because we are about to destroy ¹  it. The outcry against this place ²  is so great before the Lord that he ³  has sent us to destroy it.”

what if there are five less than the fifty godly people? Will you destroy ¹  the whole city because five are lacking?” ²  He replied, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”

So when God destroyed ¹  the cities of the region, ²  God honored ³  Abraham’s request. He removed Lot ⁴  from the midst of the destruction when he destroyed ⁵  the cities Lot had lived in.

I confirm ¹  my covenant with you: Never again will all living things ²  be wiped out ³  by the waters of a flood; ⁴  never again will a flood destroy the earth.”

then I will remember my covenant with you ¹  and with all living creatures of all kinds. ²  Never again will the waters become a flood and destroy ³  all living things. ⁴ 

So God said ¹  to Noah, “I have decided that all living creatures must die, ²  for the earth is filled with violence because of them. Now I am about to destroy ³  them and the earth.

I am about to bring ¹  floodwaters ²  on the earth to destroy ³  from under the sky all the living creatures that have the breath of life in them. ⁴  Everything that is on the earth will die,

Abraham ¹  said, “Since I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty are found there?” He replied, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty.”

Finally Abraham ¹  said, “May the Lord not be angry so that I may speak just once more. What if ten are found there?” He replied, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.”

Then Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were going to marry his daughters. ¹  He said, “Quick, get out of this place because the Lord is about to destroy ²  the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was ridiculing them. ³ 

When they had brought them outside, they ¹  said, “Run ²  for your lives! Don’t look ³  behind you or stop anywhere in the valley! ⁴  Escape to the mountains or you will be destroyed!”

So the Lord ¹  destroyed ²  every living thing that was on the surface of the ground, including people, animals, creatures that creep along the ground, and birds of the sky. ³  They were wiped off the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark survived. ⁴ 

Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought ruin ¹  on me by making me a foul odor ²  among the inhabitants of the land – among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I ³  am few in number; they will join forces against me and attack me, and both I and my family will be destroyed!”

And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma ¹  and said ²  to himself, ³  “I will never again curse ⁴  the ground because of humankind, even though ⁵  the inclination of their minds ⁶  is evil from childhood on. ⁷  I will never again destroy everything that lives, as I have just done.

At dawn ¹  the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get going! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, ²  or else you will be destroyed when the city is judged!” ³ 

Abraham approached and said, “Will you sweep away the godly along with the wicked?

Lot looked up and saw ¹  the whole region ²  of the Jordan. He noticed ³  that all of it was well-watered (before the Lord obliterated ⁴  Sodom and Gomorrah) ⁵  like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, ⁶  all the way to Zoar.

What if there are fifty godly people in the city? Will you really wipe it out and not spare ¹  the place for the sake of the fifty godly people who are in it?

So the Lord said, “I will wipe humankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth – everything from humankind to animals, ¹  including creatures that move on the ground and birds of the air, for I regret that I have made them.”

For in seven days ¹  I will cause it to rain ²  on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the ground every living thing that I have made.”