The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible
Abraham Intercedes for Sodom
Genesis 18:16–33 — Abraham Intercedes for Sodom. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.
16When the men got up to leave, they looked out over Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them off.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·yā·qu·mū miš·šām hā·’ă·nā·šîm way·yaš·qi·p̄ū ‘al- pə·nê sə·ḏōm wə·’aḇ·rā·hām hō·lêḵ ‘im·mām lə·šal·lə·ḥām
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And they rose up from there — the men — and they looked down over the face of Sodom; and Abraham was walking with them to send them away.
Where the English smooths the original
There is a strange mingling of the human and the Divine in the narrative. Even after the fuller manifestation of themselves they are still called men, and Abraham continues to discharge the ordinary duties of hospitality by accompanying them as their guide.Ellicott on the unresolved seam of human and divine in the visitors.
the heavenly guests rose up and turned their faces towards the plain of SodomKeil renders the rare verb shâqaph as a deliberate turning of the gaze toward the plain.
they who live in amity and communion with God thereby acquire insight into His purposesMaclaren on why the friend of God is let into the divine counsel.
to send them away , or accord them a friendly convoy over a portion of their journeyPulpit on the courtesy hidden in the infinitive lᵉshallᵉḥām.
17And the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
Yah·weh ’ā·mār ’ă·nî ham·ḵas·seh mê·’aḇ·rā·hām ’ă·šer ’ă·nî ‘ō·śeh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And the LORD said: Am I covering from Abraham what I am doing?
Where the English smooths the original
Those that by faith live a life of communion with God, cannot but know more of his mind than other people. They have a better insight into what is present, and a better foresight of what is to come.Benson on the prophetic privilege of the friend of God.
it is against the laws of friendship to conceal my secrets from him. The interrogation here is in effect a negationPoole reads the question as an emphatic denial — friendship cannot keep this secret.
Jehovah the Hebrew word we call Lord, shows that this angel was Christ: for this word is only applied to God.The Geneva note's bold Christological identification of the Speaker.
the present being used for the future, where, as m the utterances of God, whose will is equivalent to his deed, the action is regarded by the Speaker as being already as good as finishedPulpit on why the participle ‘ōśeh stands where English wants a future.
18Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and through him all the nations of the earth will be blessed.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·’aḇ·rā·hām hā·yōw yih·yeh gā·ḏō·wl wə·‘ā·ṣūm lə·ḡō·w ḇōw kōl gō·w·yê hā·’ā·reṣ wə·niḇ·rə·ḵū
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And Abraham — becoming he shall become a nation great and mighty; and blessed in him shall be all the nations of the earth.
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Seeing that Abraham shall surely become (literally, becoming shall become ) a great and mighty nationPulpit preserves the infinitive-absolute force behind BSB's "surely become."
in his seed, the Messiah, in whom some of all nations are blessed with all spiritual blessingsGill reads "in him" as fulfilled in Christ the seed.
God’s ways are not like men’s ways. Former favours to men are arguments why they should do no more, but to God they are motives for the adding of new ones.Poole on why past grace to Abraham becomes God's reason for new disclosure.
19For I have chosen him, so that he will command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, in order that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has promised.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
kî yə·ḏa‘·tîw lə·ma·‘an ’ă·šer yə·ṣaw·weh ’eṯ- bā·nāw wə·’eṯ- bê·ṯōw ’a·ḥă·rāw wə·šā·mə·rū de·reḵ Yah·weh la·‘ă·śō·wṯ ṣə·ḏā·qāh ū·miš·pāṭ lə·ma·‘an Yah·weh hā·ḇî ‘al- ’aḇ·rā·hām ’êṯ ’ă·šer- dib·ber ‘ā·lāw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
For I have known him, to the end that he may command his sons and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice — to the end that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken concerning him.
Where the English smooths the original
But the Hebrew is, For I have known him in order that he may command his sons, &c. It gives God foreknowledge of the purpose for which He had called Abraham as the reason for thus revealing to him the method of the Divine justice.Ellicott corrects the Versions: the Hebrew says "known," and grounds the disclosure in God's purpose.
Personal knowledge is the basis of confidence and love; the choice of Abraham is no arbitrary election, but the result of knowledge.Cambridge ties the "knowing" to relationship rather than caprice.
He not only prayed with his family, but he taught them, as a man of knowledge; nay, he commanded them, as a man in authority, and was prophet and king, as well as priest, in his own house.Benson on Abraham's threefold household office.
The Lord has made himself known to him, has manifested his love to him, has renewed him after his own imageBarnes reads "I have known him" relationally — God's self-disclosure and renewing love, a third angle alongside Ellicott's "known" and Keil's "chosen."
20Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great. Because their sin is so grievous,
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
Yah·weh way·yō·mer za·‘ă·qaṯ sə·ḏōm wa·‘ă·mō·rāh rāb·bāh kî- wə·ḥaṭ·ṭā·ṯām kî mə·’ōḏ ḵā·ḇə·ḏāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And the LORD said: The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah — indeed it is great; and their sin — indeed it is very heavy.
