And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening. And Lot was sitting in the gateway of Sodom. Then Lot saw them and stood up to meet them. And he bowed down with his face to the ground. And he said, "Behold, my lords, please turn aside into the house of your servant and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you can rise early and go on your way." And they said, "No, but we will spend the night in the square." But he urged them strongly, and they turned aside with him and came into his house. And he made a meal for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. Before they laid down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot and said to him, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we may know them." But Lot went out to them at the entrance, and he shut the door behind him. And he said, "No, my brothers, please do not do such a wrong thing. Behold, I have two daughters who have not known a man. Please, let me bring them out to you; then do to them as it seems good in your eyes. Only to these men do not do this thing, since they came under my roof for protection." But they said, "Step aside!" Then they said, "This fellow came to dwell as a foreigner and he acts as a judge! Now we shall do worse to you than them!" And they pressed very hard against the man, against Lot, and they drew near to break the door. Then the men reached out with their hands and brought Lot in to them, into the house, and they shut the door. And the men who were at the entrance of the house they struck with blindness, both small and great, and they were unable to find the entrance. Then the men said to Lot, "Who is here with you? Bring out from the place your sons-in-law, and your sons and your daughters, and all who are with you in the city. For we are about to destroy this place, because their cry has become great before Yahweh. Yahweh sent us to destroy it." Then Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were taking his daughters and said, "Get up! Go out from this place, because Yahweh is going to destroy the city!" But it seemed like a joke in the eyes of his sons-in-law. And as the dawn came up the angels urged Lot saying, "Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are staying with you, lest you be destroyed with the punishment of the city." But when he lingered, the men seized him by his hand and his wife’s hand, and his two daughters by hand, on account of the mercy of Yahweh upon him. And they brought him out and set him outside of the city. And after bringing them outside one said, "Flee for your life; do not look behind you, and do not stand anywhere in the plain. Flee to the mountains lest you be destroyed." And Lot said to them, "No, please, my lords. Behold, your servant has found favor in your eyes and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot flee to the mountains, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. Behold, this city is near enough to flee there, and it is a little one. Please, let me flee there. Is it not a little one? Then my life shall be saved." And he said to him, "Behold, I will grant this favor as well; that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. Escape there quickly, for I cannot do this thing until you get there." Therefore, there name of the city was called Zoar.

After the sun had risen upon the earth and Lot had entered Zoar, Yahweh rained down from heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yahweh. And he overthrew those cities and the whole plain, and the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation of the ground. But his wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. And Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before Yahweh. And he looked down upon the surface of Sodom and Gomorrah, and upon the whole surface of the land, the plain. And he saw that, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a smelting furnace. So it was, when God destroyed the cities of the plain that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out from the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.

And Lot went out from Zoar and settled in the hill country with his two daughters, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. So he lived in a cave, he and his two daughters. And the firstborn daughter said to the younger one, "Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to come in to us according to the manner of all the land. Come, let us give our father wine to drink and let us lie with him that we may secure descendants through our father." And they gave their father wine to drink that night, and the firstborn went and lay with her father, but he did not know when she lay down or when she got up. And it happened that, the next day the firstborn said to the younger one, "Look, I laid with my father last night. Let us give him wine to drink also tonight, then go and lie with him that we may secure descendants through our father." And they gave their father wine to drink again that night, and the younger got up and lay with him, but he did not know when she lay down or when she got up. And the two daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. The firstborn gave birth to a son, and she called his name Moab. He is the father of Moab until this day. And the younger, she also gave birth to a son, and she called his name Ben-Ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites until this day.

And Abraham journeyed from there to the land of the Negev, and he settled between Kadesh and Shur. And he dwelled as an alien in Gerar. And Abraham said about Sarah his wife, "She is my sister." And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. And God came to Abimelech in a dream at night. And he said to him, "Look, you are a dead man on account of the woman you have taken. For she is a married woman." Now Abimelech had not approached her, so he said, "my Lord, will you even kill a righteous people?" Did not he himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ With integrity of my heart and with cleanness of my hands I did this." Then God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you did this, and I also kept you from sinning against me. Therefore, I did not allow you to touch her. So now, return the wife of the man, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you and you will live. And if you do not return her, know that you will certainly die, and all that are yours."

So Abimelech rose early in the morning. And he called all his servants and told them all these things, and the men were very afraid. And Abimelech called for Abraham and said to him, "What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you that you brought upon me and upon my kingdom a great sin? You have done things to me that should not be done." And Abimelech said to Abraham, "What were you thinking that you did this thing?" And Abraham said, "Because I thought, surely there is no fear of God in this place; they will kill me on account of the matter of my wife. Besides, she is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother. And she became my wife. And it happened that as God caused me to wander from the house of my father I said to her, ‘This is your loyal kindness that you must do for me at every place where we come: say concerning me, "He is my brother."’" And Abimelech took sheep and cattle and male slaves and female slaves, and he gave them to Abraham. And he returned Sarah his wife to him. And Abimelech said, "Here is my land before you; settle where it pleases you." And to Sarah he said, "Look, I have given a thousand pieces of silver to your brother. It shall be an exoneration. You are vindicated before all who are with you." And Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his female servants so that they could bear children again. For Yahweh had completely closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of the matter of Sarah, the wife of Abraham.

And the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered to him. And they saw that some of his disciples were eating their bread with unclean—that is, unwashed—hands. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands ritually, thus holding fast to the traditions of the elders. And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions which they have received and hold fast to—for example, the washing of cups and pitchers and bronze kettles and dining couches.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with unclean hands?" So he said to them, "Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written,

Abandoning the commandment of God, you hold fast to the tradition of men."

And he said to them, "You splendidly ignore the commandment of God so that you can keep your tradition. For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘The one who speaks evil of father or mother must certainly die.’ But you say, ‘If a man says to his father or to his mother, "Whatever benefit you would have received from me is corban" (that is, a gift to God), you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down, and you do many similar things such as this."

And summoning the crowd again, he said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside of a person that is able to defile him by going into him. But the things that go out of a person are the things that defile a person." And when he entered into the house away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them, "So are you also without understanding? Do you not understand that everything that is outside that goes into a person is not able to defile him? For it does not enter into his heart but into his stomach, and goes out into the latrine"—thus declaring all foods clean. And he said, "What comes out of a person, that defiles a person. For from within, from the heart of people, come evil plans, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, acts of greed, malicious deeds, deceit, licentiousness, envy, abusive speech, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a person."

And from there he set out and went to the region of Tyre. And when he entered into a house, he wanted no one to know, and yet he was not able to escape notice. But immediately a woman whose young daughter was possessed by an unclean spirit, when she heard about him, came and fell down at his feet, Now the woman was a Greek—a Syrophoenician by nationality—and she was asking him that he would expel the demon from her daughter. And he said to her, "Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs!" But she answered and said to him, "Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs." And he said to her, "Because of this statement, go! The demon has gone out of your daughter." And when she went to her home, she found the child lying on the bed and the demon gone.

And again he went away from the region of Tyre and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the Decapolis. And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had difficulty speaking, and they were imploring him that he would place his hand on him. And he took him away from the crowd by himself and put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting, he touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, "Ephphatha!" (that is, "Be opened!"). And his ears were opened and his difficulty in speaking was removed and he began to speak normally. And he ordered them that they should say nothing, but as much as he ordered them not to, they proclaimed it even more instead. And they were amazed beyond all measure, saying, "He has done all things well! He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!"