Book of Jasher, Chapter 19 — The Judges and Cruelties of Sodom; Paltith's Martyrdom; Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed
1And the cities of Sodom had four judges for their four cities; and these were their names: Serak in the city of Sodom, Sharkad in Gomorrah, Zabnac in Admah, and Menon in Zeboyim.
2And Eliezer, Abraham's servant, gave them different names: he turned Serak into Shakra, Sharkad into Shakrura, Zabnac into Kezobim, and Menon into Matzlodin.
3And at the desire of their four judges, the people of Sodom and Gomorrah had beds set up in the streets of the cities; and if a man came to those places, they would lay hold of him and bring him to one of the beds, and force him to lie in it.
4And as he lay down, three men would stand at his head and three at his feet, and measure him against the length of the bed; and if the man was shorter than the bed, these six men would stretch him at each end; and when he cried out to them, they would not answer him.
5And if he was longer than the bed, they would force the two ends of the bed together upon him, until the man had reached the gates of death.
6And if he continued to cry out to them, they would answer him, saying, Thus shall it be done to a man who comes into our land.
7And when men heard of all these things that the people of the cities of Sodom did, they refrained from coming there.
8And when a poor man came to their land, they would give him silver and gold, and have it proclaimed in the whole city that no one was to give him a morsel of bread to eat; and if the stranger remained there some days and died of hunger — never having been able to obtain a morsel of bread — then at his death all the people of the city would come and take back their silver and gold which they had given him.
9And those who could recognize the silver or gold they had given him took it back; and at his death they also stripped him of his garments, and they would fight over them, and whoever prevailed over his neighbor took them.
10After that they would carry him and bury him under some of the shrubs in the desert; so they did all their days to anyone who came to them and died in their land.
11And in the course of time, Sarah sent Eliezer to Sodom to see Lot, and to inquire after his welfare.
12And 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.
13And this poor man cried out to Eliezer, and begged his help on account of what the man of Sodom had done to him.
14And he said to him, Why do you act this way toward the poor man who came to your land?
15And the man of Sodom answered Eliezer, saying, Is this man your brother? Or have the people of Sodom made you a judge this day, that you speak up for this man?
16And 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 man of Sodom, the man hurried and struck Eliezer in the forehead with a stone.
17And the blood flowed freely from Eliezer's forehead; and when the man saw the blood, he caught hold of Eliezer, saying, Pay me my fee for having rid you of this bad blood that was in your forehead — for such is the custom and the law in our land.
18And Eliezer said to him, You have wounded me, and you demand that I pay you a fee? And Eliezer would not listen to the words of the man of Sodom.
19And the man laid hold of Eliezer and brought him to Shakra, the judge of Sodom, for judgment.
20And the man spoke to the judge, saying, I beg you, my lord — thus has this man done: I struck him with a stone so that the blood flowed from his forehead, and he is unwilling to pay me my fee.
21And the judge said to Eliezer, This man speaks the truth to you: pay him his fee, for this is the custom in our land. And Eliezer heard the words of the judge; and he lifted up a stone and struck the judge, and the stone hit his forehead, and the blood flowed freely from the forehead of the judge; and Eliezer said, If this then is the custom in your land, then you pay this man what I owed him — for this was your decision; you decreed it.
22And Eliezer left the man of Sodom with the judge, and he went away.
23And 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.
24At that time the wife of Lot bore him a daughter, and he called her name Paltith, saying, Because God delivered him and his whole household from the kings of Elam. And Paltith the daughter of Lot grew up, and one of the men of Sodom took her as a wife.
25And a poor man came into the city to seek a living, and he remained in the city some days; and all the people of Sodom had their custom proclaimed — that no one was to give this man a morsel of bread to eat — until he dropped dead upon the ground; and so they did.
26And 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 on the very point of death.
27And her soul was filled with pity for the man, and she fed him secretly with bread for many days, and the soul of this man was revived.
28For when she went out to fetch water, she would put the bread in her water pitcher; and when she came to the place where the poor man was, she took the bread from the pitcher and gave it to him to eat. So she did for many days.
29And all the people of Sodom and Gomorrah wondered how this man could endure starvation for so many days.
