20. Look, there is a very small town near here. Let me run to that town. I can run there and be safe.”
21. The angel said to Lot, “Very well, I’ll let you do that. I will not destroy that town.
22. But run there quickly. I cannot destroy Sodom until you are safely in that town.” (That town is named Zoar, because it is a small town.)
23. Lot was entering the town as the sun came up,
24. and the Lord began to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. He caused fire and burning sulfur to fall from the sky.
25. He destroyed the whole valley—all the cities, the people living in the cities, and all the plants in the valley.
26. Lot’s wife was following behind him and looked back at the city. When she did, she became a block of salt.
27. Early the next morning, Abraham got up and went to the place where he stood before the Lord.
28. Abraham looked down into the valley toward the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He saw clouds of smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.