The Lord Judges Sodom and Gomorrah

When the men got up to leave,
they looked down toward Sodom,
and Abram walked along with them to see them on their way.
Then the Lord said,
"Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?
Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation,
and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.
For I have chosen him,
so that he will direct his children and his household after him
to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just,
so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham
what He has promised him."

Early the next morning Abraham got up
and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord.
He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah,
toward all the land of the plain,
and he saw dense smoke rising from the land,
like smoke from a furnace.

So when God destroyed the cities of the plain,
He remembered Abraham,
and He brought Lot out of the catastrophe
that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

(Genesis 18:16-19;19:27-29)