30And they said to one another, This can only mean that he eats and drinks — for no man can endure starvation so many days, or live as this man has, without even his countenance changing. And three men concealed themselves in a place near where the poor man was stationed, to find out who it was that brought him bread to eat.
31And Paltith the daughter of Lot went out 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 the bread out of the pitcher and gave it to the poor man, and he ate it.
32And the three men saw what Paltith did for the poor man, and they said to her, So it is you who have been supporting him — that is why he has not starved, nor changed in appearance, nor died like the rest!
33And the three men came out of the place where they were concealed, and they seized Paltith, and the bread that was in the poor man's hand.
34And they took Paltith and brought her before their judges, and they said, Thus has she done: it is she who supplied the poor man with bread, and that is why he has not died all this time. Now therefore declare to us the punishment due to this woman for having transgressed our law.
35And 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.
36And in the city of Admah there was a young woman to whom they did the like.
37For a traveler came into the city of Admah to stay the night, intending to go on his way in the morning; and he sat down opposite the door of the house of the young woman's father, to remain there, for the sun had set when he reached that place; and the young woman saw him sitting by the door of the house.
38And he asked her for a drink of water, and she said to him, Who are you? And he said to her, I was traveling on the road today and reached here as the sun set; so I will stay here tonight, and in the morning I will rise early and continue my journey.
39And the young woman went into the house and fetched the man bread and water, to eat and drink.
40And this affair became known to the people of Admah, and they assembled and brought the young woman before the judges, that they might judge her for this act.
41And the judge said, The judgment of death must pass upon this woman, because she transgressed our law; and this therefore is the decision concerning her.
42And the people of those cities assembled and brought out the young woman, and they anointed her with honey from head to foot, as the judge had decreed; and they placed her before a swarm of bees, which were then in their hives; and the bees flew upon her and stung her, so that her whole body swelled.
43And the young woman cried out because of the bees, but no one took notice of her or pitied her; and her cries ascended to heaven.
44And the Lord was provoked at this, and at all the works of the cities of Sodom; for they had abundance of food, and had tranquility among them, and still would not sustain the poor and the needy; and in those days their evil deeds and sins became great before the Lord.
45And the Lord sent two of the angels who had come to Abraham's house, to destroy Sodom and its cities.
46And the angels rose up from the door of Abraham's tent, after they had eaten and drunk; and they reached Sodom in the evening; and Lot was then sitting in the gate of Sodom, and when he saw them he rose to meet them, and he bowed down to the ground.
47And he pressed them greatly, and brought them into his house; and he gave them food, which they ate, and they stayed the night in his house.
48And the angels said to Lot, Arise, go out from this place, you and all who belong to you, lest you be consumed in the iniquity of this city — for the Lord will destroy this place.
49And the angels laid hold of the hand of Lot, and the hand of his wife, and the hands of his children, and all who belonged to him; and they brought him out and set him outside the cities.
50And they said to Lot, Escape for your life! And he fled, and all who belonged to him.
51Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah, and upon all these cities, brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven.
52And he overthrew these cities, all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and all that grew upon the ground. And Ado the wife of Lot looked back to see the destruction of the cities, for her compassion was stirred on account of her daughters who remained in Sodom, for they did not go with her.
53And when she looked back, she became a pillar of salt — and it is still in that place to this day.
54And the oxen that stood in that place would daily lick up the salt down to the soles of her feet; and in the morning it would spring up afresh, and they would lick it up again — to this day.
55And Lot, and two of his daughters who remained with him, fled and escaped to the cave of Adullam, and they remained there for some time.
56And Abraham rose up early in the morning to see what had been done to the cities of Sodom; and he looked, and beheld the smoke of the cities going up like the smoke of a furnace.
57And Lot and his two daughters remained in the cave; and they made their father drink wine, and they lay with him — for they said there was no man left upon the earth who could raise up seed from them, for they thought the whole earth had been destroyed.
58And they both lay with their father, and they conceived and bore sons; and the firstborn called the name of her son Moab, saying, From my father I conceived him; he is the father of the Moabites to this day.
59And the younger also called her son Benami; he is the father of the children of Ammon to this day.
60And after this, Lot and his two daughters went away from there, and he dwelt on the other side of the Jordan with his two daughters and their sons; and the sons of Lot grew up, and they went and took themselves wives from the land of Canaan, and they had children, and they were fruitful and multiplied.