THE DESTRUCTION OF SODOM.

And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot,saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which arehere; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. Andwhile he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon thehand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; theLord being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and sethim without the city.

And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad,that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neitherstay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou beconsumed. And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord. Beholdnow, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hastmagnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving mylife; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take meand I die. Behold now this city is near to flee unto, and it is alittle one: Oh, let me escape thither (is it not a little one?)and my soul shall live. And he said unto him, See, I haveaccepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will notoverthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. Haste thee,escape thither; for I cannot do anything till thou be comethither.

Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered unto Zoar.Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone andfire from the Lord out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities,and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, andthat which grew upon the ground.

But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became apillar of salt.

And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where hestood before the Lord and he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah,and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and lo, thesmoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.—Genesisxix, 15-28.