¹The two angels came to Sodom in the evening while Lot was sitting in the city’s gateway. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face toward the ground. ²He said, “Here, my lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house. Stay the night and wash your feet. Then you can be on your way early in the morning.” “No,” they replied, “we’ll spend the night in the town square.” ³But he urged them persistently, so they turned aside with him and entered his house. He prepared a feast for them, including bread baked without yeast, and they ate. ⁴Before they could lie down to sleep, all the men—both young and old, from every part of the city of Sodom—surrounded the house. ⁵They shouted to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so we can take carnal knowledge of them!”⁶Lot went outside to them, shutting the door behind him.⁷He said, “No, my brothers! Don’t act so wickedly! ⁸Look, I have two daughters who have never been intimate with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do to them whatever you please. Only don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.” ⁹“Out of our way!” they cried, “This man came to live here as a foreigner, and now he dares to judge us! We’ll do more harm to you than to them!” They kept pressing in on Lot until they were close enough to break down the door. ¹⁰So the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house as they shut the door. ¹¹Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, from the youngest to the oldest, with blindness. The men outside wore themselves out trying to find the door. ¹²Then the two visitors said to Lot, “Who else do you have here? Do you have any sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or other relatives in the city? Get them out of this place ¹³because we are about to destroy it. The outcry against this place is so great before the Lord that he has sent us to destroy it.”¹⁴Then Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were going to marry his daughters. He said, “Quick, get out of this place because the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was ridiculing them.