Chapter 19
judge, the one saying thus the matter was, and the other declaring otherwise.
36. And Hedad said to the man, give me four pieces of silver that I charge for my interpretations of dreams; I will not make any allowance; and give me the expense of the four meals that thou didst eat in my house.
37. And the man said to Hedad, truly I will pay thee for what I ate in thy house, only give me the cord and mantle which thou didst conceal in thy house.
38. And Hedad replied before the judge and said to the man, did I not tell thee the interpretation of thy dream? The cord means that thy days shall be prolonged like a cord, and the mantle, that thou wilt have a vineyard in which thou wilt plant all kinds of fruit trees.
39. This is the proper interpretation of thy dream, now give me the four pieces of silver that I require as a compensation, for I will make thee no allowance.
40. And the man cried at the words of Hedad and they both quarreled before the judge, and the judge gave orders to his servants, who drove them rashly from the house.
41. And they went away quarreling from the judge, when the people of Sodom heard them, and they gathered about them and they exclaimed against the stranger, and they drove him rashly from the city.
42. And the man continued his journey upon his ass with bitterness of soul, lamenting and weeping.
43. And whilst he was going along he wept at what had happened to him in the corrupt city of Sodom.
1. AND the cities of Sodom had four judges to four cities, and these were their names, Serak in the city of Sodom, Sharkad in Gomorrah, Zabnac in Admah, and Menon in Zeboyim.
2. And Eliezer, Abraham's servant, applied to them different names, and he converted Serak to Shakra, Sharkad to Shakrura, Zabnac to Kezobim, and Menon to Matzlodin. [the first three are different names for falsehood ]
3. And by desire of their four judges the people of Sodom and Gomorrah had beds erected in the streets of the cities, and if a man came to these places they laid hold of him and brought him to one of their beds, and by force made him to lie in them.
4. And as he lay down, three men would stand at his head and three at his feet, and measure him by the length of the bed, and if the man was less than the bed these six men would stretch him at each end, and when he cried out to them they would not answer him.
5. And if he was longer than the bed then they would draw together the two sides of the bed at each end, until the man had reached the gates of death.
6. And if he continued to cry out to them, they would answer him, saying, thus shall it be done to a man that cometh into our land.
7. And when men heard all these things that the people of the cities of Sodom did, they refrained from coming there.
8. And when a poor man came to their land they would give him silver and gold, and cause a proclamation in the whole city not to give him a morsel of bread to eat, and if the stranger should remain there some days, and die from hunger, not having been able to obtain a morsel of bread, then at his death all the people of the city would come and take their silver and gold which they had given to him.
9. And those that could recognize the silver or gold which they had given him took it back, and at his death they also stripped him of his garments, and they would fight about them, and he that prevailed over his neighbor took them.
10. They would after that carry him and bury him under some of the shrubs in the deserts; so they did all the days to anyone that came to them and died in their land.
11. And in the course of time Sarah sent Eliezer to Sodom, to see Lot and inquire after his welfare.
12. And Eliezer went to Sodom, and he met a man of Sodom fighting with a stranger, and the man of Sodom stripped the poor man of all his clothes and went away.
13. And this poor man cried to Eliezer and supplicated his favor on account of what the man of Sodom had done to him.
14. And he said to him, why dost thou act thus to the poor man who came to thy land?
15. And the man of Sodom answered Eliezer, saying, is this man thy brother, or have the people of Sodom made thee a judge this day, that thou speakest about this man?
16. And Eliezer strove with the man of Sodom on account of the poor man, and when Eliezer approached to recover the poor man's clothes from the 52 . man of Sodom, he hastened and with a stone smote Eliezer in the forehead. 17a. And the blood flowed copiously from Eliezer's forehead. 17b. And when the man saw the blood, he caught hold of Eliezer, saying, give me my hire for having rid thee of this bad blood that was in thy forehead, for such is the custom and the law in our land.
18. And Eliezer said to him, thou hast wounded me and requirest me to pay thee thy hire; and Eliezer would not hearken to the words of the man of Sodom.
19. And the man laid hold of Eliezer and brought him to Shakra the judge of Sodom for judgment.
20. And the man spoke to the judge, saying, I beseech thee my lord, thus has this man done, for I smote him with a stone that the blood flowed from his forehead, and he is unwilling to give me my hire.
21. And the judge said to Eliezer, this man speaketh truth to thee, give him his hire, for this is the custom in our land; and Eliezer heard the words of the judge and he lifted up a stone and smote the judge, and the stone struck on his forehead and the blood flowed copiously from the forehead of the judge, and Eliezer said, if this then is the custom in your land give thou unto this man what I should have given him, for this has been thy decision, thou didst decree it.
22. And Eliezer left the man of Sodom with the judge, and he went away.
23. And when the kings of Elam had made war with the kings of Sodom, the kings of Elam captured all the property of Sodom, and they took Lot captive, with his property, and when it was told to Abraham he went and made war with the kings of Elam, and he recovered from their hands all the property of Lot as well as the property of Sodom.
24. At that time the wife of Lot bare him a daughter, and he called her name Paltith, saying, because God had delivered him and his whole household from the kings of Elam; and Paltith, daughter of Lot, grew up, and one of the men of Sodom took her for a wife.
25. And a poor man came into the city to seek a maintenance, and he remained in the city some days, and all the people of Sodom caused a proclamation of their custom not to give this man a morsel of bread to eat, until he dropped dead upon the earth, and they did so.
26. And Paltith the daughter of Lot saw this man lying in the streets starved with hunger, and no one would give him anything to keep him alive, and he was just upon the point of death.
27. And her soul was filled with pity on account of the man, and she fed him secretly with bread for many days, and the soul of this man was revived. For when she went forth to fetch water she would put the bread in the water pitcher, and when she came to the place where the poor man was, she took the bread from the pitcher and gave it him to eat; so she did many days.
29. And all the people of Sodom and Gomorrah wondered how this man could bear starvation for so many days.
30. And they said to each other, this can only be that he eats and drinks, for no man can bear starvation for so many days or live as this man has, without even his countenance changing; and three men concealed themselves in a place where the poor man was stationed, to know who it was that brought him bread to eat.
31. And Paltith daughter of Lot went forth that day to fetch water, and she put bread into her pitcher of water, and she went to draw water by the poor man's place, and she took out the bread from the pitcher and gave it to the poor man and he ate it .
32. And the three men saw what Paltith did to the poor man, and they said to her, it is thou then who hast supported him, and therefore has he not starved, nor changed in appearance, nor died like the rest.
33. And the three men went out of the place in which they were concealed, and they seized Paltith and the bread which was in the poor man's hand.
34. And they took Paltith and brought her before their judges, and they said to them, thus did she do, and it is she who supplied the poor man with bread, therefore did he not die all this time; now therefore declare to us the punishment due to this woman for having transgressed our law.
35. And the people of Sodom and Gomorrah assembled and kindled a fire in the street of the city, and they took the woman and cast her into the fire and she was burned to ashes.
36. And in the city of Admah there was a woman to whom they did the like.
37. For a traveller came into the city of Admah to abide there all night, with the intention of going home in the morning, and he sat opposite the door of the house of the young woman's father, to remain there, as the sun had set when he had reached that place; and the young woman saw him sitting by the door of the house.
38. And he asked her for a drink of water and she said to him, who art thou? And he said to her, I was this day going on the road, and reached here when the sun set, so I will abide here all night, and in the morning