Genesis 18:9-33

18:9 Then they asked him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” He replied, “There, ¹  in the tent.” 18:10 One of them ²  said, “I will surely return ³  to you when the season comes round again, ⁴  and your wife Sarah will have a son!” ⁵  (Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, not far behind him. ⁶  18:11 Abraham and Sarah were old and advancing in years; ⁷  Sarah had long since passed menopause.) ⁸  18:12 So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, ⁹  “After I am worn out will I have pleasure, ¹⁰  especially when my husband is old too?” ¹¹ 

18:13 The Lord said to Abraham, “Why ¹²  did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really ¹³  have a child when I am old?’ 18:14 Is anything impossible ¹⁴  for the Lord? I will return to you when the season comes round again and Sarah will have a son.” ¹⁵  18:15 Then Sarah lied, saying, “I did not laugh,” because she was afraid. But the Lord said, “No! You did laugh.” ¹⁶ 

Abraham Pleads for Sodom

18:16 When the men got up to leave, ¹⁷  they looked out over ¹⁸  Sodom. (Now ¹⁹  Abraham was walking with them to see them on their way.) ²⁰  18:17 Then the Lord said, “Should I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? ²¹  18:18 After all, Abraham ²²  will surely become ²³  a great and powerful nation, and all the nations on the earth will pronounce blessings on one another ²⁴  using his name. 18:19 I have chosen him ²⁵  so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep ²⁶  the way of the Lord by doing ²⁷  what is right and just. Then the Lord will give ²⁸  to Abraham what he promised ²⁹  him.”

18:20 So the Lord said, “The outcry against ³⁰  Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so blatant ³¹  18:21 that I must go down ³²  and see if they are as wicked as the outcry suggests. ³³  If not, ³⁴  I want to know.”

18:22 The two men turned ³⁵  and headed ³⁶  toward Sodom, but Abraham was still standing before the Lord. ³⁷  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 ³⁸  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 ³⁹  of the whole earth do what is right?” ⁴⁰ 

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 ⁴¹  (although I am but dust and ashes), ⁴²  18:28 what if there are five less than the fifty godly people? Will you destroy ⁴³  the whole city because five are lacking?” ⁴⁴  He replied, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”

18:29 Abraham ⁴⁵  spoke to him again, ⁴⁶  “What if forty are found there?” He replied, “I will not do it for the sake of the forty.”

18:30 Then Abraham ⁴⁷  said, “May the Lord not be angry ⁴⁸  so that I may speak! ⁴⁹  What if thirty are found there?” He replied, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

18:31 Abraham ⁵⁰  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 ⁵¹  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 ⁵²  when he had finished speaking ⁵³  to Abraham. Then Abraham returned home. ⁵⁴ 

[18:9]  ¹ tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) often accompanies a gesture of pointing or a focused gaze.

[18:10]  ² tn Heb “he”; the referent (one of the three men introduced in v. 2) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Some English translations have specified the referent as the Lord (cf. RSV, NIV) based on vv. 1, 13, but the Hebrew text merely has “he said” at this point, referring to one of the three visitors. Aside from the introductory statement in v. 1, the incident is narrated from Abraham’s point of view, and the suspense is built up for the reader as Abraham’s elaborate banquet preparations in the preceding verses suggest he suspects these are important guests. But not until the promise of a son later in this verse does it become clear who is speaking. In v. 13 the Hebrew text explicitly mentions the Lord.

[18:10]  ³ tn The Hebrew construction is emphatic, using the infinitive absolute with the imperfect tense.

[18:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “as/when the time lives” or “revives,” possibly referring to the springtime.

[18:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “and there will be (הִנֵּה, hinneh) a son for Sarah.”

[18:10]  ⁶ tn This is the first of two disjunctive parenthetical clauses preparing the reader for Sarah’s response (see v. 12).

[18:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “days.”

[18:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “it had ceased to be for Sarah [after] a way like women.”

[18:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “saying.”

[18:12]  ¹⁰ tn It has been suggested that this word should be translated “conception,” not “pleasure.” See A. A. McIntosh, “A Third Root ‘adah in Biblical Hebrew,” VT 24 (1974): 454-73.