Where the English smooths the original
The cry is the appeal for vengeance or punishment, which ascends to heaven ( Genesis 4:10 ). The כּי serves to give emphasis to the assertion, and is placed in the middle of the sentence to give the greater prominence to the leading thoughtKeil on the cry-for-vengeance and the emphatic kî.
Or, it is the cry by the cities, which are personified, and which make their loud complaint against the inhabitants.Cambridge offers the subjective-genitive reading of the outcry.
Sins are said to cry when they are gross, and manifest, and impudent, and such as highly provoke God to anger.Poole on what it means for sin to "cry."
21I will go down to see if their actions fully justify the outcry that has reached Me. If not, I will find out.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’ê·ră·ḏāh- nā wə·’er·’eh ‘ā·śū kā·lāh hak·kə·ṣa·‘ă·qā·ṯāh hab·bā·’āh ’ê·lay wə·’im- lō ’ê·ḏā·‘āh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Let Me go down now and see whether — according to its outcry that has come to Me — they have made a full end; and if not, I will know.
Where the English smooths the original
God examines before He punishes (see Note on Genesis 11:5 ) with the same care and personal inspection as the most conscientious earthly judge.Ellicott on the judicial inquiry that precedes judgment.
he is pleased thus to express himself after the manner of men, and to show that he ascertains the criminal’s guilt before he passes sentenceBenson on the anthropomorphism as a model of due process.
For our sins cry for vengeance, though no one accuses us.The Geneva marginal note on why sin needs no accuser.
כּלה is a noun, as Isaiah 10:23 shows, not an adverbKeil's grammatical verdict on the disputed word kâlâh.
22And the two men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD.
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hā·’ă·nā·šîm way·yip̄·nū miš·šām way·yê·lə·ḵū sə·ḏō·māh wə·’aḇ·rā·hām ‘ō·w·ḏen·nū ‘ō·mêḏ lip̄·nê Yah·weh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And the men turned from there and went toward Sodom; but Abraham was still standing before the LORD.
Where the English smooths the original
Standing is the posture of prayer and intercession. The dialogue (1) emphasizes Abraham’s intimacy with Jehovah, (2) heightens expectation of the catastrophe. The Massoretic note on this verse suggests that the original reading ran “and Jehovah stood yet before Abraham,” and that this was altered for reverential reasons.Cambridge on the posture of intercession and the famous scribal correction (tiqqun sopherim).
the one called Jehovah throughout the chapter continued with Abraham, who stood yet before the Lord, evidently the same person with whom he had hitherto been communingBenson identifies the remaining Speaker with the Jehovah of the whole chapter.
Onkelos and Jonathan paraphrase it,"he ministered in prayer before the Lord.''Gill cites the Targums reading Abraham's "standing" as priestly intercession.
23Abraham stepped forward and said, “Will You really sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’aḇ·rā·hām way·yig·gaš way·yō·mar ha·’ap̄ tis·peh ṣad·dîq ‘im- rā·šā‘
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And Abraham drew near and said: Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
Where the English smooths the original
As Jewish commentators remark, this word is especially used of prayer, and Abraham’s intercession is unspeakably noble.Ellicott on the prayer-sense of "drew near."
Here is the first solemn prayer upon record in the Bible; and it is a prayer for the sparing of Sodom.Henry names this the Bible's first recorded solemn prayer.
Heb., sweep away; and so in Genesis 18:24 . The difference is not without force; for the verb “to sweep away” gives the idea of a more indiscriminate ruin than the usual word destroyEllicott distinguishes the broom-word çâphâh from the later "destroy."
What adds to the effect, is that the servant of Jehovah, the nomad sheikh, pleads on behalf of the people of the Plain, dwellers in cities, sunk in iniquity.Cambridge on the moral grandeur of the plea.
He employs the language of a free-born son with his heavenly Father.Barnes catches the filial boldness of the intercessor's approach.
24What if there are fifty righteous ones in the city? Will You really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous ones who are there?
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’ū·lay yêš ḥă·miš·šîm ṣad·dî·qim bə·ṯō·wḵ hā·‘îr ha·’ap̄ tis·peh wə·lō- ṯiś·śā lam·mā·qō·wm lə·ma·‘an ḥă·miš·šîm haṣ·ṣad·dî·qim ’ă·šer bə·qir·bāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Perhaps there are fifty righteous within the city; will You then sweep it away and not lift / forgive the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in its midst?
Where the English smooths the original
The word in the Heb. means literally “and take away for the place,” i.e. its guilt, and so “forgive,” as in Numbers 14:19 .Cambridge on the forgiveness-sense of nâsâʼ ("spare").
here Abraham becomes an advocate and intercessor for all the inhabitants of the place, even the wicked, that they might not be destroyed, but sparedGill notes Abraham's plea has widened to cover even the wicked, for the sake of the righteous.
Wilt thou also destroy and not spare - literally, take away (sc. the iniquity) i.e. remove the punishment from - the placePulpit renders the verb as "take away the iniquity."
25Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
ḥā·li·lāh lə·ḵā mê·‘ă·śōṯ haz·zeh kad·dā·ḇār lə·hā·mîṯ ṣad·dîq ‘im- rā·šā‘ ḵaṣ·ṣad·dîq kā·rā·šā‘ wə·hā·yāh ḥā·li·lāh lāḵ lō hă·šō·p̄êṭ kāl- hā·’ā·reṣ ya·‘ă·śeh miš·pāṭ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Far be it from You to do such a thing — to put to death the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do justice?
Where the English smooths the original
Now he clearly perceiveth that this person was no less than the Creator, Governor, and Judge of the world, even the second person in the blessed TrinityPoole on the moment Abraham recognizes his interlocutor as the divine Judge.
Nothing would be right in God because He is God, which would not be right in Him were He manCambridge (quoting Davidson) on the single, non-arbitrary standard of righteousness.
shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? meaning the Lord, to whom he drew nigh, and was praying to, and pleading with, even the Son of God in human formGill identifies the Judge of all the earth with the pre-incarnate Son.
He knew the Judge of all the earth would do right. He does not plead that the wicked may be spared for their own sakeHenry on the ground of Abraham's confidence.
26So the LORD replied, “If I find fifty righteous ones within the city of Sodom, on their account I will spare the whole place.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
Yah·weh way·yō·mer ’im- ’em·ṣā ḥă·miš·šîm ṣad·dî·qim bə·ṯō·wḵ hā·‘îr ḇis·ḏōm ba·‘ă·ḇū·rām wə·nā·śā·ṯî lə·ḵāl ham·mā·qō·wm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And the LORD said: If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will lift / forgive the whole place for their sake.
Where the English smooths the original
the Lord takes up and agrees to the number Abraham pitched upon, and grants the request he makesGill on God's acceptance of Abraham's terms.
then I will spare (not as an act of justice, but as an exercise of mercyPulpit insists the sparing is mercy, not bare justice.
the wicked are spared for the sake of the righteousThe Geneva note states the principle of the verse.
27Then Abraham answered, “Now that I have ventured to speak to the Lord—though I am but dust and ashes—
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’aḇ·rā·hām way·yō·mar way·ya·‘an hin·nêh- nā hō·w·’al·tî lə·ḏab·bêr ’el- ’ă·ḏō·nāy wə·’ā·nō·ḵî ‘ā·p̄ār wā·’ê·p̄er
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And Abraham answered and said: Behold now, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, though I am dust and ashes —
Where the English smooths the original
He speaks as one amazed at his own boldness, and the liberty God graciously allowed him, considering God’s greatness, who is the Lord, and his own meanness, but dust and ashes.Benson on the wonder of creaturely boldness before God.
Two alliterative words in the Heb. ( âphar va-êpher ) which defy reproduction in EnglishCambridge on the untranslatable assonance of "dust and ashes."
"Dust in his origin and ashes in his end" (Delitzsch; vide Genesis 3:19 )Pulpit quotes Delitzsch on the two-fold humility of the phrase.
28suppose the fifty righteous ones lack five. Will You destroy the whole city for the lack of five?” He replied, “If I find forty-five there, I will not destroy it.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’ū·lay ḥă·miš·šîm haṣ·ṣad·dî·qim yaḥ·sə·rūn ḥă·miš·šāh hă·ṯaš·ḥîṯ kāl- hā·‘îr ba·ḥă·miš·šāh ’eṯ- way·yō·mer ’im- ’em·ṣā ’ar·bā·‘îm wa·ḥă·miš·šāh šām lō ’aš·ḥîṯ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Perhaps the fifty righteous will lack five; will You destroy the whole city for the five? And He said: I will not destroy it if I find there forty-five.
Where the English smooths the original
A rare example of holy ingenuity in prayer. Abraham, instead of pleading for the city's safety on account of forty-five, deprecates its destruction on account of five.Pulpit on the rhetorical craft of pleading down from the missing five.
Abraham proceeds gradually in his requests, and does not ask too much at once, lest he should not succeedGill on the prudence of Abraham's step-by-step descent.
Lack of five, Heb. for five, or because of five, to wit, which are lacking or wanting.Poole supplies the elliptical Hebrew behind "for the lack of five."
29Once again Abraham spoke to the LORD, “Suppose forty are found there?” He answered, “On account of the forty, I will not do it.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·yō·sep̄ ‘ō·wḏ lə·ḏab·bêr ’ê·lāw ’ū·lay ’ar·bā·‘îm way·yō·mer yim·mā·ṣə·’ūn šām way·yō·mar ba·‘ă·ḇūr hā·’ar·bā·‘îm lō ’e·‘ĕ·śeh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And he added yet again to speak to Him, and said: Perhaps forty will be found there. And He said: I will not do it for the sake of the forty.
Where the English smooths the original
And he spoke unto him yet again - literally, and he added yet to speak to himPulpit preserves the "added to speak" idiom of yâçaph.
And he spake unto him yet again, and said,.... Being encouraged by such a gracious answerGill on what emboldens the next petition.
