20
Then Yahweh said, "Because the outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah [is] great and because their sin [is] very {serious},
21
I will go down and I will see. Have they done altogether according to its cry of distress [which] has come to me? If not, I will know."
Abraham Intercedes for Sodom
22 And the men turned from there and went toward Sodom. And Abraham [was] still standing before Yahweh.
23
And Abraham drew near [to Yahweh] and said, "Will you also sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
24
If perhaps there are fifty righteous in the midst of the city, will you also sweep [them] away and not forgive the place on account of the fifty righteous in her midst?
25
Far be it from you to do such a thing as this, to kill [the] righteous with [the] wicked, that the righteous would be as the wicked! Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do justice?"
26
And Yahweh said, "If I find fifty righteous in Sodom, in the midst of the city, then I will forgive the whole place for their sake."
27
Then Abraham answered and said, "Look, please, I was bold to speak to my Lord, but I [am] dust and ashes.
28
Perhaps the fifty righteous are lacking five--will you destroy the whole city on account of the five?" And he answered, "I will not destroy [it] if I find forty-five there."
29
And {once again he spoke} to him and said, "What if forty are found there?" And he answered, "I will not do [it] on account of the forty."
30
And he said, "Please, let not my Lord be angry, and I will speak. What if thirty be found there?" And he answered, "I will not do [it] if I find thirty there."