17. After they brought them out of the city, one of the men said, “Run for your lives! Don’t look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Run to the mountains, or you will be destroyed.”
18. But Lot said to one of them, “Sir, please don’t force me to go so far!
19. You have been merciful and kind to me and have saved my life. But I can’t run to the mountains. The disaster will catch me, and I will die.
20. Look, that little town over there is not too far away. Let me run there. It’s really just a little town, and I’ll be safe there.”
21. The angel said to Lot, “Very well, I will allow you to do this also. I will not destroy that town.
22. But run there fast, because I cannot destroy Sodom until you are safely in that town.” (That town is named Zoar, because it is little.)