²² As the men turned and walked on toward Sodom, Abraham remained standing before the Lord. ²³ Then Abraham drew near and said: “Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴ Suppose there were fifty righteous people in the city; would you really sweep away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people within it? ²⁵ Far be it from you to do such a thing, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike! Far be it from you! Should not the judge of all the world do what is just?”^{(A) 26} The Lord replied: If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake. ²⁷ Abraham spoke up again: “See how I am presuming to speak to my Lord, though I am only dust and ashes!^{(B) 28} What if there are five less than fifty righteous people? Will you destroy the whole city because of those five?” I will not destroy it, he answered, if I find forty-five there. ²⁹ But Abraham persisted, saying, “What if only forty are found there?” He replied: I will refrain from doing it for the sake of the forty. ³⁰ Then he said, “Do not let my Lord be angry if I go on. What if only thirty are found there?” He replied: I will refrain from doing it if I can find thirty there. ³¹ Abraham went on, “Since I have thus presumed to speak to my Lord, what if there are no more than twenty?” I will not destroy it, he answered, for the sake of the twenty. ³² But he persisted: “Please, do not let my Lord be angry if I speak up this last time. What if ten are found there?” For the sake of the ten, he replied, I will not destroy it.^(C)

³³ The Lord departed as soon as he had finished speaking with Abraham, and Abraham returned home.

¹⁵ As dawn was breaking, the angels urged Lot on, saying, “Come on! Take your wife with you and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.” ¹⁶ When he hesitated, the men, because of the Lord’s compassion for him, seized his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters and led them to safety outside the city. ¹⁷ As soon as they had brought them outside, they said: “Flee for your life! Do not look back or stop anywhere on the Plain. Flee to the hills at once, or you will be swept away.”^{(A) 18} “Oh, no, my lords!” Lot replied to them. ¹⁹ “You have already shown favor to your servant, doing me the great kindness of saving my life. But I cannot flee to the hills, or the disaster will overtake and kill me. ²⁰ Look, this town ahead is near enough to escape to. It is only a small place.^[a] Let me flee there—is it not a small place?—to save my life.” ²¹ “Well, then,” he replied, “I grant you this favor too. I will not overthrow the town you have mentioned. ²² Hurry, escape there! I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” That is why the town is called Zoar.^(B)

²³ The sun had risen over the earth when Lot arrived in Zoar, ²⁴ and the Lord rained down sulfur upon Sodom and Gomorrah, fire from the Lord out of heaven.^{(C) 25} He overthrew^[b] those cities and the whole Plain, together with the inhabitants of the cities and the produce of the soil.^(D)

⁶ and if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah [to destruction], reducing them to ashes, making them an example for the godless [people] of what is coming;^{(A) 7} and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man oppressed by the licentious conduct of unprincipled people