And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of the city. And seeing them, he rose up and went to meet them: and worshipped prostrate to the ground,

Veneruntque duo angeli Sodomam vespere, et sedente Lot in foribus civitatis. Qui cum vidisset eos, surrexit, et ivit obviam eis: adoravitque pronus in terram,

It was evening when the two angels reached Sodom, and Lot was sitting at the town gate. He rose up when he saw them, and went to meet them, bowing down his face to the earth.

And said: I beseech you, my lords, turn in to the house of your servant, and lodge there: wash your feet, and in the morning you shall go on your way. And they said: No, but we will abide in the street.

et dixit: Obsecro, domini, declinate in domum pueri vestri, et manete ibi: lavate pedes vestros, et mane proficiscemini in viam vestram. Qui dixerunt: Minime, sed in platea manebimus.

Pray, sirs, he said, turn in to my house and spend the night there; wash your feet now, and go on your journey to-morrow. And when they said, No, we will stay here in the open square,

He pressed them very much to turn in unto him: and when they were come in to his house, he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread and they ate:

Compulit illos oppido ut diverterent ad eum: ingressisque domum illius fecit convivium, et coxit azyma, et comederunt.

he would take no denial, they must needs lodge with him. So they went to his house, and he baked unleavened bread for them, which they ate.

But before they went to bed, the men of the city beset the house both young and old, all the people together.

Prius autem quam irent cubitum, viri civitatis vallaverunt domum a puero usque ad senem, omnis populus simul.

And before ever they had gone to rest, the townspeople laid siege to the house, old and young, from every quarter of the city,

And they called Lot, and said to him: Where are the men that came in to thee at night? bring them out hither that we may know them:

Vocaveruntque Lot, et dixerunt ei: Ubi sunt viri qui introierunt ad te nocte? educ illos huc, ut cognoscamus eos.

calling for Lot, and crying out, Where are thy evening visitors? Bring them out here, to minister to our lust.

Lot went out to them, and shut the door after him, and said:

Egressus ad eos Lot, post tergum occludens ostium, ait:

So Lot went out, shutting the door behind him, and said,

Do not so, I beseech you, my brethren, do not commit this evil.

Nolite, quæso, fratres mei, nolite malum hoc facere.

No, brethren, I entreat you, do not be guilty of such a wrong.

I have two daughters who as yet have not known man: I will bring them out to you, and abuse you them as it shall please you, so that you do no evil to these men, because they are come in under the shadow of my roof.

Habeo duas filias, quæ necdum cognoverunt virum: educam eas ad vos, et abutimini eis sicut vobis placuerit, dummodo viris istis nihil mali faciatis, quia ingressi sunt sub umbra culminis mei.

I have two daughters here, that have as yet no knowledge of man; these I will bring out, and you shall have your will with them, but do these men no harm; are they not guests under my roof?

But they said: Get thee back thither. And again: Thou camest in, said they, as a stranger, was it to be a judge? therefore we will afflict thee more than them. And they pressed very violently upon Lot: and they were even at the point of breaking open the doors.

At illi dixerunt: Recede illuc. Et rursus: Ingressus es, inquiunt, ut advena; numquid ut judices? te ergo ipsum magis quam hos affligemus. Vimque faciebant Lot vehementissime: jamque prope erat ut effringerent fores.

What, said they, wouldst thou come here as a stranger, and then set thyself up as a judge? Stand back, or it will be worse for thee than for them. And they pushed Lot aside with great violence, trying to break the door in.

And behold the men put out their hand, and drew in Lot unto them, and shut the door:

Et ecce miserunt manum viri, et introduxerunt ad se Lot, clauseruntque ostium:

So the two men reached out and pulled Lot back into the house, shutting the door after him;

And them that were without, they struck with blindness from the least to the greatest, so that they could not find the door.

et eos, qui foris erant, percusserunt cæcitate a minimo usque ad maximum, ita ut ostium invenire non possent.

and they put a ban of blindness on the folk without, so that never a man of them could find the entry.

And they said to Lot: Hast thou here any of thine? son in law, or sons, or daughters, all that are thine bring them out of this city:

Dixerunt autem ad Lot: Habes hic quempiam tuorum? generum, aut filios, aut filias, omnes, qui tui sunt, educ de urbe hac:

And now the two men asked Lot, Is there any here besides thyself, son-in-law, or son, or daughter of thine? If so, take them out of the city, all that are thine.

For we will destroy this place, because their cry is grown loud before the Lord, who hath sent us to destroy them.

delebimus enim locum istum, eo quod increverit clamor eorum coram Domino, qui misit nos ut perdamus illos.

