Discovery BoxGenesis 18:16-33 
Context18:16 When the men got up to leave, 1 they looked out over 2 Sodom. (Now 3 Abraham was walking with them to see them on their way.) 4 18:17 Then the Lord said, “Should I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? 5 18:18 After all, Abraham 6 will surely become 7 a great and powerful nation, and all the nations on the earth will pronounce blessings on one another 8 using his name. 18:19 I have chosen him 9 so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep 10 the way of the Lord by doing 11 what is right and just. Then the Lord will give 12 to Abraham what he promised 13 him.”
18:20 So the Lord said, “The outcry against 14 Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so blatant 15 18:21 that I must go down 16 and see if they are as wicked as the outcry suggests. 17 If not, 18 I want to know.”
18:22 The two men turned 19 and headed 20 toward Sodom, but Abraham was still standing before the Lord. 21 18:23 Abraham approached and said, “Will you sweep away the godly along with the wicked? 18:24 What if there are fifty godly people in the city? Will you really wipe it out and not spare 22 the place for the sake of the fifty godly people who are in it? 18:25 Far be it from you to do such a thing – to kill the godly with the wicked, treating the godly and the wicked alike! Far be it from you! Will not the judge 23 of the whole earth do what is right?” 24
18:26 So the Lord replied, “If I find in the city of Sodom fifty godly people, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
18:27 Then Abraham asked, “Since I have undertaken to speak to the Lord 25 (although I am but dust and ashes), 26 18:28 what if there are five less than the fifty godly people? Will you destroy 27 the whole city because five are lacking?” 28 He replied, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”
18:29 Abraham 29 spoke to him again, 30 “What if forty are found there?” He replied, “I will not do it for the sake of the forty.”
18:30 Then Abraham 31 said, “May the Lord not be angry 32 so that I may speak! 33 What if thirty are found there?” He replied, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
18:31 Abraham 34 said, “Since I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty are found there?” He replied, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty.”
18:32 Finally Abraham 35 said, “May the Lord not be angry so that I may speak just once more. What if ten are found there?” He replied, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.”
18:33 The Lord went on his way 36 when he had finished speaking 37 to Abraham. Then Abraham returned home. 38
1 tn Heb “And the men arose from there.”
2 tn Heb “toward the face of.”
3 tn The disjunctive parenthetical clause sets the stage for the following speech.
4 tn The Piel of שָׁלַח (shalakh) means “to lead out, to send out, to expel”; here it is used in the friendly sense of seeing the visitors on their way.
5 tn The active participle here refers to an action that is imminent.
6 tn Heb “And Abraham.” The disjunctive clause is probably causal, giving a reason why God should not hide his intentions from Abraham. One could translate, “Should I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation?”
7 tn The infinitive absolute lends emphasis to the finite verb that follows.
8 tn Theoretically the Niphal can be translated either as passive or reflexive/reciprocal. (The Niphal of “bless” is only used in formulations of the Abrahamic covenant. See Gen 12:2; 18:18; 28:14.) Traditionally the verb is taken as passive here, as if Abram were going to be a channel or source of blessing. But in later formulations of the Abrahamic covenant (see Gen 22:18; 26:4) the Hitpael replaces this Niphal form, suggesting a translation “will bless [i.e., “pronounce blessings upon”] themselves [or “one another”].” The Hitpael of “bless” is used with a reflexive/reciprocal sense in Deut 29:18; Ps 72:17; Isa 65:16; Jer 4:2. Gen 18:18 (like 12:2) predicts that Abraham will be held up as a paradigm of divine blessing and that people will use his name in their blessing formulae. For examples of blessing formulae utilizing an individual as an example of blessing see Gen 48:20 and Ruth 4:11.
9 tn Heb “For I have known him.” The verb יָדַע (yada’) here means “to recognize and treat in a special manner, to choose” (see Amos 3:2). It indicates that Abraham stood in a special covenantal relationship with the
10 tn Heb “and they will keep.” The perfect verbal form with vav consecutive carries on the subjective nuance of the preceding imperfect verbal form (translated “so that he may command”).
11 tn The infinitive construct here indicates manner, explaining how Abraham’s children and his household will keep the way of the
12 tn Heb “bring on.” The infinitive after לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) indicates result here.
13 tn Heb “spoke to.”
14 tn Heb “the outcry of Sodom,” which apparently refers to the outcry for divine justice from those (unidentified persons) who observe its sinful ways.
15 tn Heb “heavy.”
16 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
17 tn Heb “[if] according to the outcry that has come to me they have done completely.” Even the
18 sn The short phrase if not provides a ray of hope and inspires Abraham’s intercession.
19 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
20 tn Heb “went.”
21 tc An ancient Hebrew scribal tradition reads “but the
22 tn Heb “lift up,” perhaps in the sense of “bear with” (cf. NRSV “forgive”).
23 tn Or “ruler.”
24 sn Will not the judge of the whole earth do what is right? For discussion of this text see J. L. Crenshaw, “Popular Questioning of the Justice of God in Ancient Israel,” ZAW 82 (1970): 380-95, and C. S. Rodd, “Shall Not the Judge of All the Earth Do What Is Just?” ExpTim 83 (1972): 137-39.
25 tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here and in vv. 30, 31, 32 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
26 tn The disjunctive clause is a concessive clause here, drawing out the humility as a contrast to the
27 tn The Hebrew verb שָׁחַת (shakhat, “to destroy”) was used earlier to describe the effect of the flood.
28 tn Heb “because of five.”
29 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
30 tn The construction is a verbal hendiadys – the preterite (“he added”) is combined with an adverb “yet” and an infinitive “to speak.”
31 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
32 tn Heb “let it not be hot to the
33 tn After the jussive, the cohortative indicates purpose/result.
34 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
35 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
36 tn Heb “And the
37 tn The infinitive construct (“speaking”) serves as the direct object of the verb “finished.”
38 tn Heb “to his place.”
