14. Lot went to the men who were engaged to his daughters and said, “Hurry and get out of here! The Lord is going to destroy this city.” But they thought he was joking, and they laughed at him.
15. Early the next morning the two angels tried to make Lot hurry and leave. They said, “Take your wife and your two daughters and get out of here as fast as you can! If you don't, every one of you will be killed when the Lord destroys the city.”
16. At first, Lot just stood there. But the Lord wanted to save him. So the angels took Lot, his wife, and his two daughters by the hand and led them out of the city.
17. When they were outside, one of the angels said, “Run for your lives! Don't even look back. And don't stop in the valley. Run to the hills, where you will be safe.”
18-19. Lot answered, “You have done us a great favour, sir. You have saved our lives, but please don't make us go to the hills. That's too far away. The city will be destroyed before we can get there, and we will be killed when it happens.
20. There's a town near here. It's only a small place, but my family and I will be safe, if you let us go there.”
21. “All right, go there,” he answered. “I won't destroy that town.
22. Hurry! Run! I can't do anything until you are safely there.”The town was later called Zoar because Lot had said it was small.
23. The sun was coming up as Lot reached the town of Zoar,
24. and the Lord sent burning sulphur down like rain on Sodom and Gomorrah.
25. He destroyed those cities and everyone who lived in them, as well as their land and the trees and grass that grew there.
26. On the way, Lot's wife looked back and was turned into a block of salt.