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It was evening when the two
angels came to Sodom. Did they find there ten righteous
people? No; there were not ten righteous in Sodom; and therefore it
could not be saved. But the Lord remembered Abraham's prayer: and He
remembered righteous Lot, who loved God all alone in the wicked city, and
sent the angels to save him.
Lot was sitting in the gate of
Sodom; and when he saw the angels, he rose, and bowed respectfully, and
brought them to his house, and gave them food. Then they said,
"Whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring out; for we will destroy
this place." So Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, and
said, "Get you out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this
city." But they would not believe what he said. And when
the morning was come, the angels hastened Lot, and said "Arise, take
thy wife and thy two daughters which are here;" and while he
lingered, 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. Then they said, "Escape for thy
life to the mountain; stay not; look not behind thee." But Lot
said, "I can not escape to the mountain, lest some evil take
me. There is a little city near to flee unto, let me escape
thither." And God mercifully allowed Lot to go to that little
city. It was called Zoar.
So Lot, and his wife, and his two
daughters, escaped from Sodom; and then "the Lord rained upon Sodom
and Gomorrah, brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven." All
the cities were destroyed; all the people died. Lot was saved, with
his two daughters; but "his wife looked back from behind him, and she
became a pillar of salt."
In the morning, Abraham rose very
early, and went to look toward Sodom. No beautiful city was there
now; it was all black with smoke; the houses destroyed; the people killed.
But God had remembered Abraham's prayer for Lot, and kept him
safely. But Lot had no house to live in; no riches, no possessions:
he lived in a cave, with his two daughters, and was thankful to be even
there.
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