Genesis 18:1-33
18 And Jehovah appeared to him at the Oaks of Mamre; he was sitting at the door of his tent in the hottest part of the day,
2 and he raised his eyes and saw that three men were standing near him. And he saw them and ran from the tent door to meet them, and bent to the ground to do reverence,
3 * and said “Sirs, please do not pass your servant by:
4 let a little water be brought, and wash your feet and make yourselves comfortable under the tree,
5 and I will get a bit of bread to brace you up, and afterward you shall pass on—seeing that you are passing by your servant.” And they said “All right: do as you say.”
6 And Abraham hastened to the tent to Sarah and said “Quick, get forty quarts of farina, knead it up and make biscuits”;
7 and Abraham ran to the cattle and took a fine tender young bull and gave it to a man who made haste to prepare it;
8 and he took clabber and milk and the bull he had prepared and put it before them, while he stood near them under the tree; and they ate.
9 And he said to him “Where is your wife Sarah” and he said “Right in the tent.”
10 * And he said “I will come back to you again next year, and your wife Sarah will have a son.” And Sarah was listening in the tent door, it being behind him;
11 and Abraham and Sarah were old people, far gone in years,—Sarah had ceased to have her courses as a woman,—
12 and Sarah laughed inwardly, thinking “After I am worn out do I have gratification, with my lord old?”
13 And Jehovah said to Abraham “What did Sarah laugh for, thinking ‘Shall I really have a child when I am old?’
14 Is anything beyond Jehovah? at the time I set I will come back to you, next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
15 And Sarah lied and said “I did not laugh,” because she was afraid; but he said “No, you did laugh.”
16 And the men rose and went from there and looked off toward Sodom; and Abraham was going with them to see them off.
17 And Jehovah thought “Shall I bury away from Abraham what I am doing,
18 when Abraham is to become a great and numerous nation and all the nations on earth are to bless by him,
19 because I have made him my acquaintance in order that he may command his children and his family after him and that they may keep Jehovah’s path, doing what is right and lawful, that Jehovah may bring on for Abraham what he promised for him?”
20 And Jehovah said“The outcry of Sodom and Ghomorrah, because it is great,and their sin, because it is very heavy,
21 I will go down and see;Whether in accordance with the outcry of it that has come to methey have done the utmost,or not, I will know.”
22 * And the men turned round from there and went to Sodom; but Jehovah still stood before Abraham.
23 And Abraham approached and said “Will you just sweep away honest man with knave?
24 There may be fifty honest men in the city: will you just sweep away, and not pardon the place on account of the fifty honest men in it?
25 Away with the thought of your doing such a thing as this, bringing death on honest man with knave so that honest man and knave should fare alike; away with the thought; shall not the Judge of all the earth do justly?”
26 And Jehovah said “If I find at Sodom fifty honest men in the city I will pardon the whole place for their sake.”
27 And Abraham answered “Here I have taken it upon me to speak to my Lord when I am dust and ashes—
28 there may be five lacking of the fifty honest men: will you make away with the whole city for five?”
And he said “I will not make away with it if I find forty-five there.”
29 And he spoke to him yet again and said “There may be forty found there.”
And he said “I will not, for the sake of the forty.”
30 And he said “Let my Lord not be angry, and I will speak—there may be thirty found there.”
And he said “I will not if I find thirty there.”
31 And he said “Here I have taken it upon me to speak to my Lord—there may be twenty found there.”
And he said “I will not make away with it, for the sake of the twenty.”
32 And he said “Let my Lord not be angry, and I will speak just this once—there may be ten found there.”
And he said “I will not make away with it, for the sake of the ten.”
33 And Jehovah went when he had finished speaking to Abraham; and Abraham went back to his own place.
Footnotes
^ 18:3 Var. Sir
^ 18:10 Var. again at such a time next year
^ 18:22 Var. Abraham still stood before Jehovah
