Genesis 18
18
The Son of Promise
1Then the Lord appeared to him by the #Gen. 13:18; 14:13terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. 2#Gen. 18:16, 22; 32:24; Josh. 5:13; Judg. 13:6–11; Heb. 13:2So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; #Gen. 19:1; 1 Pet. 4:9and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, 3and said, “My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. 4Please let #Gen. 19:2; 24:32; 43:24a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. 5And #Judg. 6:18, 19; 13:15, 16I will bring a morsel of bread, that #Judg. 19:5; Ps. 104:15you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, #Gen. 19:8; 33:10inasmuch as you have come to your servant.”
They said, “Do as you have said.”
6So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quickly, make ready three measures of fine meal; knead it and make cakes.” 7And Abraham ran to the herd, took a tender and good calf, gave it to a young man, and he hastened to prepare it. 8So #Gen. 19:3he took butter and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree as they ate.
9Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?”
So he said, “Here, #Gen. 24:67in the tent.”
10And He said, “I will certainly return to you #2 Kin. 4:16according to the time of life, and behold, #Gen. 17:19, 21; 21:2; Rom. 9:9Sarah your wife shall have a son.”
(Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.) 11Now #Gen. 17:17; Luke 1:18; Rom. 4:19; Heb. 11:11, 12, 19Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah #Gen. 31:35had passed the age of childbearing. 12Therefore Sarah #Gen. 17:17laughed within herself, saying, #Luke 1:18“After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my #1 Pet. 3:6lord being old also?”
13And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ 14#Num. 11:23; Jer. 32:17; Zech. 8:6; Matt. 3:9; 19:26; Luke 1:37; Rom. 4:21Is anything too hard for the Lord? #Gen. 17:21; 18:10; 2 Kin. 4:16At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”
15But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid.
And He said, “No, but you did laugh!”
Abraham Intercedes for Sodom
16Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them #Acts 15:3; Rom. 15:24to send them on the way. 17And the Lord said, #Gen. 18:22, 26, 33; Ps. 25:14; Amos 3:7; (John 15:15)“Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, 18since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be #(Gen. 12:3; 22:18); Matt. 1:1; Luke 3:34; (Acts 3:25, 26; Gal. 3:8)blessed in him? 19For I have known him, in order #(Deut. 4:9, 10; 6:6, 7)that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.” 20And the Lord said, “Because #Gen. 4:10; 19:13; Ezek. 16:49, 50the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their #Gen. 13:13sin is very grave, 21#Gen. 11:5; Ex. 3:8; Ps. 14:2I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, #Deut. 8:2; 13:3; Josh. 22:22; Luke 16:15; 2 Cor. 11:11I will know.”
22Then the men turned away from there #Gen. 18:16; 19:1and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. 23And Abraham #(Heb. 10:22)came near and said, #Ex. 23:7; Num. 16:22; 2 Sam. 24:17; Ps. 11:4–7“Would You also #Job 9:22destroy the #Gen. 20:4righteous with the wicked? 24Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? 25Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that #Job 8:20; Is. 3:10, 11the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! #Deut. 1:16, 17; 32:4; Job 8:3, 20; 34:17; Ps. 58:11; 94:2; Is. 3:10, 11; Rom. 3:5, 6Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
26So the Lord said, #Jer. 5:1; Ezek. 22:30“If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.”
27Then Abraham answered and said, “Indeed now, I who am #(Gen. 3:19); Job 4:19; 30:19; 42:6; (1 Cor. 15:47, 48)but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: 28Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy all of the city for lack of five?”
So He said, “If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it.”
29And he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose there should be forty found there?”
So He said, “I will not do it for the sake of forty.”
30Then he said, #Judg. 6:39“Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Suppose thirty should be found there?”
So He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
31And he said, “Indeed now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose twenty should be found there?”
So He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty.”
32Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?”
#James 5:16And He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.” 33So the Lord went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.
