The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

Abraham stood with three men who looked toward Sodom, and Yahweh stated he would go down to see if the outcry against the city matched the reports he had received (Genesis 18:16-21). Abraham remained before Yahweh and inquired if the righteous would be swept away with the wicked, negotiating for the city's preservation if fifty, forty-five, forty, thirty, twenty, or ten righteous people were found within it. Yahweh agreed not to destroy it for the sake of ten, then went his way (Genesis 18:23-33).

Two angels arrived at the gate of Sodom in the evening, where Lot insisted they stay at his house rather than the town square. During the night, the men of the city surrounded the house and demanded the guests be brought out for sexual relations. Lot offered his two virgin daughters instead, but the men refused and attempted to break down the door until the visitors struck the men with blindness (Genesis 19:1-11). The visitors then instructed Lot to gather his family to leave, as Yahweh had sent them to destroy the place.

Lot warned his sons-in-law, but they thought he was joking. At dawn, the angels hurried Lot, his wife, and his daughters out of the city, seizing their hands because Yahweh had compassion on them (Genesis 19:14-16). Although instructed to flee to the hills, Lot requested to flee to the small town of Zoar instead, and the sun had risen when he arrived. Yahweh then rained sulfur and fire from the heavens, destroying the cities, the inhabitants, and the vegetation (Genesis 19:23-25). Lot's wife looked back and became a pillar of salt, but the text does not say why she looked back. Abraham looked toward the land the next morning and saw dense smoke rising from the earth (Genesis 19:27-28).