Genesis 18:32

32 And he saith, `Let it not be, I pray Thee, displeasing to the Lord, and I speak only this time: peradventure there are found there ten?' and He saith, `I do not destroy [it], because of the ten.'

Genesis 18:32 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 18:32

And he said, Oh, let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak
yet but this once
This should be the last request he should make on this account, and therefore he desired he might be heard without any marks of his displeasure;

Peradventure ten shall be found there:
how would the place be dealt with then? would it be consumed or not?

and he said, I will not destroy [it] for ten's sake;
though no more righteous persons were found in it. Some of the Jewish writers say ^F7, he ended at ten, because he supposed there were ten righteous persons in Lot's family, Lot and his wife, and their four daughters, and their four husbands; but they forgot that two of Lot's daughters were unmarried, and how many he had married is not known; ten they say make a congregation, and wherever there are ten righteous persons, a place is saved for their sakes.

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 Bereshit Rabba, sect. 49. fol. 44. 3.

Genesis 18:32 In-Context

30 And he saith, `Let it not be, I Pray thee, displeasing to the Lord, and I speak: peradventure there are found there thirty?' and He saith, `I do [it] not, if I find there thirty.'

31 And he saith, `Lo, I pray thee, I have willed to speak unto the Lord: peradventure there are found there twenty?' and He saith, `I do not destroy [it], because of the twenty.'

32 And he saith, `Let it not be, I pray Thee, displeasing to the Lord, and I speak only this time: peradventure there are found there ten?' and He saith, `I do not destroy [it], because of the ten.'

33 And Jehovah goeth on, when He hath finished speaking unto Abraham, and Abraham hath turned back to his place.