Genesis 18:24

24 si fuerint quinquaginta iusti in civitate peribunt simul et non parces loco illi propter quinquaginta iustos si fuerint in eo

Genesis 18:24 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 18:24

Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city
Within the Pentapolis, which consisted of five cities; and so ten righteous persons are supposed to be in each, as Jarchi observes, agreeably to the Targum of Jonathan;

``perhaps there may be fifty righteous persons in the city who pray before thee, ten for every city, answerable to the five cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar:''

wilt thou also destroy, and not spare the place for the fifty
righteous that [are] therein?
here Abraham becomes an advocate and intercessor for all the inhabitants of the place, even the wicked, that they might not be destroyed, but spared and be delivered from impending ruin, for the sake of the fifty righteous among them; before he seemed only concerned for the righteous, lest they should perish with the rest, and that some method might be found out and taken to distinguish them from them; but here he expresses himself in favour of the wicked also, that they might be spared, provided such a number of righteous ones was found among them.

Genesis 18:24 In-Context

22 converteruntque se inde et abierunt Sodomam Abraham vero adhuc stabat coram Domino

23 et adpropinquans ait numquid perdes iustum cum impio

24 si fuerint quinquaginta iusti in civitate peribunt simul et non parces loco illi propter quinquaginta iustos si fuerint in eo

25 absit a te ut rem hanc facias et occidas iustum cum impio fiatque iustus sicut impius non est hoc tuum qui iudicas omnem terram nequaquam facies iudicium

26 dixitque Dominus ad eum si invenero Sodomis quinquaginta iustos in medio civitatis dimittam omni loco propter eos