Genesis 18

¹And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre , as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day .

²He lifted up his eyes and looked , and behold , three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth

³and said , O Lord , if I have found favor in your sight , do not pass by your servant .

⁴Let a little water be brought , and wash your feet , and rest yourselves under the tree ,

⁵while I bring a morsel of bread , that you may refresh yourselves , and after that you may pass on — since you have come to your servant . So they said , Do as you have said .

⁶And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said , Quick ! Three seahs of fine flour ! Knead it, and make cakes .

⁷And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf , tender and good , and gave it to a young man , who prepared it quickly .

⁸Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared , and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate .

⁹They said to him, Where is Sarah your wife ? And he said , She is in the tent .

¹⁰The Lord said , I will surely return to you about this time next year , and Sarah your wife shall have a son . And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him.

¹¹Now Abraham and Sarah were old , advanced in years . The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah .

¹²So Sarah laughed to herself , saying , After I am worn out , and my lord is old , shall I have pleasure ?

¹³The Lord said to Abraham , Why did Sarah laugh and say , Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old ?

¹⁴Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year , and Sarah shall have a son .

¹⁵But Sarah denied it, saying , I did not laugh , for she was afraid . He said , No , but you did laugh .

¹⁶Then the men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom . And Abraham went with them to set them on their way .

¹⁷The Lord said , Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do ,

¹⁸seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation , and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?

¹⁹For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice , so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.

²⁰Then the Lord said , Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave ,

²¹I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not , I will know .

²²So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom , but Abraham still stood before the Lord.

²³Then Abraham drew near and said , Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked ?

²⁴Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city . Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it ?

²⁵Far be it from you to do such a thing , to put the righteous to death with the wicked , so that the righteous fare as the wicked ! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just ?

²⁶And the Lord said , If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city , I will spare the whole place for their sake .

²⁷Abraham answered and said , Behold , I have undertaken to speak to the Lord , I who am but dust and ashes .

²⁸Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking . Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five ? And he said , I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there .

²⁹Again he spoke to him and said , Suppose forty are found there . He answered , For the sake of forty I will not do it.

³⁰Then he said , Oh let not the Lord be angry , and I will speak . Suppose thirty are found there . He answered , I will not do it, if I find thirty there .

³¹He said , Behold , I have undertaken to speak to the Lord . Suppose twenty are found there . He answered , For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.

³²Then he said , Oh let not the Lord be angry , and I will speak again but this once . Suppose ten are found there . He answered , For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.

³³And the Lord went his way , when he had finished speaking to Abraham , and Abraham returned to his place .