Setting: Genesis 19:4-11
At least, that was the report that had come to us, and we were sent by Adonai to see if these things were so.
We came to the gates of Sodom as the sun was setting below the horizon, and there was Lot, sitting in the gate. We revealed ourselves to him not as angels, but as mere men, yet he still looked about uneasily and rose quickly and nervously to meet us. He motioned for us to come no closer but instead he left the gates and came to meet us a stone’s throw outside the city.
He bowed himself with his face toward the ground and said to us, “My lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and stay the entire night. Wash your feet, and then you may rise up early tomorrow morning, and go on your way.”
We said to him, “No, let us not be a burden to you, but we will spend the entire night sleeping in the street.” For we intended to see how the men of the city would treat us, and this we could not do if we were sequestered in the house of Lot.
But he pressed upon us greatly, and insisted that we come and meet his wife Adith, and his daughters Maleb and Qetanah, and his son’s-in-law Warad and Niqmaddu, and that we feast with his family and drink his best wine with him until our hearts were merry. We did not try to explain to him that angel’s hearts are not made merry with wine in the same way that the hearts of men are (though indeed, all food and all drink makes us merry in a way that no man can quite imagine.)
Lot left us no choice but to turn in to him, and we entered into his house; and Adith made us a feast, with lentil stew, and unleavened bread, and with oil and curds and honey, and we ate and we drank and we were merry.
Adith was making our beds when sounds of jeering became audible outside the house. Indeed, disturbing sounds could be heard from one side of the house as well as the other, for all of a sudden, the place was surrounded by the men of Sodom, both old and young, from every quarter.
They called out to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men which came in to you this night? Bring them out to us at once, that we may know them.”
Lot stepped out into the cool night air, and he shut and barred the door behind him, placing himself and his door between the crowd and those of use who remained inside.
Though muffled, we could hear his words through the door as we breathed quietly in the darkness and waited to see what would happen, and if the report of these wicked men was accurate.
“I beseech you, brothers,” Lot pleaded, “do not act so wickedly against Adonai and harm these men who have come under my protection. Look! I have two virgin daughters who have not known a man; let me, I beg of you, bring them out to you, and do to them whatever is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for they have come under the shadow of my roof.”
One among the men demanded firmly of Lot, “Stand aside!”
There was no sound for a moment and I imagine that the two men were staring at each other as two animals stare at each other when deciding whether or not to attack one another.
Another voice rang out, “This one is himself a sojourner, and will he make himself our judge? Now will we deal worse with you, Oh Lot, than with the men in your house.” At once there was the sound of bodies pressing against the door, and the man Lot cried out in pain, whether from being crushed against the door, or struck, or stabbed, or mistreated in some other manner we were not sure. But the commotion and the jarring of the door was such that we feared they would break down the door.
By the power given to me by Adonai, I put forth my hand, and pulled Lot into the house, and shut the door. Then Gabriel smote the men at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, and they wearied themselves in a pitiful stupor trying to find the door.