The 17th Chapter
When Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to him saying: I am the almighty God: walk before me and be uncorrupt. And I will make my bond between you and me, and will multiply you exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face. And God talked moreover with him saying: I am, behold my testament is with you, that you shall be a father of many nations. Therefore, shall you no more be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham: for a father of many nations have I made you, and I will multiply you exceedingly, and will make nations of you: yea and kings shall spring out of you. Moreover I will make my bond between me and you, and your seed after you, in their times to be an everlasting testament, so that I will be God unto you and to your seed after you. And I will give unto you and to your seed after you, the land wherein you are a stranger: even all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and will be their God.
And God said unto Abraham: See you keep my testament, both you and your seed after you in their times: This is my testament which you shall keep between me and you and your seed after you, that you circumcise all your men children. you shall circumcise the foreskin of your flesh, and it shall be a token of the bond between me and you. And every manchild when it is eight days old, shall be circumcised among you in your generations, and all servants also born at home or bought with money though they be strangers and not of your seed. The servant born in your house, and he also that is bought with money, must needs be circumcised, that my testament may be in your flesh, for an everlasting bond. If there be any uncircumcised manchild, that has not the foreskin of his flesh cut off, his soul shall perish from his people: because he has broken my testament. And God said unto Abraham. Sarai your wife shall no more be called Sarai: but Sara shall her name be. For I will bless her and give you a son of her and will bless her: so that people, yea and kings of people shall spring of her. And Abraham fell upon his face and laughed, and said in his heart: shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old, and shall Sara that is ninety years old, bear: And Abraham said unto God. O that Ismael might live in your sight.
Then said God: no, Sara your wife shall bear you a son in deed and you shall call his name Isaac. And I will make my bond with him, that it shall be an everlasting bond unto his seed after him. And as concerning Ismael also, I have heard your request: lo, I will bless him and increase him, and multiply him exceedingly. Twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make a great nation of him. But my bond will I make with Isaac, which Sara shall bear unto you: even this time twelve month.
And God left off talking with him, and departed up from Abraham. And Abraham took Ismael his son and all the servants born in his house and all that was bought with money as many as were men children among the men of Abrahams house, and circumcised the foreskin of their flesh, even the selfsame day, as God had said unto him. Abraham was ninety years old and nine when he cut off the foreskin of his flesh. And Ismael his son was thirteen years old, when the foreskin of his flesh was circumcised. The self same day was Abraham circumcised and Ismael his son. And all the men in his house, whether they were born in his house or bought with money (though they were strangers) were circumcised with him.
The 18th Chapter
And the Lord appeared unto him in the oak grove of Mamre as he sat in his tent door in the heat of the day. And he lifted up his eyes and looked: and lo, three men stood not far from him. And when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and fell to the ground and said: Lord if I have found favour in your sight: go not by your servant. Let a little water be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: And I will fetch a morsel of bread, to comfort your hearts withal. And then go your ways, for even therefore are you come to your servant. And they answered: Do even so as you have said. And Abraham went a pace into his tent unto Sara and said: make ready at once three pecks of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes. And Abraham ran unto his beasts and fetched a calf that was tender and good, and gave it unto a young man which made it ready at once. And he took butter and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them, and stood himself by them under the tree: and they ate.
And they said unto him: Where is Sara your wife? And he said: in the tent. And he said: I will come again unto you as soon as the fruit can live. And lo: Sara your wife shall have a son. That heard Sara, out of the tent door which was behind his back. Abraham and Sara were both old and well stricken in age, and it ceased to be with Sara after the manner as it is with wives. And Sara laughed in her self saying: Now I am waxed old, shall I give my self to lust, and my lord old also? Then said the Lord unto Abraham: wherefore does Sara laugh saying: shall I of a surety bear a child, now when I am old? is the thing too hard for the Lord to do? In the time appointed will I return unto you, as soon as the fruit can have life, And Sara shall have a son. Then Sara denied it saying: I laughed not, for she was afraid. But he said: yes you laughed. Then the men stood up from there and looked toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to bring them on the way. And the Lord said: Can I hide from Abraham that thing which I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall be a great and a mighty people, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him that he will command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do after right and conscience, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that he has promised him.
And the Lord said: The cry of Sodom and Gomorra is great, and their sin is exceeding grievous. I will go down and see whether they have done altogether according to that cry which is come unto me or not, that I may know. And the men departed there and went to Sodomward. But Abraham stood yet before the Lord, and drew near and said. Will you destroy the righteous with the wicked? If there be fifty righteous within the city, will you destroy it and not spare the place for the sake of fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from you, that you should do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, and that the righteous should be as the wicked: that be far from you. Should not the judge of all the world do according to right? And the Lord said: If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, I will spare all the place for their sakes.
