What if there will lack five of the fifty righteous? Will you destroy all the city for lack of five?” He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”
Parallel Translations
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What if there will lack five of the fifty righteous? Will you destroy all the city for lack of five?” He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”
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Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it.
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Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous; wilt Thou destroy all the city for lack of five?' And He said: 'I will not destroy it, if I find there forty and five.'
Cross-references (5)
Passages linked to Genesis 18:28 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 18:26 Yahweh said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
- Genesis 18:29 He spoke to him yet again, and said, “What if there are forty found there?” He said, “I will not do it for the forty’s sake.”
- Numbers 14:17-19 Now please let the power of the Lord be great, according as you have spoken, saying, ‘Yahweh is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and disobedience; and he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation.’ Please pardon the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your loving kindness, and just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”
- 1 Kings 20:32-33 So they put sackcloth on their bodies and ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel, and said, “Your servant Ben Hadad says, ‘Please let me live.’ ” He said, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.” Now the men observed diligently, and hurried to take this phrase; and they said, “Your brother Ben Hadad.” Then he said, “Go, bring him.” Then Ben Hadad came out to him; and he caused him to come up into the chariot.
- Job 23:3-4 Oh that I knew where I might find him! That I might come even to his seat! I would set my cause in order before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (5 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 18:28 Peradventure there shall lack five of the…
Gen 18:28 Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for [lack of] five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy [it].
Ver. 28. Peradventure, &c.] {See Trapp on "Gen 18:29"} {See Trapp on "Gen 18:30"}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Lack of five, Heb. for five, or because of…
Lack of five, Heb. for five, or because of five, to wit, which are lacking or wanting. The same supplement we have also Psa 119:24; Lam 4:9.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Peradventure there should lack five of the fifty righteous,....…
Peradventure there should lack five of the fifty righteous,.... Or there should be but forty five; for Abraham perceived, by the Lord's answer, that there were not fifty righteous persons in the place:
wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? Abraham proceeds gradually in his requests, and does not ask too much at once, lest he should not succeed:
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and he said, if l find there forty and five, I will not destroy it; that is, forty five righteous persons.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 28. There shall lack five — First he drops…
28. There shall lack five — First he drops to forty-five; then to forty; then to thirty; then to twenty; and finally to ten. Conant observes on this whole passage that it has “no parallel, even in sacred history. With earnestness, but with unaffected humility, devout courtesy, and a reverent freedom, the patriarch presses his suit on behalf of the few righteous men in Sodom. On the other hand, Jehovah receives the intercession of his servant graciously, and admits the reasonableness of his plea by granting all that he desires. There is a beautiful aptness in the turn given to the first plea for a slight abatement of this number; ‘Wilt thou for five destroy the whole city?’ The whole passage is singularly felicitous and beautiful, in conception and expression.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous:…
Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? Literally, on account of five, i.e. because they are wanting. 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. And its said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.