the Lord is going to destroy it!” But those two men thought Lot was joking, so they did not leave.

At dawn the next morning, Lot was slow to leave the city. So the two messengers [angels] seized Lot, his wife and daughters by their hands, to quickly get them outside [away from] the city. The messengers [angels] told them, “Run away quickly. Do not stop in the valley! Do not look back! Escape to the mountains, or you will die [along with the wicked people in the cities]!”

Lot said, “Please don’t make me [us] go all the way to those mountains. Just let me [us] go to that small village nearby. Then my life [our lives] will be saved.”

The messenger [angel] agreed and said to him, “Alright, but hurry! I cannot do anything until you are safely there.”

The morning sun was shining as [already risen when] Lot’s family reached the small village.

Then the Lord caused fire and burning sulfur to fall down like rain from the sky on the cities called Sodom and Gomorrah. Except for the small village where Lot’s family were, the Lord completely destroyed all the other cities and villages in that valley [plain] because the people who lived there were so wicked.

Lot and his two daughters were safe. But Lot’s wife looked back. God caused her to become a pillar of salt because she disobeyed God’s messengers and looked back toward Sodom.

Abraham watched from his tent camp in the hills as smoke rose from the cities down below [in the valley]. God had remembered Abraham’s request and had mercy on Lot. So God rescued [saved] him from the disaster that destroyed the cities and everyone who lived [dwelt] down there.