Passage

Genesis 18.25

Book: Genesis · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

23. And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou consume the righteous with the wicked? 24. Peradventure there are fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?

25. That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, that so the righteous should be as the wicked; that be far from thee: shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

And Jehovah said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sake. 27. And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, who am but dust and ashes: (Genesis 18:23-27, ASV)

WEB

23. Abraham came near, and said, “Will you consume the righteous with the wicked? 24. What if there are fifty righteous within the city? Will you consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous who are in it?

25. Be it far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?”

Yahweh said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place for their sake.” 27. Abraham answered, “See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord, although I am dust and ashes. (Genesis 18:23-27, WEB)

KJV

23. And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24. Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?

25. That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. 27. And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: (Genesis 18:23-27, KJV)

YLT

23. And Abraham draweth nigh and saith, 'Dost Thou also consume righteous with wicked? 24. peradventure there are fifty righteous in the midst of the city; dost Thou also consume, and not bear with the place for the sake of the fifty, the righteous who [are] in its midst?

25. Far be it from Thee to do according to this thing, to put to death the righteous with the wicked; that it hath been, as the righteous so the wicked, far be it from Thee; doth the Judge of all the earth not do justice?'

And Jehovah saith, 'If I find in Sodom fifty righteous in the midst of the city, then have I borne with all the place for their sake.' 27. And Abraham answereth and saith, 'Lo, I pray thee, I have willed to speak unto the Lord, and I, dust and ashes; (Genesis 18:23-27, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Abraham, interceding
Audience: the LORD
Location: near the oaks of Mamre
Time period: the patriarchal age, commonly placed in the early second millennium BC

Theological reading

Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

A man argues with God about justice, and the narrative reports it without rebuke. The question is rhetorical in form and is the ground of the whole negotiation that follows, in which Abraham descends from fifty righteous to ten and God concedes at every step.

Two things are established. Divine judgment is answerable to a standard that Abraham can appeal to and God does not dispute, which is a considerable claim to find in the mouth of a patriarch. And the negotiation ends without Abraham asking about fewer than ten, which readers have long noticed: the narrative stops before the question of one righteous man, and the following chapter removes Lot before the destruction.

This is the passage that most resists the arbitrary-deity reading of the Sodom account.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

H4941 - mishpat, mishpat, Strong's H4941
H4191 - mut, mut, Strong's H4191
H1697 - dabar, dabar, Strong's H1697
H6213 - asah, asah, Strong's H6213

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Lexicon:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.