Destruction of Sodom

The city of Sodom was exceedingly sinful, so the LORD God destroyed it with a rain of fiery sulphur, but He saved Abram's nephew Lot and Lot's daughters from harm.

God blessed Abram and his family so much that he and his nephew, Lot, couldn’t stay together. Their flocks and herds and possessions were too much for one place! So Abram told Lot to choose, and where he wanted to live, and whichever direction Lot went, Abram would go the other way.

Lot took a look around. He saw that the plain of the Jordan Valley was well watered—almost like the Garden of God—and as beautiful as Egypt. He chose that valley and headed east with his flocks and servants. So Abram settled in Canaan while Lot moved his tents near Sodom. The people of Sodom were wicked, continually sinning against the Lord.

Later, Lot moved right into the city. Then two angels arrived at Sodom one evening while Lot was sitting at the city gate. He got up to welcome them. Bowing, he said, “Please come stay the night at my house. Wash up. You can rise early and be on your way refreshed.”

They said, “No, we’ll sleep in the street.” But he wouldn't take no for an answer; so they relented and went with him. Lot fixed a hot meal for them, and they ate.

Before they went to bed, men from all over Sodom, young and old, surrounded the house. They yelled, “Where are your visitors? Send them out so that we can have sex with them!”

Lot went outside, shut the door behind him, and said, “Friends, please don't do such a terrible thing! I have two single daughters. I’ll bring them out, and you can have your pleasure with them. But don't harm these men. They are guests in my home.”

“Get out of here! You’re an outsider; and now you’re going to tell us what we can and can’t do? We’ll do worse things to you than we’re going to do to them!” They rushed Lot to break down the door. But the two angels reached out and pulled Lot safely inside. Then they struck the crowd blind, leaving them confused, groping in the dark.

The two men said to Lot, “The terrible things done in this city are rising up to God. He sent us to destroy this wicked place. If you have any family here, get them out—fast!”

Lot went out to warn his daughters’ fiancés, “Hurry, get out of the city; God is about to destroy it!” But they just laughed at him.

At daybreak the angels pushed Lot to get a move on. “Hurry! Get your wife and daughters out of here before it’s too late and you’re caught in the judgment of the city.”

Lot just stood there! But because God wanted to save them, the men grabbed their arms and led them to safety outside the city. Then, one said, “Now run for your lives! Don’t look back! Don’t stop anywhere in the valley—run for the hills, or you’ll be swept away.”

The sun was high in the sky when Lot arrived at Zoar. Then God rained brimstone and fire down on Sodom and Gomorrah—a river of lava from God out of the sky! He destroyed the cities, the entire plain, everyone who lived in the cities, and all the vegetation. But Lot’s wife turned to go back. In an instant she became a pillar of salt.

Abram got up early the next morning and went to the place where he had recently stood with God. He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and saw smoke rising from all over the land—it was like a flaming furnace.

And that’s the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the valley where Lot lived. However, God, who is just, holy, merciful, and slow to get angry, remembered a promise He made to Abram and got Lot out of there before he blasted those cities off the face of the earth.