Genesis 18 · The Prayer for Sodom
Abraham's Intercession for Sodom
Genesis 18:16 to 33 tells how Abraham pleaded for Sodom before its judgment, and how the LORD answered.
Abraham asked whether the Judge of all the earth would treat the righteous and the wicked alike.
- First taught
- Genesis 18:23
- Fullest statement
- Genesis 18:22 to 33
Gustave Doré, Abraham and the Three Angels, 1866, from Doré's English Bible. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
THE ARTWORKDoré drew the three visitors of Genesis 18:2 as winged angels on a hilltop, with Abraham bowed to the ground before them, and this meeting opens the chapter in which Abraham later pleads for Sodom.
Summary
Genesis 18 records a conversation in which Abraham argues from the justice of God for a city under judgment.
- The LORD told Abraham His plan for Sodom before He acted.
- Abraham asked six times, and the LORD granted every number from fifty down to ten.
- Readers divide over whether the prayer changed the LORD's purpose or carried out a purpose He already had.
Shall I Hide from Abraham?
Before the prayer begins, the LORD decides to share His plan with Abraham.
Abraham had a reason to care what became of Sodom, because his nephew Lot had pitched his tent toward Sodom when the two parted, and by Genesis 14:12 Lot was living in the city.
And the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and through him all the nations of the earth will be blessed. For 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.”Abraham's place in the promise is the LORD's ground for drawing him into the matter of Sodom.
Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great. Because their sin is so grievous, I will go down to see if their actions fully justify the outcry that has reached Me. If not, I will find out.”These are the words Abraham answers in his prayer, since they name Sodom and the judgment it faces.
And the two men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD.The prayer that follows is made in private, with the two men already on their way.
Intercessors Before the LORD
Abraham, Moses and Amos plead with the LORD for others, and Jeremiah names Samuel beside Moses.
- Text
- Genesis 20:7
- What the text says
- The LORD tells Abimelech that Abraham is a prophet who will pray for him.
- Text
- Exodus 32:11 to 14
- What the text says
- Moses asks the LORD to turn from His anger, and the LORD relents.
- Text
- Numbers 14:19 to 20
- What the text says
- The LORD pardons the people as Moses requested, in keeping with His loving devotion.
- Text
- Psalm 106:23
- What the text says
- The psalm says Moses stood before the LORD in the breach to turn His wrath away.
- Text
- Jeremiah 15:1
- What the text says
- The LORD says His heart would not go out to this people even if Moses and Samuel stood before Him.
- Text
- Amos 7:2 to 3
- What the text says
- Amos asks the Lord GOD to forgive, and the LORD relents from His plan.
Six texts from Genesis 20 to Amos 7, each with the intercessor and what he asked or what the LORD said of him.
From Fifty Down to Ten
Abraham's numbers fall by five and then by ten, and the LORD answers every one.
Abraham stepped forward and said, “Will You really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What 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? Far 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?”These opening words carry the question that each later number asks again.
FIFTY
The first number Abraham names is fifty, and the LORD grants it.
FORTY-FIVE
Abraham asks whether the lack of five will destroy the whole city, and the LORD answers that He will not destroy it for forty-five.
FORTY
Abraham asks again, and on account of the forty the LORD will not do it.
THIRTY
Abraham asks the Lord not to be angry, and the answer for thirty is the same.
TWENTY
Abraham speaks to the Lord again, and the LORD will not destroy the city for twenty.
TEN
Abraham speaks once more, and the LORD agrees to spare the city on account of ten.
Dust and ashes1 passage, 1 quotation
Then Abraham answered, “Now that I have ventured to speak to the Lord—though I am but dust and ashes—Abraham names himself dust and ashes in the same sentence in which he asks for more.
“Whenever we draw near to God, it becomes us reverently to acknowledge the vast distance that there is between us and Him. He is the Lord of glory, we are worms of the earth.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament · on Genesis 18:23Evangelical
Clarke on the number ten1 reading
The morning after, Genesis 19:27 to 291 passage
Early the next morning, Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD. He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw the smoke rising from the land like smoke from a furnace. So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham, and He brought Lot out of the catastrophe that destroyed the cities where he had lived.Abraham's prayer ends at Genesis 18:33, and these verses give what came of it the next morning.