The scene described is full of interest and instruction—showing in an unmistakable manner the efficacy of prayer and intercession.JFB on the scene as a demonstration of prayer's efficacy.
30Then Abraham said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak further. Suppose thirty are found there?” He replied, “If I find thirty there, I will not do it.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·yō·mer la·ḏō·nāy ’al- nā yi·ḥar wa·’ă·ḏab·bê·rāh ’ū·lay šə·lō·šîm yim·mā·ṣə·’ūn šām way·yō·mer ’im- ’em·ṣā šə·lō·šîm šām lō ’e·‘ĕ·śeh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And he said: Let it not burn for the Lord — let me speak — perhaps thirty will be found there. And He said: I will not do it if I find thirty there.
Where the English smooths the original
But he with whom we have to do is God and not man, and he is pleased when he is wrestled with.Benson on God's pleasure in being importuned.
He feared, through his importunity, he should be wearisome to him and incur his displeasureGill on Abraham's fear of wearying the Lord.
Oh let not the Lord he angry , - literally, let there not be burning with anger to the Lord (Adonai)Pulpit restores the "burning" image behind "be angry."
31And Abraham said, “Now that I have ventured to speak to the Lord, suppose twenty are found there?” He answered, “On account of the twenty, I will not destroy it.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·yō·mer hin·nêh- nā hō·w·’al·tî lə·ḏab·bêr ’el- ’ă·ḏō·nāy ’ū·lay ‘eś·rîm yim·mā·ṣə·’ūn šām way·yō·mer ba·‘ă·ḇūr hā·‘eś·rîm lō ’aš·ḥîṯ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And he said: Behold now, I have ventured to speak to the Lord — perhaps twenty will be found there. And He said: I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty.
Where the English smooths the original
I have taken upon me ( vide Ver. 27) to speak unto the Lord (Adonai): Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake.Pulpit links the v.31 formula back to v.27 and records the granted pledge.
wouldest thou spare it for their sakes? and he said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake; if there were no more in it, I would spare it for their sakeGill paraphrases the plea and the assurance at twenty.
many guilty cities and nations have been spared on account of God's peopleJFB generalizes the principle: the righteous preserve the guilty around them.
32Finally, Abraham said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak once more. Suppose ten are found there?” And He answered, “On account of the ten, I will not destroy it.”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·yō·mer la·ḏō·nāy ’al- nā yi·ḥar wa·’ă·ḏab·bə·rāh ’aḵ- hap·pa·‘am ’ū·lay ‘ă·śā·rāh yim·mā·ṣə·’ūn šām way·yō·mer ba·‘ă·ḇūr hā·‘ă·śā·rāh lō ’aš·ḥîṯ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And he said: Let it not burn for the Lord — let me speak only this once more — perhaps ten will be found there. And He said: I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.
Where the English smooths the original
Abraham in modesty could proceed no further; and being a good man himself, he had a charitable opinion of others, and thought there certainly were so many good men in all those cities, especially including Lot and his family.Poole on why Abraham halts at ten.
If God did not refuse the prayer for the wicked Sodomites, even to the sixth request, how much more will he grant the prayers of the godly for the afflicted Church?The Geneva note draws the a fortiori comfort from God's six-fold yes.
הפּעם אך ( Genesis 18:32 ) signifies "only this (one) time more," as in Exodus 10:17Keil on the adverb that fences off the final petition.
33When the LORD had finished speaking with Abraham, He departed, and Abraham returned home.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
ka·’ă·šer Yah·weh kil·lāh lə·ḏab·bêr ’el- ’aḇ·rā·hām way·yê·leḵ wə·’aḇ·rā·hām šāḇ lim·qō·mōw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And the LORD went when He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.
Where the English smooths the original
it further showed that the Gentile world was both subject to Jehovah’s dominion, and that there was mercy for it as well as for the covenant people. Such, in future times, was also the lesson of the Book of Jonah.Ellicott on the universal reach of the episode — Gentile Sodom under Jehovah's mercy, as later in Jonah.
it proved that his prayer was heard; and yet Sodom was not spared, because there were not ten righteous persons in itBenson on the sober outcome: the prayer was heard, but ten were not found.
For other instances in which human intercession is raised to avert Divine anger, and is the means of forgiveness, cf. Exodus 32:9-14 ; Numbers 14:15-20 ; Amos 7:4-6 .Cambridge sets the scene within the Bible's pattern of mediatorial intercession.
It is great and wonderful condescension for God to commune with a creature; it is an act of sovereignty how long he will continue to do soGill on the condescension and sovereignty of the divine colloquy.
a remarkable answer to the spirit, if not to the letter, of his intercessory prayerBarnes on the outcome: Lot's rescue answers the spirit of the plea though the city fell — heard, if not in the letter.
The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.
AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.
