This verse should begin a new paragraph.

And Abraham went early in the morning: it is possible to view the timing of the events in verses 15-28 in two ways.
(1) Abraham saw the smoke rising from the destruction of the cities at the very moment they were destroyed. In this case Lot left Sodom, reached Zoar, and the angels destroyed the cities on the morning of the day after the LORD had spoken with Abraham. And it was on that same morning that Abraham went early to his lookout and saw what happened.
(2) Lot did not reach Zoar (verse 23) until some time later in that day. Since the angels would not destroy the cities until after Lot’s arrival in Zoar, the destruction was late that day, and it was on the next morning that Abraham went up and saw the smoke.

Either view is possible. Revised Standard Version, which says “Abraham went early in the morning” can be understood as referring to the same morning as the destruction, or later. Good News Translation, which has “Early the next morning,” prefers the second view.

Most commentators do not deal with this question. One who does make a comment, however, is Speiser, who says “As Abraham peered anxiously at the scene of the disaster, from the distant heights of Hebron, he had his answer to the question he had posed the night before.” This appears to support the first view above; but in his own translation Speiser has “Next morning…,” so it is not really clear which view he supports!

The sequence of the narrative as we have it favors view (2). This is because, in the absence of any marker or other clue in the text, readers naturally assume that the events happened in the same order as the story reports them. For view (1), however, Abraham would have had to set out for his lookout place before the events of verses 15-26 or while they were happening. This means that view (1) would involve a “flashback” at verse 27, which most languages would have to mark in some way so that readers would follow the change in time sequence. (In English we would have to say something like “Meanwhile Abraham got up early…” or “On that same day Abraham had gotten up early and had gone….”)

The Handbook recommends that translators follow view (2) and follow Good News Translation and other translations that make this view clear, by saying, for example, “On the morning of the next day…” or “Early the next morning….”

The place where he had stood before the LORD: the place is the same one as in 18.16. We get the impression from 18.16 and 18.33 that this high point may have been some distance from Abraham’s camp. For stood before the LORD see 18.22.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .