⁷ and if he rescued righteous Lot, who was very distressed by the unrestrained immorality of the wicked people ⁸ (while that righteous man was living among them, he was tormented in his righteous soul day after day by the lawless deeds he saw and heard); ⁹ then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under guard until the day of judgment, in order to punish them.