The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Genesis 18
18
1The Lord appeared to Abraham at the oaks of Mamre. Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent as the day became really hot. 2He looked up and all of a sudden he saw three men standing there. As soon as he saw them, he ran over to meet them and bowed low to the ground.
3He said, “Sir,#18:3. It seems Abraham was addressing just one of them, perhaps seeing him as their leader. if you please, don't continue your journey without spending some time here with me, your servant. 4Let me have some water brought so you can wash your feet and rest under the tree. 5Also let me bring some food so you can get your strength back before you go on your way, now that you've come to visit me here.”
“That would be fine,” they answered. “Please do as you've suggested.”
6Abraham hurried back to the tent and told Sarah, “Quick! Make some bread using three large measures#18:6. “Large measures”: literally “seahs,” variously estimated as 20 quarts or 44 pounds. of the best flour. Knead the dough and bake the bread.” 7Then Abraham ran to the cattle herd and chose a good, young calf and gave it to his servant who quickly killed and cooked it. 8Then he took some yogurt, milk, and the cooked meat, and placed the food in front of them. He stood nearby under a tree while they ate.
9“Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him.
“Over there, inside the tent,” he replied.
10Then one said, “I promise you that I will come back to visit you about this time next year, and your wife Sarah will have a son.” Sarah was listening, hiding just inside the entrance to the tent behind him.
11Abraham and Sarah were old, getting on in years. Sarah was well past the age of having children. 12Sarah was laughing inside, saying to herself, “Now that I'm old and worn out, how would I experience pleasure? My husband is old too!”
13The Lord asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and ask, ‘How could it possibly be true that I'll have a child now I'm so old?’ 14Is anything too difficult for the Lord to do? I will come back next year when I said I would, in the spring, and Sarah will have a son.”
15Sarah denied it because she was afraid, claiming, “I didn't laugh.”
“Yes, you did laugh,” the Lord replied.
16Then the men left. They looked down on Sodom#18:16. Clearly they could see Sodom in the valley below from their viewpoint higher up. and headed in that direction. Abraham accompanied them part of the way.
17Then the Lord said, “Should I keep from Abraham what I'm going to do? 18Abraham will definitely become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations on earth will be blessed through him. 19I've chosen him so that he will teach his sons and their families to follow the way of the Lord by doing what is right and good, so that I, the Lord, can do for Abraham what I promised.”
20Then the Lord said, “There are many complaints made against Sodom and Gomorrah because they sin so blatantly. 21I'm going to see if these complaints that have reached me are completely true. I'll know if they're not.”
22The two men turned and went towards Sodom, but the Lord stayed there with Abraham.
23Abraham came to him and asked: “Are you really going to wipe out the good people along with the wicked? 24What if there are fifty good people in the town? Are you still going to wipe it out despite the fifty good people there? 25No, you can't do something like that! You can't kill the good with the wicked, otherwise you would be treating the good and the wicked in the same way. You can't do that! Isn't the Judge of all the earth going to do the right thing?”
26“If I find fifty good people in Sodom, I'll spare the whole town because of them,” the Lord replied.
27“Since I've started, let me go on speaking to my Lord, even though I'm nothing but dust and ashes,” Abraham continued. 28“What if there are forty-five good people, just five less? Are you still going to wipe out the whole town just because there are five fewer people?”
“I won't destroy it if I find forty-five,” the Lord replied.
29Abraham spoke up again and he asked the Lord, “What if only forty can be found?”
“I won't do it for the sake of the forty,” the Lord replied.
30“My Lord, please don't get angry with me,” Abraham went on. “Let me ask this—what if only thirty were found?”
“I won't do it if I find thirty,” the Lord replied.
31“I admit I've been very bold to speak to my Lord like this,” Abraham said. “What if only twenty are found there?”
“I won't do it for the sake of the twenty,” the Lord replied.
32“Please don't get angry with me, my Lord,” Abraham said. “Just let me ask one more thing. What if only ten are found there?”
“I won't destroy it for the sake of the ten,” the Lord replied.
33The Lord left once he had finished speaking with Abraham, and Abraham went home.
Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com