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Ch. 18
What if
there are found
there 10.
I will not
destroy.
Do not be angry, I pray, O Lord, if I speak yet once more. What if ten should be found there? He said: I will not destroy it for the sake of ten. The Lord departed after he had finished speaking to Abraham founding father of the Hebrews, and he returned to his place.
Ch. 19
Loth sitting
at the gates
of Sodom
receives two
angels and
serves them
unleavened
bread.
A large, hand-colored initial 'V' in blue with red pen-work flourishes marks the beginning of Genesis, chapter 19.
And the two angels came to Sodoma Sodom in the evening, while Loth Lot was sitting at the gate of the city. And when he saw them, he rose and went to meet them, and worshipped prostrate on the ground, and said: I beseech you, my lords, turn aside into the house of your servant, and stay there. Wash your feet, and in the morning you shall set out on your way. And they said: No, but we will stay in the street. He compelled them strongly to turn aside to him. And when they had entered his house, he made a feast, baked azima unleavened bread, and they ate. But before they went to sleep, the men of the city beset the house, from the boy even to the old man, all the people together. They called to Loth and said to him: Where are the men who entered in to you at night? Bring them out here that we may know them. Loth went out to them, closing the door behind him, and said: Do not, I pray you, my brothers, do not do this evil. I have two daughters, who have not yet known a man. I will bring them out to you, and you may abuse them as it shall please you, provided that you do no evil to these men, because they have entered under the shadow of my roof. But they said: Get back there. And again: You have entered, they say, as a stranger; are you here to judge? Therefore we will afflict you more than them. And they were making violence against Loth most vehemently. And now it was near that they would break down the doors, and behold, the men stretched out their hand and drew in Loth to themselves, and shut the door, and struck those who were outside with blindness, from the least to the greatest, so that they could not find the door. But they said to Loth: Do you have anyone here...
your sons-in-law, or sons, or daughters? All who are yours, bring them out of this city. For we will destroy this place, because their cry has grown loud before the Lord, who sent us to destroy them. Loth therefore went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were going to marry his daughters, and said: Arise and go out of this place, because the Lord will destroy this city. And it seemed to them that he was speaking in jest. And when it was morning, the angels urged him, saying: Arise, take your wife and two daughters whom you have, lest you also perish in the wickedness of the city. As he lingered, they took his hand and the hand of his wife and of his two daughters, because the Lord spared him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. And there they spoke to him, saying: Save your life. Do not look back, nor stay in all the country around, but save yourself in the mountain, lest you also perish at the same time. And Loth said to them: I beseech you, my lord, since your servant has found grace before you, and you have magnified your glory and mercy which you have shown me by saving my life, and I cannot be saved in the mountain, lest perhaps some evil take me and I die. There is a city near here, to which I can flee, a little one, and I will be saved in it. Is it not small, and my soul will live? And he said to him: Behold, even in this I have accepted your prayers, that I will not overthrow the city for which you have spoken. Make haste and be saved there, because I cannot do anything until you enter there. Therefore the name of that city was called Segor Zoar. The sun rose upon the earth, and Loth entered Segor. And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorra Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord from heaven, and he overthrew these cities, and all the surrounding region, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all the vegetation of the earth. And his wife looked back...