Genesis 18:18-28

18 Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.[a]
19 For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”
20 Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous
21 that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”
22 The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD.[b]
23 Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
24 What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare[c] the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it?
25 Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
26 The LORD said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
27 Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes,
28 what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?” “If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”

Cross References 22

  • 1. S Genesis 12:2; Galatians 3:8*
  • 2. Genesis 17:9
  • 3. Deuteronomy 4:9-10; Deuteronomy 6:7
  • 4. Joshua 24:15; Ephesians 6:4
  • 5. Genesis 22:12,18; Genesis 26:5; 2 Samuel 8:15; Psalms 17:2; Psalms 99:4; Jeremiah 23:5
  • 6. S Genesis 16:11; S Isaiah 14:1
  • 7. Isaiah 1:10; Jeremiah 23:14; Ezekiel 16:46
  • 8. Genesis 19:13
  • 9. S Genesis 13:13
  • 10. S Genesis 11:5
  • 11. S ver 2
  • 12. Genesis 19:1
  • 13. ver 1; Genesis 19:27
  • 14. Exodus 23:7; Lev 4:3,22,27; Numbers 16:22; Deuteronomy 27:25; 2 Samuel 24:17; Psalms 11:4-7; Psalms 94:21; Ezekiel 18:4; 2 Peter 2:9
  • 15. ver 26; Jeremiah 5:1
  • 16. Genesis 44:7,17; Deuteronomy 32:4; Job 8:3-7; Job 34:10
  • 17. Isaiah 5:20; Amos 5:15; Malachi 2:17; Malachi 3:18
  • 18. Deuteronomy 1:16-17
  • 19. Judges 11:27; Job 9:15; Psalms 7:11; Psalms 94:2; Hebrews 12:23
  • 20. Genesis 20:4; Deuteronomy 32:4; 2 Chronicles 19:7; Ezra 9:15; Nehemiah 9:33; Job 8:3,20; Job 34:10; Job 36:23; Psalms 58:11; Psalms 75:7; Psalms 94:2; Psalms 119:137; Isaiah 3:10-11; Ezekiel 18:25; Daniel 4:37; Daniel 9:14; Malachi 2:17; Romans 3:6
  • 21. S ver 24; Jeremiah 5:1
  • 22. S Genesis 2:7; Genesis 3:19; S Job 2:8; Job 30:19; Job 42:6

Footnotes 3

  • [a]. Or "will use his name in blessings" (see 48:20)
  • [b]. Masoretic Text; an ancient Hebrew scribal tradition "but the " Lord"remained standing before Abraham"
  • [c]. Or "forgive" ; also in verse 26
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