Our intent is to destroy this place; the ill repute of it goes from bad to worse, and the Lord knows of it, and has sent us to destroy them.

So Lot went out, and spoke to his sons in law that were to have his daughters, and said: Arise: get you out of this place, because the Lord will destroy this city. And he seemed to them to speak as it were in jest.

Egressus itaque Lot, locutus est ad generos suos qui accepturi erant filias ejus, et dixit: Surgite, egredimini de loco isto: quia delebit Dominus civitatem hanc. Et visus est eis quasi ludens loqui.

So Lot went out, and spoke to the suitors who were betrothed to his daughters; Up, he said, leave this place; the Lord means to destroy the city. But they thought he was speaking in jest.

And when it was morning, the angels pressed him, saying: Arise, take thy wife, and the two daughters which thou hast: lest thou also perish in the wickedness of the city.

Cumque esset mane, cogebant eum angeli, dicentes: Surge, tolle uxorem tuam, et duas filias quas habes: ne et tu pariter pereas in scelere civitatis.

Then morning came, and the angels were urgent with him; Up, they said, take thy wife with thee, and the two daughters who are still at home, or else thou too wilt perish with the offending city.

And as he lingered, they took his hand, and the hand of his wife, and of his two daughters, because the Lord spared him.

Dissimulante illo, apprehenderunt manum ejus, et manum uxoris, ac duarum filiarum ejus, eo quod parceret Dominus illi.

And when they found that he hung back, they pulled him away, with his wife and his two daughters, so resolved was the Lord to spare him;

And they brought him forth, and set him without the city: and there they spoke to him, saying: Save thy life: look not back, neither stay thou in all the country about: but save thyself in the mountain, lest thou be also consumed.

Eduxeruntque eum, et posuerunt extra civitatem: ibique locuti sunt ad eum, dicentes: Salva animam tuam: noli respicere post tergum, nec stes in omni circa regione: sed in monte salvum te fac, ne et tu simul pereas.

led him out, and set him clear of the city. Here they said to him, Flee for thy life, never once looking behind thee, never lingering once in all the plain round about thee; take refuge in the hills, or thou, too, wilt perish.

And Lot said to them: I beseech thee my Lord,

Dixitque Lot ad eos: Quæso, domine mi,

But now Lot pleaded with them, My Lord, he said, I entreat thee,

Because thy servant hath found grace before thee, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewn to me, in saving my life, and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil seize me, and I die:

quia invenit servus tuus gratiam coram te, et magnificasti misericordiam tuam quam fecisti mecum, ut salvares animam meam, nec possum in monte salvari, ne forte apprehendat me malum, et moriar:

as thou lovest thy servant, as thou hast shewn me signal mercy in saving this life of mine, bethink thee that I have no strength to reach the safety of the hills; calamity will overtake me first, and I must die.

There is this city here at hand, to which I may flee, it is a little one, and I shall be saved in it: is it not a little one, and my soul shall live?

est civitas hæc juxta, ad quam possum fugere, parva, et salvabor in ea: numquid non modica est, et vivet anima mea?

But there is a city close by that I may reach in safety, a little city, but I can find refuge there. So small a city, and wilt thou not grant me life if I go there?

And he said to him: Behold also in this, I have heard thy prayers, not to destroy the city for which thou hast spoken.

Dixitque ad eum: Ecce etiam in hoc suscepi preces tuas, ut non subvertam urbem pro qua locutus es.

Once again, said he, I yield to thy entreaty; I will not overthrow the city thou pleadest for.

Make haste and be saved there, because I cannot do any thing till thou go in thither. Therefore the name of that city was called Segor.

Festina, et salvare ibi: quia non potero facere quidquam donec ingrediaris illuc. Idcirco vocatum est nomen urbis illius Segor.

Only make haste, and take refuge there; I can do nothing till thou hast reached it. That is how it came to be called the little city, Segor.

The sun was risen upon the earth, and Lot entered into Segor.

Sol egressus est super terram, et Lot ingressus est Segor.

Into Segor Lot entered as the sun rose over the earth;

And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven.

Igitur Dominus pluit super Sodomam et Gomorrham sulphur et ignem a Domino de cælo:

and thereupon the Lord rained down brimstone and fire out of heaven, the Lord’s dwelling-place,

And he destroyed these cities, and all the country about, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the earth.

et subvertit civitates has, et omnem circa regionem, universos habitatores urbium, et cuncta terræ virentia.

and overthrew these cities, with all the plain about them, and all those who dwelt there, and all that grew from their soil.

