18:20 So the Lord said, “The outcry against 1 Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so blatant 2 18:21 that I must go down 3 and see if they are as wicked as the outcry suggests. 4 If not, 5 I want to know.”
18:22 The two men turned 6 and headed 7 toward Sodom, but Abraham was still standing before the Lord. 8
18:33 The Lord went on his way 9 when he had finished speaking 10 to Abraham. Then Abraham returned home. 11
1 tn Heb “the outcry of Sodom,” which apparently refers to the outcry for divine justice from those (unidentified persons) who observe its sinful ways.
2 tn Heb “heavy.”
3 tn The cohortative indicates the
sn I must go down. The descent to “see” Sodom is a bold anthropomorphism, stressing the careful judgment of God. The language is reminiscent of the
4 tn Heb “[if] according to the outcry that has come to me they have done completely.” Even the
5 sn The short phrase if not provides a ray of hope and inspires Abraham’s intercession.
6 tn Heb “And the men turned from there.” The word “two” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied here for clarity. Gen 19:1 mentions only two individuals (described as “angels”), while Abraham had entertained three visitors (18:2). The implication is that the
7 tn Heb “went.”
8 tc An ancient Hebrew scribal tradition reads “but the
9 tn Heb “And the
10 tn The infinitive construct (“speaking”) serves as the direct object of the verb “finished.”
11 tn Heb “to his place.”