What the Text Leaves Unsaid
Genesis 18 and 19 leave three things unsaid.
The Search for One Righteous Man
In Jeremiah and Ezekiel the LORD looks for a single righteous person among His people.
“Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem. Look now and take note; search her squares. If you can find a single person, anyone who acts justly, anyone who seeks the truth, then I will forgive the city.John Wesley, in his Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, sets this offer beside Genesis 18, where the count came no lower than ten.
I searched for a man among them to repair the wall and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, so that I should not destroy it. But I found no one.The LORD's search in Ezekiel finds no one at all, though Abraham had once stood before the LORD for Sodom.
Voices on the Prayer
Origen and Ambrose of Milan write on the search for ten righteous people in Sodom.
“So also now, therefore, it is said of these who live in Sodom, that if indeed, on his examination, ‘their deeds are completed as the cry’ that has ascended to God, they would be considered unworthy. But if there is any conversion among them, if even ten just men might be found among them, so, at last, God would know them. And for this reason the text said, ‘But if not, that I might know.’”
Origen of Alexandria · Homilies on Genesis 4.6 · on Genesis 18:21Patristic
“And in this manner, through a series of questions and answers, even if he finds ten righteous people in the city, he promises impunity to the entire people on account of the righteousness of a few. Where do we learn how great a wall is for our country, a virtuous man, how we should not envy holy men, nor disrespect them lightly. For their faith saves us, their justice defends us from destruction. Even Sodom, if it had ten righteous men, could have not perished.”
Ambrose of Milan · On Abraham · on Genesis 18:26Patristic
Did the Prayer Change the LORD's Purpose?
Readers of Abraham's prayer give two answers, each with its holders.
The prayer moved the LORD
“But he with whom we have to do is God and not man, and he is pleased when he is wrestled with. But why then did Abraham leave off asking when he had prevailed so far as to get the place spared if there were but ten righteous in it?”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament · on Genesis 18:30Evangelical
“In these sobering verses from Ezekiel, God was unable to find anyone to release the necessary intercession and, tragically, had to send judgment.”
Dutch Sheets · Give Him 15 daily devotional, "The Land is Being Healed" (October 21, 2025) · on Ezekiel 22:30 to 31Charismatic
Matthew Henry, in his Commentary on the Whole Bible, holds this reading as well, and on Genesis 18:24 he says that Abraham prevailed wonderfully and had power with God.
The objection is that the cities were destroyed all the same, so the prayer did not change their end.
The LORD drew the prayer out to teach Abraham
Adam Clarke, in his Commentary on the Bible, holds that the LORD remained with Abraham to teach him the great usefulness and importance of faith and prayer.
On this reading the LORD's words in Genesis 18:17 to 19 show that He meant Abraham to learn His justice before He acted.
The objection is that the text gives each answer in Genesis 18:26 to 32 as a request granted, which reads more naturally as a prayer that was heard.
Read the Great Books
Three older works comment on Abraham's prayer.
Homilies on Genesis
Origen · 3rd century
Homily 4 treats the LORD's words in Genesis 18:21 about going down to see.
On Abraham
Ambrose of Milan · 4th century
Ambrose draws from Genesis 18:26 the worth of the righteous few to the city they live in.
Commentary on the Whole Bible
Matthew Henry · 1706 to 1710
Henry comments on the prayer from the LORD's first words in Genesis 18:17 to Abraham's return in Genesis 19:27.
The Intercessor Who Always Lives
Genesis 18 asks its reader to pray for others, trusting Christ who intercedes.
The search for one righteous man ends in Jesus Christ, whom 1 John 2:1 names the Righteous One and the advocate before the Father.
Therefore He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them.Hebrews grounds the whole salvation of those who come to God on an intercession that never ends.
First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be offered for everyone— for kings and all those in authority—so that we may lead tranquil and quiet lives in all godliness and dignity.Paul's charge carries the church's prayer to people outside it, as Abraham's prayer reached a city that was not his own.
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail.James writes to the whole church, so the power he gives to the prayer of a righteous man belongs to every believer who prays for another.
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