Fluent Translation · Read & Reflect
Genesis 18
Visitors at Mamre
The LORD appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre while he sat at his tent's entrance in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing nearby. As soon as he saw them, he ran from the tent's entrance to meet them and bowed to the ground.
He said, “My Lord, if I have found favor with you, please do not pass your servant by. Let some water be brought so you can wash your feet and rest under the tree. Let me bring a little bread to restore your strength. Then you can go on your way, now that you have come to your servant.” They answered, “Do as you have said.”
Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “knead three seahs of fine flour and make cakes.”
Then Abraham ran to the herd, chose a tender, good calf, and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it.
He took curds, milk, and the calf that had been prepared and set the food before them. While they ate, he stood beside them under the tree.
Sarah Hears the Promise
They asked him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” “There, in the tent,” he answered.
Then one said, “I will certainly return to you at this time next year, and your wife Sarah will have a son.” Sarah was listening at the tent's entrance behind him.
Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years, and Sarah had stopped having menstrual periods.
Sarah laughed to herself. “After I have worn out, am I to have pleasure?” she thought. “And my lord is old too.”
The LORD asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really bear a child now that I am old?’ Is anything too extraordinary for the LORD? At the appointed time, this time next year, I will return to you, and Sarah will have a son.”
Sarah denied it: “I did not laugh.” She was afraid. But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.”
The Outcry from Sodom
The men got up to leave and looked toward Sodom. Abraham walked with them to see them on their way.
The LORD said, “Should I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him. I have known him so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the LORD's way by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”
The LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and their sin is very grave. I will go down and see whether they have acted as badly as the outcry reaching me says. If not, I will know.”
The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD.
Abraham Pleads for the City
Abraham came closer and said, “Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of those fifty? Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating them alike. Far be it from you! Will the Judge of all the earth not do justice?”
The LORD answered, “If I find fifty righteous people in Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
Abraham replied, “I have dared to speak to my Lord, though I am dust and ashes. What if the fifty righteous people are five short? Will you destroy the whole city because of five?” God answered, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”
Abraham spoke again: “What if forty are found there?” God answered, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”
“Please do not be angry, my Lord,” Abraham said, “but let me speak. What if thirty are found there?” God answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
Abraham said, “I have dared to speak to my Lord. What if twenty are found there?” God answered, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”
“Please do not be angry, my Lord,” Abraham said, “but let me speak just once more. What if ten are found there?” God answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”
When the LORD finished speaking with Abraham, the LORD went away, and Abraham returned to his place.