18:3 He said, “My lord, 8 if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by and leave your servant. 9 18:4 Let a little water be brought so that 10 you may all 11 wash your feet and rest under the tree. 18:5 And let me get 12 a bit of food 13 so that you may refresh yourselves 14 since you have passed by your servant’s home. After that you may be on your way.” 15 “All right,” they replied, “you may do as you say.”
18:6 So Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick! Take 16 three measures 17 of fine flour, knead it, and make bread.” 18 18:7 Then Abraham ran to the herd and chose a fine, tender calf, and gave it to a servant, 19 who quickly prepared it. 20 18:8 Abraham 21 then took some curds and milk, along with the calf that had been prepared, and placed the food 22 before them. They ate while 23 he was standing near them under a tree.
18:9 Then they asked him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” He replied, “There, 24 in the tent.” 18:10 One of them 25 said, “I will surely return 26 to you when the season comes round again, 27 and your wife Sarah will have a son!” 28 (Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, not far behind him. 29 18:11 Abraham and Sarah were old and advancing in years; 30 Sarah had long since passed menopause.) 31 18:12 So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, 32 “After I am worn out will I have pleasure, 33 especially when my husband is old too?” 34
18:13 The Lord said to Abraham, “Why 35 did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really 36 have a child when I am old?’ 18:14 Is anything impossible 37 for the Lord? I will return to you when the season comes round again and Sarah will have a son.” 38 18:15 Then Sarah lied, saying, “I did not laugh,” because she was afraid. But the Lord said, “No! You did laugh.” 39
18:16 When the men got up to leave, 40 they looked out over 41 Sodom. (Now 42 Abraham was walking with them to see them on their way.) 43 18:17 Then the Lord said, “Should I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? 44 18:18 After all, Abraham 45 will surely become 46 a great and powerful nation, and all the nations on the earth will pronounce blessings on one another 47 using his name. 18:19 I have chosen him 48 so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep 49 the way of the Lord by doing 50 what is right and just. Then the Lord will give 51 to Abraham what he promised 52 him.”
18:20 So the Lord said, “The outcry against 53 Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so blatant 54 18:21 that I must go down 55 and see if they are as wicked as the outcry suggests. 56 If not, 57 I want to know.”
18:22 The two men turned 58 and headed 59 toward Sodom, but Abraham was still standing before the Lord. 60 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 61 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 62 of the whole earth do what is right?” 63
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 64 (although I am but dust and ashes), 65 18:28 what if there are five less than the fifty godly people? Will you destroy 66 the whole city because five are lacking?” 67 He replied, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”
18:29 Abraham 68 spoke to him again, 69 “What if forty are found there?” He replied, “I will not do it for the sake of the forty.”
18:30 Then Abraham 70 said, “May the Lord not be angry 71 so that I may speak! 72 What if thirty are found there?” He replied, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
18:31 Abraham 73 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 74 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 75 when he had finished speaking 76 to Abraham. Then Abraham returned home. 77