The unit turns on a question God seems to ask Himself: ham·ḵas·seh — "Am I covering from Abraham what I am doing?" (v.17). Maclaren reads the whole scene as the logic of friendship: "they who live in amity and communion with God thereby acquire insight into His purposes," so that Abraham is "admitted into the council-chamber of Jehovah." The ground of the disclosure is stated twice over. First, the recurring Genesis 12:3 promise — Abraham "becoming shall become" (the infinitive-absolute hā·yōw yih·yeh) a great nation in whom "all the nations of the earth shall be blessed" (v.18); John Gill reads that blessing "in his seed, the Messiah." Second, the verb yə·ḏa‘·tîw, "I have known him" (v.19) — which Ellicott insists is the plain Hebrew against the Versions' "chosen": "the Hebrew is, For I have known him in order that he may command his sons." Cambridge ties it to relationship, not caprice — "the choice of Abraham is no arbitrary election, but the result of knowledge." The disclosure is purposive: God reveals so that Abraham may school a household in "righteousness and justice" (ṣᵉdâqâh ū·mišpâṭ), the very pair Abraham will press upon God in v.25.
God names the charge: "za·‘ă·qaṯ of Sodom and Gomorrah — indeed it is great" (v.20). Keil hears in zaʻaq "the appeal for vengeance or punishment, which ascends to heaven (Genesis 4:10)," while Cambridge leaves the genitive open between "the complaint concerning Sodom" and "the cry by the cities, which are personified" against their inhabitants. Then the great anthropomorphism: "Let Me go down now and see" (v.21). Every PD voice guards it the same way — Benson, "Not as if there were any thing concerning which God is in doubt"; the Geneva note, "God speaks after the fashion of men." Ellicott draws the lesson: "God examines before He punishes... with the same care and personal inspection as the most conscientious earthly judge." The disputed word kālāh — Keil rules it "a noun, as Isaiah 10:23 shows, not an adverb" — asks whether Sodom's iniquity is yet complete (cf. Gen 15:16). Verse 22 then splits the party: two go down toward Sodom; one remains, and Abraham keeps standing (‘ō·mêḏ) before Him — "the posture," says Cambridge, "of prayer and intercession." Here the apparatus must flag the Masoretic confession (a tiqqun sopherim) that the verse once read "and Jehovah stood yet before Abraham," altered "for reverential reasons."
Matthew Henry marks the moment: "Here is the first solemn prayer upon record in the Bible." Abraham "drew near" — way·yig·gaš, a verb Ellicott says "is especially used of prayer." His opening word is a broom: "Will You indeed sweep away" (tis·peh, çâphâh), which Ellicott distinguishes from plain "destroy" — it "gives the idea of a more indiscriminate ruin." The plea then asks God to "lift / forgive" (tiśśā, nâsâʼ) the place — Cambridge: "take away for the place, i.e. its guilt, and so 'forgive.'" The whole weight rests on v.25, with its untranslatable wordplay: the shôphêṭ (Judge) must do mišpâṭ (judgment). Maclaren issues the crucial caution: the clause means not "such a thing must be right because God has done it," but "Such and such a thing is right, therefore God must do it" — and adds that on the wider question — whether the righteous are in fact spared temporal calamity — "So far Abraham was wrong," since by New Testament light (the tower of Siloam, Luke 13:4) such calamity does often fall on righteous and wicked alike. Cambridge presses the same nerve, quoting Davidson: "Nothing would be right in God because He is God, which would not be right in Him were He man." The doubled ḥā·li·lāh ("far be it!") is, the Pulpit Commentary says, an "exclamation of abhorrence" too feebly rendered by the Septuagint's μηδαμῶς.
God answers in Abraham's own verb: "I will lift / forgive" (wə·nā·śā·ṯî, v.26) — and grants more than asked, sparing "the whole place," which the Pulpit Commentary notes is "not the righteous merely." Then the bargaining: the tentative ’ū·lay ("perhaps") opens each step, and the verb way·yō·sep̄ ("he added yet to speak," v.29) drives the rhythm. Abraham's craft is real — "holy ingenuity in prayer," the Pulpit Commentary calls v.28, where he pleads down "on account of five" rather than up from forty-five. His reverence keeps pace with his daring: twice he wraps a petition in "let it not burn" (’al-nā yiḥar, vv.30, 32) and twice in "I have ventured" (hō·w·’al·tî, vv.27, 31). Keil, citing Delitzsch, names the spirit of it — the holy anaideia (shamelessness) our Lord commends in Luke 11:8 — "the shamelessness of faith, which bridges over the infinite distance of the creature from the Creator" and "ceases not till its point is gained." Benson hears no offense in it — God "is pleased when he is wrestled with." The descent halts at ten; the Geneva note draws the comfort: "If God did not refuse the prayer for the wicked Sodomites, even to the sixth request, how much more will he grant the prayers of the godly?"