And Abraham answered and said: behold I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, and yet am but dust and ashes. What though there lack five of fifty righteous, will you destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said: If I find there forty and five I will not destroy them. And he spoke unto him yet again and said: what if there be forty found there. And he said: I will not do it for fortys sake. And he said: O let not my Lord be angry, that I speak. What if there be found thirty there? And he said: I will not do it, if I find thirty there. And he said: Oh, see, I have begun to speak unto my Lord, what if there be twenty found there? And he said: I will not destroy them for twentys sake. And he said: O let not my Lord be angry, that I speak yet, but even once more only. What if ten be found there? And he said: I will not destroy them for tens sake. And the Lord went his way as soon as he had left communing with Abraham. And Abraham returned unto his place.
The 19th Chapter
And there came two angels to Sodom at even. And Lot sat at the gate of the city. And Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them, and he bowed himself to the ground with his face. And he said: See lords, turn in I pray you in to your servants house and tarry all night and wash your feet, and rise up early and go on your ways. And they said: no, but we will bide in the streets all night. And he compelled them exceedingly. And they turned in unto him and entered into his house, and he made them a feast and did bake sweet cakes, and they ate. But before they went to rest, the men of the city of Sodom compassed the house round about both old and young, all the people from all quarters. And they called unto Lot and said unto him: where are the men which came into your house to night? bring them out unto us that we may do our lust with them.
And Lot went out at doors unto them and shut the door after him and said: no for Gods sake brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold I have two daughters which have known no man, them will I bring out unto you: do with them as it seems you good: Only unto these men do nothing, for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. And they said: come hither. And they said: came you not in to sojourn, and will you be now a judge? we will surely deal worse with you than with them.
And as they pressed sore upon Lot and began to break up the door, the men put forth their hands and pulled Lot into the house to them and shut to the door. And the men that were at the door of the house, they smote with blindness both small and great: so that they could not find the door. And the men said moreover unto Lot: If you have yet here any son in law or sons or daughters or whatsoever you have in the city, bring it out of this place: for we must destroy this place, because the cry of them is great before the Lord. Wherefore he has sent us to destroy it.
And Lot went out and spoke unto his sons in law which should have married his daughters, and said: stand up and get you out of this place, for the Lord will destroy the city. But he seemed as though he had mocked, unto his sons in law. And as the morning arose the angels caused Lot to speed him saying. Stand up, take your wife and your two daughters and that, that is at hand, least you perish in the sin of the city. And as he prolonged the time, the men caught both him, his wife and his two daughters by the hands, because the Lord was merciful unto him, and they brought him forth and set him without the city. When they had brought them out, they said: Save your life and look not behind you neither tarry you in any place of the country, but save yourself in the mountain, least you perish. Then said Lot unto them: O no my Lord: behold, inasmuch as your servant has found grace in your sight, now make your mercy great, which you showed unto me in saving my life. For I cannot save myself in the mountains, least some misfortune fall upon me and I die. Behold, here is a city by, to flee unto, and it is a little one, let me save myself therein: is it not a little one, that my soul may live? And he said to him: see I have received your request as concerning this thing, that I will not overthrow this city for the which you have spoken. Haste you, and save yourself there, for I can do nothing till you be come in to there. And therefore the name of the city is called Zoar. And the sun was upon the earth when Lot was entered into *Zoar. *Zoar = Hebrew: to be brought low, made little.
Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorra, brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven, and overthrew those cities and all the region, and all that dwelled in the cities, and that, that grew upon the earth. And Lots wife looked behind her, and was turned in to a pillar of salt.
Abraham rose up early and got him to the place where he stood before the Lord, and looked toward Sodom and Gomorra and toward all the land of that country. And as he looked: behold, the smoke of the country arose as it had been the smoke of a furnace. But yet when God destroyed the cities of the region, he thought upon Abraham: and sent Lot out from the danger of the overthrowing, when he overthrew the cities where Lot dwelled.
And Lot departed out of Zoar and dwelled in the mountains and his two daughters with him for he feared to tarry in Zoar: he dwelled therefore in a cave, both he and his two daughters also. Then said the elder unto the younger: our father is old, and there are no more men in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the world. Come therefore, let us give our father wine to drink, and let us lie with him that we may save seed of our father. And they gave their father wine to drink that same night. And the elder daughter went and lay with her father. And he perceived it not, neither when she lay down, neither when she rose up.
And on the morrow the elder said unto the younger: behold, yesternight lay I with my father. Let us give him wine to drink this night also, and go you and lie with him, and let us save seed of our father. And they gave their father wine to drink that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him. And he perceived it not: neither when she lay down, neither when she rose up. Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father. And the elder bare a son and called him Moab, which is the father of the Moabites unto this day. And the younger bare a son and called him Ben Ammi, which is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.