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8 and gave it to a servant and urged him to dress it quickly. And he took butter and milk and the calf which he had dressed and set it before them, and they ate, and he stood by them under the 9 tree. And he said to Abraham, Where is Sarah thy wife? And 10 Abraham said, Behold! in the tent. Then he said, I will return

and come to thee about this time twelve month, and Sarah thy wife 11 will have a son. And Sarah heard, being at the door of the tent behind them. (Now Abraham and Sarah were far advanced in life, and it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.) 12 And Sarah smiled within herself, saying, It hath never been 13 so with me even to this time, and my lord is old. And the Lord

said to Abraham, Why did Sarah smile within herself, saying, 14 Shall I indeed bring forth? I who am old? Can any thing be

impossible with God? About this time twelve month I will re15 turn to thee, and Sarah shall have a son. Then Sarah denied,

saying, I did not smile, for she was terrified. And he said to her, Nay, but thou didst smile.

16 Then the men arose and directed their course towards

Sodom and Gomorra, and Abraham went with them to conduct 17 them on the way. And the Lord said, Shall I hide from my 18 servant Abraham, what I am going to do? Abraham shall in

deed become a nation great and numerous; and by him all the 19 nations of the earth are to be blessed. For I know that he will command his children and his household after him, who are to keep the ways of the Lord, to execute judgment and justice, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham all that he hath spoken to him.

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Then the Lord said, The cry of Sodom and Gomorra hath been multiplied before me, and their sins are exceedingly 21 great, therefore I am come down to see whether they do to

each other according to the cry which is come to me; and if 22 not, that I may know. Now the men had turned thence and

were gone on to Sodom, but Abraham was still standing before 23 the Lord. And Abraham drew near and said, Thou wouldst

not destroy a righteous with a wicked man! Shall a righteous 24 man be as the wicked? Should there be fifty righteous men in the city, wilt thou destroy them? Wilt thou not spare the whole city for the sake of fifty righteous, if they be there? 25 Thou canst not do such a thing as this to slay the righteous

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with the wicked. Shall the righteous be as the wicked? No, no; Thou who judgest the whole earth; wilt not thou execute 26 judgment? And the Lord said, If there be among the Sodomites fifty righteous men in the city, I will spare the whole 27 city and the whole place for their sake. Then Abraham answered and said, Now I have taken upon me to speak to my Lord, I who am but dust and ashes! But if the fifty righteous be lessened to forty five wilt thou for want of the five destroy 28 the whole city? And he said, I will not destroy it, if I find 29 there forty five. And Abraham proceeded farther to speak to 30 him and said, But if there be found there forty? And he said For the sake of the forty I will not destroy it. Then Abraham said, Wilt thou, O Lord, be offended if I speak? But if 31 there be found there thirty? And he said, I will not destroy

it, for the sake of the thirty. Again Abraham said, Since I am permitted to speak to the Lord, If twenty be found there? 32 And he said I will not destroy it, if I find twenty there. And Abraham said, Wilt thou, O Lord, be offended, if I speak yet once more? But if ten be found there? And he said, For the sake of ten I will not destroy it. Then the Lord having done speaking to Abraham departed, and Abraham returned to his place.

XIX. Now in the evening the two angels came to Sodom, and Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom, and upon seeing them, Lot arose to meet them, and made obeisance with his face to 2 the ground, and said, I intreat you, my lords, turn aside to the house of your servant and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and rising early in the morning, you may proceed on 3 your journey. And they said, No, we will lodge in the street. Then he pressed them, and they went home with him. And when they came to his house, he made an entertainment for them; and baked for them unleavened cakes, and they did eat. 4 But before they went to rest, the men of the city, the Sodo

mites, surrounded the house, both young and old-all the 5 people in a body. And they called out Lot and said to him, Where are the men who came to thee this night? Bring them 6 out to us that we may know them. Whereupon Lot went out to 7 them into the porch and shut the door after him: And he said

to them, You must not brethren, commit such wickedness.

8 I have two daughters who have not known man; Let me bring out these to you, and use them as you please; only do no injury to these men in as much as they have come under the shelter of 9 my roof. And they said to him, Begone there! Thou camest to sojourn, didst thou also, to be our judge? Now therefore we will treat thee worse than them. And they pressed violently against the man, Lot; and came near to break open the 10 door. Then the men stretched forth their hands and pulled Lot to them into the house and shut the door of the house, and 11 smote with blindness the men who were at the door of the

house, both small and great, so that they were tired seeking 12 the door. Then the men said to Lot, Hast thou here sons in law, or sons or daughters? or if thou hast any other in this city take them out of this place, for we are going to destroy this 13 place. For their cry is come up before the Lord, and the Lord 14 hath sent us to destroy it. Upon this Lot went out and spoke