"And the LORD went when He had finished (kil·lāh) speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place." The verb of completion (kâlâh, v.33) rings against the "full end" (kālāh) God went down to test in v.21 — the colloquy is finished, and the question of Sodom's completed iniquity is handed to chapter 19. Cambridge marks the narrator's restraint: "the writer leaves us uninformed as to the manner of Jehovah's separation," and sets the whole scene among the Bible's great intercessions (Exod 32; Num 14; Amos 7). Benson states the sober result without flinching: "his prayer was heard; and yet Sodom was not spared, because there were not ten righteous persons in it." Ellicott lifts the horizon: the episode "showed that the Gentile world was both subject to Jehovah's dominion, and that there was mercy for it as well as for the covenant people. Such, in future times, was also the lesson of the Book of Jonah."
Read under Sola Scriptura, this passage is the Bible's charter of intercession, and its argument is narrower and harder than the comfort usually drawn from it. Abraham does not appeal to mercy in the abstract, nor to God's love for him; he appeals to justice — "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do mišpâṭ?" — and he stakes everything on a single principle: that the presence of the righteous can win pardon for the guilty among whom they live. God concedes the principle fully, descending six times from fifty to ten, each time granting more than strict justice could demand. Yet the synthesis offered here, to be tested against the Word, is this: the prayer is heard and the city still falls — not because intercession failed, but because the lever Abraham trusted has a floor. Ten righteous could not be found, and below that floor the principle had nothing left to grip. Two things follow. First, Maclaren's correction must stand: Abraham's instinct that "the righteous should" never "be as the wicked" in temporal calamity was, by the fuller light of the New Testament (Luke 13:4), not the whole truth — the tower of Siloam fell on no worse sinners than their neighbors. The episode teaches Abraham's confidence in God's justice, not his complete grasp of how that justice operates in history. Second, and more deeply, the passage exposes the limit of intercession that rests on a righteous remnant — and so leaves a hunger the chapter cannot fill. If ten righteous could have saved a city, what could one perfectly Righteous One save? Genesis 18 asks the question; it does not answer it. That the very Speaker whom Abraham calls "Judge of all the earth" (whom Poole and the Geneva note name the pre-incarnate Son) would Himself one day stand condemned with the wicked so that the wicked might be counted righteous — that is the answer the New Testament will give, and it is not yet on the page. This is the tool's fallible reading, offered to be weighed against Scripture, not set beside it.
Ten righteous could have saved a city; the gospel asks what one Righteous One could save. (a synthesis reading, not Scripture)
AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.
The rare verb shâqaph (H8259, "to lean out and look down," only 22 verses) joins this opening to Genesis 19:28, where Abraham "looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah" and saw the smoke rising. The Verifier records the shared rare lexeme together with the proper name Çᵉdôm and pânîym ("face"). Keil and the Pulpit Commentary both cross-reference Genesis 19:28 at this verse. The same eye that looked down at the threshold of intercession looks down again at its aftermath — the literary frame of the whole judgment.
Genesis 18:16 · Genesis 19:28
basis: Verifier-computed shared rare lexeme H8259 shâqaph (freq 22 verses) plus H5467 Çᵉdôm and H6440 pânîym; the rare verb and the recurring scene-frame make this a deliberate verbal echo within the Abraham–Sodom narrative.
The reason God confides in Abraham (v.18) is the standing promise of Genesis 12:3 / 22:18: "blessed (bârak, H1288) in him" / "in your seed." The Verifier records the shared verb bârak (and, with 22:18, gôwy, "nations"). Cambridge simply notes "blessed in him: see note on Genesis 12:3," and Gill reads the blessing fulfilled "in his seed, the Messiah." The link is thematic-structural: the same covenant blessing-formula recurs as the rationale for the disclosure, binding Genesis 12, 18, and 22 into one promise.
Genesis 18:18 · Genesis 12:3 · Genesis 22:18
basis: Verifier-computed shared lexeme H1288 bârak (freq 289; with Gen 22:18 also H1471 gôwy). A recurring covenant formula, not a quotation — tiered structural/thematic; the common word bârak is too frequent to count as a rare verbal hook.
"For I have known him" (yâdaʻ, H3045, v.19) is the same verb God uses in Amos 3:2 — "You only have I known of all the families of the earth" — where knowing plainly means covenant choice. Keil glosses it "acknowledged him (chosen him in anticipative love" and points to the same verb (yâdaʻ) in Amos 3:2; Cambridge and the Pulpit Commentary cite Amos 3:2 at this verse. The connection is the loaded covenantal sense of a common verb, not a rare-word quotation.
Genesis 18:19 · Amos 3:2
basis: Verifier-computed shared lexeme H3045 yâdaʻ (freq 874). Common verb carrying a shared covenant-election sense (cited by Keil, Cambridge, Pulpit at Amos 3:2); tiered structural/thematic, not verbal, because yâdaʻ is far too frequent to be a quotation marker.
Abraham's household is to keep "the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice" (ṣᵉdâqâh ū·mišpâṭ, v.19) — and the same pairing, with the verbs keep (shâmar) and command (tsâvâh), structures the covenant ethic of Deuteronomy (e.g. Deut 6:25). The Verifier records four shared lexemes (tsᵉdâqâh, shâmar, tsâvâh, kîy). The thread shows how the standard Abraham is to teach (v.19) is the very standard he holds God to in v.25 — mišpâṭ binds the two halves of the unit.
