LITMIR.BIZ

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      18And the Lord appeared unto him by the terebinths of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; ²and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood over against him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed down to the earth, ³and said: 'My lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant. ⁴Let now a little water be fetched, and wash your feet, and recline yourselves under the tree. ⁵And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and stay ye your heart; after that ye shall pass on; forasmuch as ye are come to your servant.' And they said: 'So do, as thou hast said.' ⁶And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said: 'Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes.' ⁷And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto the servant; and he hastened to dress it. ⁸And he took curd, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat. ⁹And they said unto him: 'Where is Sarah thy wife?' And he said: 'Behold, in the tent.' ¹⁰And He said: 'I will certainly return unto thee when the season cometh round; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son.' And Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him.—¹¹Now Abraham and Sarah were old, and well stricken in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.—¹²And Sarah laughed within herself, saying: 'After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?' ¹³And the Lord said unto Abraham: 'Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying: Shall I of a surety bear a child, who am old? ¹⁴Is any thing too hard for the Lord. At the set time I will return unto thee, when the season cometh round, and Sarah shall have a son.' ¹⁵Then Sarah denied, saying: 'I laughed not'; for she was afraid. And He said: 'Nay; but thou didst laugh.'

      ¹⁶And the men rose up from thence, and looked out toward Sodom; and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way. ¹⁷And the Lord said: 'Shall I hide from Abraham that which I am doing; ¹⁸seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? ¹⁹For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him.' ²⁰And the Lord said: 'Verily, the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and, verily, their sin is exceeding grievous. ²¹I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto Me; and if not, I will know.' ²²And the men turned from thence, and went toward Sodom; but Abraham stood yet before the Lord. ²³And Abraham drew near, and said: 'Wilt Thou indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴Peradventure there are fifty righteous within the city; wilt Thou indeed sweep away and not forgive the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? ²⁵That be far from Thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, that so the righteous should be as the wicked; that be far from Thee; shall not the judge of all the earth do justly?' ²⁶And the Lord said: 'If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will forgive all the place for their sake.' ²⁷And Abraham answered and said: 'Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, who am but dust and ashes. ²⁸Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous; wilt Thou destroy all the city for lack of five?' And He said: 'I will not destroy it, if I find there forty and five.' ²⁹And he spoke unto Him yet again, and said: 'Peradventure there shall be forty found there.' And He said: 'I will not do it for the forty's sake.' ³⁰And he said: 'Oh, let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Peradventure there shall thirty be found there.' And He said: 'I will not do it, if I find thirty there.' ³¹And he said: 'Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord. Peradventure there shall be twenty found there.' And He said: 'I will not destroy it for the twenty's sake.' ³²And he said: 'Oh, let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once. Peradventure ten shall be found there.' And He said: 'I will not destroy it for the ten's sake.' ³³And the Lord went His way, as soon as He had left off speaking to Abraham; and Abraham returned unto his place.

19And the two angels came to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom; and Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them; and he fell down on his face to the earth; ²and he said: 'Behold now, my lords, turn aside, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your way.' And they said: 'Nay; but we will abide in the broad place all night.' ³And he urged them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat. ⁴But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both young and old, all the people from every quarter. ⁵And they called unto Lot, and said unto him: 'Where are the men that came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.' ⁶And Lot went out unto them to the door, and shut the door after him. ⁷And he said: 'I pray you, my brethren, do not so wickedly. ⁸Behold now, I have two daughters that have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes; only unto these men do nothing; forasmuch as they are come under the shadow of my roof.' ⁹And they said: 'Stand back.' And they said: 'This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs play the judge; now will we deal worse with thee, than with them.' And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and drew near to break the door. ¹⁰But the men put forth their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and the door they shut. ¹¹And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great; so that they wearied themselves to find the door. ¹²And the men said unto Lot: 'Hast thou here any besides? son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whomsoever thou hast in the city; bring them out of the place; ¹³for we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxed great before the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it.' ¹⁴And Lot went out, and spoke unto his sons-in-law, who married his daughters, and said: 'Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy the city.' But he seemed unto his sons-in-law as one that jested. ¹⁵And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying: 'Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters that are here; lest thou be swept away in the iniquity of the city.' ¹⁶But he lingered; and the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord being merciful unto him. And they brought him forth, and set him without the city. ¹⁷And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said: 'Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the Plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be swept away.' ¹⁸And Lot said unto them: 'Oh, not so, my lord; ¹⁹behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shown unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest the evil overtake me, and I die. ²⁰Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one; oh, let me escape thither—is it not a little one?—and my soul shall live.' ²¹And he said unto him: 'See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which thou hast spoken. ²²Hasten thou, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither.'—Therefore the name of the city was called ²⁰Zoar.— ²³The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot came unto Zoar. ²⁴Then the Lord caused to rain upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; ²⁵and He overthrow those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. ²⁶But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. ²⁷And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. ²⁸And he looked out toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the Plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace.

      ²⁹And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the Plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt.

      ³⁰And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar; and he dwelt in

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