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to his sons in law, who had bethrothed his daughters and said, Arise and depart from this place; for the Lord is going to destroy this city. But he seemed to his sons in law to be 15 mocking. Now when it was break of day the angels hurried Lot, saying, Arise and take thy wife and thy two daughters whom thou hast, and get away, lest thou also perish for the 16 iniquities of this city. But they were confounded. So the angels took hold of his hand, and the hand of his wife, and the 17 hands of his two daughters, as the Lord spared him. And having led them out they said, Escape for thy life. Look not back, nor stop in any part of the plain around. Escape to the 18 mountains, lest peradventure thou be overtaken. Thereupon 19 Lot said to them, I beseech thee, O Lord, since thy servant

hath found favour in thy sight and thou hast magnified thy 20 kindness in what thou dost for me to save my life. I cannot

escape to the mountains. Peradventure the calamity may overtake me and I shall die. Behold that city is nigh for me to flee to. It is little and thither I can escape. Is it not little? And 21 my soul shall live by thy means. And he said, Behold I have

indulged thee also in this matter, so as not to destroy that city 22 of which thou hast spoken. Haste therefore to escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou get there. For this cause he called the name of that city, Segor,

23 The sun was risen on the earth when Lot entered Segor; 24 and the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorra brimstone 25 and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew

these cities, and all the circumjacent country, and all the inhabitants of those cities, and all the productions of the ground. 26 And Lot's wife having looked back was turned into a pillar of salt.

27 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place, 28 where he had stood before the Lord, and he looked towards Sodom and Gomorra and towards the circumjacent plain, and he beheld and lo! a flame ascended out of the earth like the 29 smoke of a furnace. But when God destroyed all the cities of that neighbourhood he remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out from that destruction.

Now when the Lord had destroyed those cities in which 30 Lot had dwelt, Lot went up out of Segor, and he and his two daughters with him settled in the mountains; for he was afraid to dwell in Segor. So he and his two daughters with him took 51 up their abode in a cave. And the elder said to the younger,

Our father is old and there is none in this land who will come 32 in unto us, as is customary in all the earth. Come, let us make

our father drink wine, and we will lie with him that we may 33 raise up seed from our father. So they made their father drink

wine that very night, and the elder having gone in lay with her father that night, and he knew not when she lay down, nor when 34 she arose. And on the next night the elder said to the young

er, Lo! I lay with our father last night, let us make him drink wine this night also, and do thou go in and lie with him and 35 let us raise up seed from our father. So they made their father

drink wine that night also, and the younger went in and lay with her father; and he knew not when she lay down, nor when 36 she arose. Thus the two daughters of Lot conceived by their 37 father. And the eldest bore a son and called his name Moab, saying From my father. He is the father of the present Moa38 bites. And the youngest also bore a son and called his name Amman saying, Son of the same as I. He is the father of the present Ammanites.

XX.

Now Abraham had removed thence into the south country, and made his abode between Kades and Şour, and sojourned

2 among the Gerarites. And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister. For he was afraid to say, She is my wife, 3 lest the men of the city should kill him on her account. And Abimelech the king of the Gerarites sent and took Sarah. And God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said, Behold thou diest for this woman, whom thou hast taken; for 4 she is the man's wife. Now Abimelech had not touched her. And Abimelech said, O Lord, wilt thou destroy an un5 knowing and righteous nation? Did he not tell me, She is my sister? And did not she say to me, He is my brother? With 6 a pure heart and innocent hands I have done this. And God said to him in a dream, I know indeed that with a pure heart thou hast done this, and out of compassion I withheld thee from 7 sinning against me. For this cause I suffered thee not to touch her. Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet; and he will pray for thee and thou shalt live. But if thou restore not, be assured that thou and all belonging to thee 8 shall die. And Abimelech arose early next morning and called all his servants and related all these things in their hearing. 9 And all the men were exceedingly terrified. Then Abimelech sent for Abraham and said to him, Why hast thou dealt thus with us? Have we in any respect sinned against thee, that thou shouldst bring upon me and upon my kingdom this great sin? 10 Thou hast done to me what no one should do. Moreover

Abimelech said to Abraham, What didst thou see that thou 11 shouldst do this? And Abraham said, I indeed thought, as there is no worship of God in this place, they will kill me for 12 my wife's sake. And indeed of a truth she is my sister by the

same father but not of the same mother, so she became my wife. 13 And when God led me out from my father's house I said to

her, Thou wilt do me this kindness. To what place soever we 14 come say of me, He is my brother. Then Abimelech took a thousand didrachms and sheep and oxen and men servants and maid servants and gave them to Abraham, and restored to 15 him Sarah his wife. And Abimelech said to Abraham, Behold 16 my land is before thee; dwell wherever it may please thee. And to Sarah he said, Behold I have given thy brother a thousand didrachms. Let these therefore be for thee to adorn thy countenance and for all the women with thee. Make thou

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