Genesis 18:19 · Deuteronomy 6:25
basis: Verifier-computed shared lexemes H6666 tsᵉdâqâh, H8104 shâmar, H6680 tsâvâh, H3588 kîy. A shared covenant-ethic vocabulary cluster, not a citation — tiered structural/thematic.
The named pair Çᵉdôm (H5467, 38 vv) and ʻĂmôrâh (H6017, 19 vv) recurs from this scene through the prophets as Scripture's standing figure of consummate wickedness and irreversible judgment — Isaiah 1:10 addresses Jerusalem's rulers as "you rulers of Sodom"; Deuteronomy 32:32, Jeremiah 23:14, Zephaniah 2:9, and Amos 4:11 all reach back here. The Verifier returns the two proper names as the shared basis. The recurrence is real, but its force in the prophets is figural — Sodom becomes a type — so the link is best read structurally/typologically, not as quotation of Genesis 18.
Genesis 18:20 · Isaiah 1:10 · Deuteronomy 32:32 · Amos 4:11
basis: Verifier-computed shared proper nouns H5467 Çᵉdôm + H6017 ʻĂmôrâh (the Verifier auto-tiers rare proper names as 'verbal'; downgraded here by hand to structural/thematic, since the prophets invoke Sodom as a type-name, not as a quotation of this verse).
Abraham's bedrock — that God cannot "slay the righteous with the wicked" (v.23, 25) — recurs in the Abimelech episode of the same author: "Lord, will You slay even a righteous (ṣaddîq, H6662) nation?" (Gen 20:4), and is generalized in Deuteronomy 32:4 ("all His ways are mišpâṭ... ṣaddîq and upright is He"). The Verifier records tsaddîyq shared with Gen 20:4 and tsaddîyq + mishpâṭ with Deut 32:4. The thread shows Abraham appealing to a principle the Torah will later state as doctrine.
Genesis 18:25 · Genesis 20:4 · Deuteronomy 32:4
basis: Verifier-computed shared lexemes H6662 tsaddîyq (with Gen 20:4) and H6662 tsaddîyq + H4941 mishpâṭ (with Deut 32:4). Shared theme of God's discriminating justice; common lexemes, so tiered structural/thematic, not verbal.
The rare interjection châlîylâh (H2486, "far be it / a profaned thing," only 19 verses) doubled in v.25 reappears on the lips of Samuel the intercessor: "far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you" (1 Sam 12:23). The Verifier records the shared rare lexeme. The same word that voices abhorrence at the thought of God acting unjustly voices a prophet's refusal to abandon intercession — the two great impulses of this chapter held in one rare word.
Genesis 18:25 · 1 Samuel 12:23
basis: Verifier-computed shared lexeme H2486 châlîylâh (freq 19 verses), and the Verifier tiers it structural/thematic — there is no quotation claim and 1 Sam 12:23 does not cite Genesis. The link is the rare exclamatory word carrying the same horror-of-injustice / refusal-to-abandon-intercession charge in both mouths; tiered to match the Verifier, not raised to verbal.
Abraham's "dust and ashes" (‘ā·p̄ār wā·’ê·p̄er, H6083 + H665, v.27) recurs as the exact posture of Job before God: "I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (Job 42:6; cf. 30:19). The Verifier records both shared lexemes, including the rare ’êpher ("ashes," only 22 vv). Cambridge cross-references Job 30:19 and 42:6 here. Two men, brought to the edge of the divine presence, reach for the same two words.
Genesis 18:27 · Job 42:6
basis: Verifier-computed shared lexemes H665 ʼêpher (freq 22 verses) + H6083 ʻâphâr (freq 103), tiered structural/thematic by the Verifier. The set phrase 'dust and ashes' is a fixed idiom of self-abasement shared by both passages (Cambridge cross-references Job 30:19; 42:6 here), but Job 42 does not quote Genesis 18, so the badge is held at structural/thematic rather than raised to verbal.
Keil, citing Delitzsch, reads Abraham's persistence as the holy anaideia (Greek for shamelessness) "of which our Lord speaks in Luke 11:8" — the "shamelessness" of the friend who knocks at midnight and will not stop. Maclaren makes the same link: the word in Luke 11:8 "literally means ‘shamelessness,’ and is exactly the disposition which Abraham showed here." This is a cross-Testament link: Hebrew and Greek share no Strong's number, and the connection rests entirely on the New Testament's own picture of importunate prayer, not on a computed verbal basis.
Genesis 18:32 · Luke 11:8
basis: Cross-Testament (Hebrew↔Greek): the Verifier finds no shared original-language lexeme, as Greek and Hebrew use separate numbering — so no verbal tier is possible. The link is the interpretive one drawn by Keil/Delitzsch and Maclaren (Abraham's importunity = the anaideia of Luke 11:8); flagged because it rests on commentators' typological reading, not on the text's own citation.
