Genesis 18:10–33

^10*One of them said, “Nine months from now^q I will come back, and your wife Sarah will have a son.”

Sarah was behind him, at the door of the tent, listening. ¹¹Abraham and Sarah were very old, and Sarah had stopped having her monthly periods. ^12*So Sarah laughed to herself and said, “Now that I am old and worn out, can I still enjoy sex? And besides, my husband is old too.”

¹³Then the Lord asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Can I really have a child when I am so old?’ ^14*Is anything too hard for the Lord? As I said, nine months from now I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”

¹⁵Because Sarah was afraid, she denied it. “I didn’t laugh,” she said.

“Yes, you did,” he replied. “You laughed.”

Abraham Pleads for Sodom

¹⁶Then the men left and went to a place where they could look down at Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on their way. ¹⁷And the Lord said to himself, “I will not hide from Abraham what I am going to do. ¹⁸His descendants will become a great and mighty nation, and through him I will bless all the nations.^{r 19}I have chosen him in order that he may command his sons and his descendants to obey me and to do what is right and just. If they do, I will do everything for him that I have promised.”

²⁰Then the Lord said to Abraham, “There are terrible accusations against Sodom and Gomorrah, and their sin is very great. ²¹I must go down to find out whether or not the accusations which I have heard are true.”

²²Then the two men left and went on towards Sodom, but the Lord remained with Abraham. ²³Abraham approached the Lord and asked, “Are you really going to destroy the innocent with the guilty? ²⁴If there are fifty innocent people in the city, will you destroy the whole city? Won’t you spare it in order to save the fifty? ²⁵Surely you won’t kill the innocent with the guilty. That’s impossible! You can’t do that. If you did, the innocent would be punished along with the guilty. That is impossible. The judge of all the earth has to act justly.”

²⁶The Lord answered, “If I find fifty innocent people in Sodom, I will spare the whole city for their sake.”

²⁷Abraham spoke again: “Please forgive my boldness in continuing to speak to you, Lord. I am only a man and have no right to say anything. ²⁸But perhaps there will be only forty-five innocent people instead of fifty. Will you destroy the whole city because there are five too few?”

The Lord answered, “I will not destroy the city if I find forty-five innocent people.”

²⁹Abraham spoke again: “Perhaps there will be only forty.”

He replied, “I will not destroy it if there are forty.”

³⁰Abraham said, “Please don’t be angry, Lord, but I must speak again. What if there are only thirty?”

He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty.”

³¹Abraham said, “Please forgive my boldness in continuing to speak to you, Lord. Suppose that only twenty are found?”

He said, “I will not destroy the city if I find twenty.”

³²Abraham said, “Please don’t be angry, Lord, and I will speak just once more. What if only ten are found?”

He said, “I will not destroy it if there are ten.” ³³After he had finished speaking with Abraham, the Lord went away, and Abraham returned home.