[18:12]  ¹¹ tn The word “too” has been added in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[18:13]  ¹² tn Heb “Why, this?” The demonstrative pronoun following the interrogative pronoun is enclitic, emphasizing the Lord’s amazement: “Why on earth did Sarah laugh?”

[18:13]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew construction uses both הַאַף (ha’af) and אֻמְנָם (’umnam): “Indeed, truly, will I have a child?”

[18:14]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew verb פָּלָא (pala’) means “to be wonderful, to be extraordinary, to be surpassing, to be amazing.”

[18:14]  ¹⁵ sn Sarah will have a son. The passage brings God’s promise into clear focus. As long as it was a promise for the future, it really could be believed without much involvement. But now, when it seemed so impossible from the human standpoint, when the Lord fixed an exact date for the birth of the child, the promise became rather overwhelming to Abraham and Sarah. But then this was the Lord of creation, the one they had come to trust. The point of these narratives is that the creation of Abraham’s offspring, which eventually became Israel, is no less a miraculous work of creation than the creation of the world itself.

[18:15]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “And he said, ‘No, but you did laugh.’” The referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:16]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “And the men arose from there.”

[18:16]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “toward the face of.”

[18:16]  ¹⁹ tn The disjunctive parenthetical clause sets the stage for the following speech.

[18:16]  ²⁰ 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.

[18:17]  ²¹ tn The active participle here refers to an action that is imminent.

[18:18]  ²² 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?”

[18:18]  ²³ tn The infinitive absolute lends emphasis to the finite verb that follows.

[18:18]  ²⁴ 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.

[18:19]  ²⁵ 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 Lord.

[18:19]  ²⁶ 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”).

[18:19]  ²⁷ tn The infinitive construct here indicates manner, explaining how Abraham’s children and his household will keep the way of the Lord.

[18:19]  ²⁸ tn Heb “bring on.” The infinitive after לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) indicates result here.

[18:19]  ²⁹ tn Heb “spoke to.”

[18:20]  ³⁰ tn Heb “the outcry of Sodom,” which apparently refers to the outcry for divine justice from those (unidentified persons) who observe its sinful ways.

[18:20]  ³¹ tn Heb “heavy.”

[18:21]  ³² tn The cohortative indicates the Lord’s resolve.

[18:21]  ³³ tn Heb “[if] according to the outcry that has come to me they have done completely.” Even the Lord, who is well aware of the human capacity to sin, finds it hard to believe that anyone could be as bad as the “outcry” against Sodom and Gomorrah suggests.

[18:21]  ³⁴ sn The short phrase if not provides a ray of hope and inspires Abraham’s intercession.

[18:22]  ³⁵ 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 Lord was the third visitor, who remained behind with Abraham here. The words “from there” are not included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[18:22]  ³⁶ tn Heb “went.”

[18:22]  ³⁷ tc An ancient Hebrew scribal tradition reads “but the Lord remained standing before Abraham.” This reading is problematic because the phrase “standing before” typically indicates intercession, but the Lord would certainly not be interceding before Abraham.

[18:24]  ³⁸ tn Heb “lift up,” perhaps in the sense of “bear with” (cf. NRSV “forgive”).

[18:25]  ³⁹ tn Or “ruler.”

[18:25]  ⁴⁰ 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.

[18:27]  ⁴¹ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here and in vv. 30, 31, 32 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[18:27]  ⁴² tn The disjunctive clause is a concessive clause here, drawing out the humility as a contrast to the Lord.

[18:28]  ⁴³ tn The Hebrew verb שָׁחַת (shakhat, “to destroy”) was used earlier to describe the effect of the flood.

[18:28]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “because of five.”

[18:29]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:29]  ⁴⁶ tn The construction is a verbal hendiadys – the preterite (“he added”) is combined with an adverb “yet” and an infinitive “to speak.”

[18:30]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:30]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “let it not be hot to the Lord.” This is an idiom which means “may the Lord not be angry.”

[18:30]  ⁴⁹ tn After the jussive, the cohortative indicates purpose/result.

[18:31]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:32]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:33]  ⁵² tn Heb “And the Lord went.”

[18:33]  ⁵³ tn The infinitive construct (“speaking”) serves as the direct object of the verb “finished.”

[18:33]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “to his place.”