Cambridge sets Abraham's prayer among "other instances in which human intercession is raised to avert Divine anger" — Moses at Sinai (Exod 32:9-14), at Kadesh (Num 14:15-20), and Amos (Amos 7:4-6). Matthew Henry carries the line to its end: "How then did Christ make intercession for transgressors? ... by pleading HIS OWN obedience unto death." Of the Old-Testament links, only Exod 32:14 shares a computed lexeme with this verse — the verb dâbar ("speak," H1696); the Verifier finds no shared original-language word with Num 14:19, so that arm of the thread rests on Cambridge's thematic grouping alone, not on a verbal basis. The line to Christ is interpretive and cross-Testament, not verbal.
Genesis 18:33 · Exodus 32:14 · Numbers 14:19
basis: Verifier-computed shared lexeme H1696 dâbar (freq 1049) with Exod 32:14 — a common verb, so structural/thematic, not verbal. The Verifier finds NO shared lexeme with Num 14:19 (returns 'flagged — verify source'); that arm rests on Cambridge's thematic grouping of the great intercessions (Exod 32, Num 14, Amos 7), an honest motif-link rather than a computed one. The extension to Christ's intercession (Henry) is interpretive and cross-Testament.
AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.
The PD voices repeatedly identify the One who remained with Abraham — who is called Yahweh throughout the chapter, yet stands in human form to be reasoned with — as a manifestation of the Son. The Geneva note is blunt: "Jehovah the Hebrew word we call Lord, shows that this angel was Christ: for this word is only applied to God" (v.17). Poole names "the second person in the blessed Trinity" (v.25), and Gill identifies "the Judge of all the earth" as "the Son of God in human form" (v.25). The reading is ancient and widely held in the church's exegesis of the Genesis theophanies (the Angel of the LORD tradition); the synthesis records it as the historic Christian reading without claiming the Hebrew text settles the inner-Trinitarian question.
Genesis 18:17 · Genesis 18:22 · Genesis 18:25
Abraham's whole plea rests on a remnant of the righteous winning pardon for the guilty — and stops at ten, because ten could not be found. Matthew Henry draws the figural line the chapter opens but cannot close: Abraham "does not plead that the wicked may be spared for their own sake... but for the sake of the righteous," and "How then did Christ make intercession for transgressors? ... by pleading HIS OWN obedience unto death." Where Abraham could only ask whether enough righteous existed to spare a city, the gospel presents one perfectly Righteous One whose obedience saves the unrighteous (Rom 5:18-19). This is a typological reading — the connection is cross-Testament and interpretive, not a verbal citation of Genesis 18 — and the synthesis marks it as such: ancient in substance (the church has long read Abraham's intercession as foreshadowing Christ's), and offered to be tested, not asserted as proof.
Genesis 18:23 · Genesis 18:32 · Romans 5:18
The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.
Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:
Five honesty notes specific to this unit. 1. The reverential scribal correction at v.22. The Masoretic tradition itself records that this verse, which now reads "Abraham stood yet before the LORD," was altered from an original "and the LORD stood yet before Abraham" because it seemed irreverent for God to stand before a creature (a tiqqun sopherim; so Cambridge). The Pulpit Commentary calls the alteration "a mere Rabbinical conceit," and the versions show no uncertainty. The synthesis follows the received text (BSB/MT) but flags the tradition, since it bears directly on how the scene's posture is read. 2. "Known" vs. "chosen" at v.19. BSB renders yᵉḏaʻtîw as "I have chosen," interpreting toward election; Ellicott insists the Hebrew is plainly "I have known him." The literal column keeps "known" and lets the covenant sense be argued, not built into the gloss — the parse (Strong's H3045, yâdaʻ) is followed, not contradicted. 3. The disputed word at vv.21, 33. Whether kālāh in v.21 is the adverb "altogether" (Luther, Gesenius, and the received English) or a noun "a full end / completeness" (Keil, Delitzsch) is unresolved among the PD voices; the apparatus records both and notes the deliberate root-echo with killāh ("finished") in v.33, without adjudicating the grammar. 4. Where the Verifier over-fires on proper names. The Verifier mechanically returns "verbal / quotation — confirmed" for every recurrence of the names Sodom and Gomorrah (Isa 1:10, Deut 32:32, Jer 23:14, Zeph 2:9, Amos 4:11, and several Genesis verses). These have been downgraded by hand to structural/thematic, because the prophets invoke Sodom as a type-name for wickedness and judgment, not as a quotation of Genesis 18:20. Only the Genesis 19:28 link (shared with the rare verb shâqaph) is kept at the verbal tier. 5. Cross-Testament links cannot be verbal. The two connections that matter most theologically — Abraham's importunity to the "shamelessness" of Luke 11:8 (named by Keil/Delitzsch and Maclaren), and his remnant-intercession to Christ's mediation (Henry) — share no Strong's lexeme with the Hebrew, because Greek and Hebrew are numbered separately. They are therefore flagged or tiered structural/typological, never verbal, and rest on the commentators' and the New Testament's own arguments, not on a computed verbal basis. The Christ-readings throughout are marked for attestation (ancient/widely-held), offered to be tested against Scripture, not asserted as its plain sense.
✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)