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Genesis 18:26

in Genesis 18

So the LORD replied, “If I find fifty righteous ones within the city of Sodom, on their account I will spare the whole place.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Jehovah said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sake.

KJV

And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.

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This verse in Genesis 18

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

A commentator

Ambrose of Milan

On Abraham · Written before 397.

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.

This site's exposition

fifty righteous ones in the city

on Genesis 18:24-26

Abraham opens the asking at fifty. He asks whether the Judge of all the earth will do what is right, and the case rests on justice, that a righteous Judge spares the place for the sake of the righteous ones in it. God grants the whole fifty in one sentence.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city,.... Sodom is particularly mentioned because Lot dwelt there, and being the metropolis, and the city of greatest note, as Jarchi observes, it is put for the rest; and the sense is, if fifty righteous persons could be found in all the five cities, mercy should be shown them: then will I spare all the place for their sakes; not Sodom only, but the whole country, of which Sodom was the chief; the Lord takes up and agrees to the number Abraham pitched upon, and grants the request he makes.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Note, We must pray, not only for ourselves, but for others also; for we are members of the same body, at least of the same body of mankind. The particular graces eminent in this prayer. Here is great faith; and it is the prayer of faith that is the prevailing prayer.

The words behind it

13 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיֹּ֣אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • יְהוָ֔הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • אִם־if

    ʾim-H518 →1069 times

  • אֶמְצָ֥אI will find

    ʾemtza'H4672 →455 times

  • בִסְדֹ֛םin Sodom

    visdomH5467 →39 times

  • חֲמִשִּׁ֥יםfifty

    chamishimH2572 →163 times

  • צַדִּיקִ֖םrighteous [people]

    tzadikimH6662 →206 times

  • בְּת֣וֹךְin [the] midst of

    betokhH8432 →418 times

  • הָעִ֑ירthe city

    hairH5892 →1090 times

  • וְנָשָׂ֥אתִיand I will forgive

    venasatiH5375 →656 times

  • לְכָל־<to> all

    lekholH3605 →5413 times

  • הַמָּק֖וֹםthe place

    hamakomH4725 →401 times

  • בַּעֲבוּרָֽם׃for sake of them

    baavuramH5668 →49 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

9 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Jeremiah 5:1“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.8 worksMatthew 24:22If those days had not been cut short, nobody would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.5 worksEzekiel 22:30I 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.4 worksIsaiah 65:8This is what the LORD says: “As the new wine is found in a cluster of grapes, and men say, ‘Do not destroy it, for it contains a blessing,’ so I will act on behalf of My servants; I will not destroy them all.4 worksIsaiah 6:13And though a tenth remains in the land, it will be burned again. As the terebinth and oak leave stumps when felled, so the holy seed will be a stump in the land.”2 worksIsaiah 10:22Though your people, O Israel, be like the sand of the sea, only a remnant will return. Destruction has been decreed, overflowing with righteousness.2 works
The other 3 cross-references, with their words ▾
Isaiah 19:24In that day Israel will join a three-party alliance with Egypt and Assyria—a blessing upon the earth.2 worksGenesis 18:28suppose 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.”2 worksIsaiah 1:9Unless the LORD of Hosts had left us a few survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.1 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Ezekiel 22:30

    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…

    it leads to

    • Genesis 18:23–32

      Abraham stepped forward and said, “Will You really sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Isaiah 59:16

      He saw that there was no man; He was amazed that there was no one to intercede. So His own arm brought salvation, and His own righteousness sustained Him.

    • Jeremiah 5:1

      “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…

    • Psalms 106:23

      So He said He would destroy them— had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach to divert His wrath from destroying them.

    • Ezekiel 13:5

      You did not go up to the gaps or restore the wall around the house of Israel so that it would stand in the battle on the Day of the LORD.

  • Through

    Matthew 24:22

    If those days had not been cut short, nobody would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.

    it leads to

    • Mark 13:20

      If the Lord had not cut short those days, nobody would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom He has chosen, He has cut them short.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 2 Timothy 2:10

      For this reason I endure all things for the sake of the elect, so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

  • Through

    Isaiah 6:13

    And though a tenth remains in the land, it will be burned again. As the terebinth and oak leave stumps when felled, so the holy seed will be a stump in the land.”

    it leads to

    • Job 14:7–9

      For there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its tender shoots will not fail.

Where this verse is studied

About Genesis

Abraham and the Three Angels — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Abraham and the Three Angels — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Genesis: the study guide →Read Genesis 18 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Ambrose of Milan, On Abraham; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Genesis 18 →