And his wife looking behind her, was turned into a statue of salt.

Respiciensque uxor ejus post se, versa est in statuam salis.

And Lot’s wife, because she looked behind her as she went, was turned into a pillar of salt.

And Abraham got up early in the morning, and in the place where he had stood before with the Lord,

Abraham autem consurgens mane, ubi steterat prius cum Domino,

That morning, Abraham rose up early, and from the place where but now he had stood talking to the Lord,

He looked towards Sodom and Gomorrha, and the whole land of that country: and he saw the ashes rise up from the earth as the smoke of a furnace.

intuitus est Sodomam et Gomorrham, et universam terram regionis illius: viditque ascendentem favillam de terra quasi fornacis fumum.

he looked out over Sodom and Gomorrha, and all the plain where they stood, and saw nothing but smoke going up from the land, like the smoke of a furnace.

Now when God destroyed the cities of that country, remembering Abraham, he delivered Lot out of the destruction of the cities wherein he had dwelt.

Cum enim subverteret Deus civitates regionis illius, recordatus Abrahæ, liberavit Lot de subversione urbium in quibus habitaverat.

So it was that when he overthrew the cities in that plain God remembered Abraham, and rescued Lot from the ruins of his chosen dwelling-place.

And Lot went up out of Segor, and abode in the mountain, and his two daughters with him, (for he was afraid to stay in Segor,) and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters with him.

Ascenditque Lot de Segor, et mansit in monte, duæ quoque filiæ ejus cum eo (timuerat enim manere in Segor) et mansit in spelunca ipse, et duæ filiæ ejus cum eo.

But Lot left Segor, and went up to live in the hills, taking his two daughters with him; he was afraid to live at Segor, and took up his abode in a cave. There his two daughters dwelt with him,

And the elder said to the younger: Our father is old, and there is no man left on the earth, to come in unto us after the manner of the whole earth.

Dixitque major ad minorem: Pater noster senex est, et nullus virorum remansit in terra, qui possit ingredi ad nos juxta morem universæ terræ.

and the elder of these said to the younger, Our father grows old, and as for us, there is no one in the land to mate with us, after the wont of human kind.

Come, let us make him drunk with wine, and let us lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

Veni, inebriemus eum vino, dormiamusque cum eo, ut servare possimus ex patre nostro semen.

Why then, let us give him wine and make him drunk, and so sleep with him, to preserve our father’s posterity.

And they made their father drink wine that night: and the elder went in and lay with her father: but he perceived not neither when his daughter lay down, nor when she rose up.

Dederunt itaque patri suo bibere vinum nocte illa. Et ingressa est major, dormivitque cum patre; at ille non sensit, nec quando accubuit filia, nec quando surrexit.

So that night they gave their father wine to drink; and the elder went in and slept with her father, lying down beside him and rising up without his knowledge.

And the next day the elder said to the younger: Behold I lay last night with my father, let us make him drink wine also to night, and thou shalt lie with him, that we may save seed of our father.

Altera quoque die dixit major ad minorem: Ecce dormivi heri cum patre meo, demus ei bibere vinum etiam hac nocte, et dormies cum eo, ut salvemus semen de patre nostro.

And next day, the elder said to the younger, Last night it was I that slept with our father; let us give him wine again to-night, and thou shalt sleep with him, to preserve our father’s posterity.

They made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in, and lay with him: and neither then did he perceive when she lay down, nor when she rose up.

Dederunt etiam et illa nocte patri suo bibere vinum, ingressaque minor filia, dormivit cum eo: et ne tunc quidem sensit quando concubuerit, vel quando illa surrexerit.

So that night too they gave their father wine to drink, and the younger went in and slept with him, and still he knew nothing of it when she lay down, or when she rose up.

So the two daughters of Lot were with child by their father.

Conceperunt ergo duæ filiæ Lot de patre suo.

Thus the two daughters of Lot were got with child by their father,

And the elder bore a son, and she called his name Moab: he is the father of the Moabites unto this day.

Peperitque major filium, et vocavit nomen ejus Moab: ipse est pater Moabitarum usque in præsentem diem.

and the elder bore a son whom she called Moab, the ancestor of the Moabite race that still survives;

The younger also bore a son, and she called his name Ammon, that is, the son of my people: he is the father of the Ammonites unto this day.

Minor quoque peperit filium, et vocavit nomen ejus Ammon, id est, Filius populi mei: ipse est pater Ammonitarum usque hodie.

the younger, too, had a son, whom she called Ammon, as if she would say Ben-ammi, the son of my people; his descendants still survive as the Ammonites.