1 And God appeared to him by the oak of Mamre, as he sat by the door of his tent at noon. 2 And he lifted up his eyes and beheld, and lo! three men stood before him; and having seen them he ran to meet them from the door of his tent, and did obeisance to the ground. 3 And he said, Lord, if indeed I have found grace in thy sight, pass not by thy servant. 4 Let water now be brought, and let them wash your feet, and do ye refresh [yourselves] under the tree. 5 And I will bring bread, and ye shall eat, and after this ye shall depart on your journey, on account of which [refreshment] ye have turned aside to your servant. And he said, So do, as thou hast said. 6 And Abraham hastened to the tent to Sarah, and said to her, Hasten, and knead three measures of fine flour, and make cakes. 7 And Abraham ran to the kine, and took a young calf, tender and good, and gave it to his servant, and he hastened to dress it. 8 And he took butter and milk, and the calf which he had dressed; and he set them before them, and they did eat, and he stood by them under the tree. 9 And he said to him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he answered and said, Behold! in the tent. 10 And he said, I will return and come to thee according to this period seasonably, and Sarah thy wife shall have a son; and Sarah heard at the door of the tent, being behind him. 11 And Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in days, and the custom of women ceased with Sarah. 12 And Sarah laughed in herself, saying, The thing has not as yet happened to me, even until now, and my lord is old. 13 And the Lord said to Abraham, Why is it that Sarah has laughed in herself, saying, Shall I then indeed bear? but I am grown old. 14 Shall anything be impossible with the Lord? At this time I will return to thee seasonably, and Sarah shall have a son. 15 But Sarah denied, saying, I did not laugh, for she was afraid. And he said to her, Nay, but thou didst laugh. 16 And the men having risen up from thence looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah. And Abraham went with them, attending them on their journey. 17 And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham my servant what things I intend to do? 18 But Abraham shall become a great and populous nation, and in him shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. 19 For I know that he will order his sons, and his house after him, and they will keep the ways of the Lord, to do justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham all things whatsoever he has spoken to him. 20 And the Lord said, The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah has been increased toward me, and their sins are very great. 21 I will therefore go down and see, if they completely correspond with the cry which comes to me, and if not, that I may know. 22 And the men having departed thence, came to Sodom; and Abraham was still standing before the Lord. 23 And Abraham drew nigh and said, Wouldest thou destroy the righteous with the wicked, and shall the righteous be as the wicked? 24 Should there be fifty righteous in the city, wilt thou destroy them? wilt thou not spare the whole place for the sake of the fifty righteous, if they be in it? 25 By no means shalt thou do as this thing [is] so as to destroy the righteous with the wicked, so the righteous shall be as the wicked: by no means. Thou that judgest the whole earth, shalt thou not do right? 26 And the Lord said, If there should be in Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole city, and the whole place for their sakes. 27 And Abraham answered and said, Now I have begun to speak to my Lord, and I am earth and ashes. 28 But if the fifty righteous should be diminished to forty-five, wilt thou destroy the whole city because of the five [wanting]? And he said, I will not destroy it, if I should find there forty-five. 29 And he continued to speak to him still, and said, But if there should be found there forty? And he said, I will not destroy it for the forty’s sake. 30 And he said, Will there be anything [against me], Lord, if I shall speak? but if there be found there thirty? And he said, I will not destroy it for the thirty’s sake. 31 And he said, Since I am able to speak to the Lord, what if there should be found there twenty? And he said, I will not destroy it, if I should find there twenty. 32 And he said, Will there be anything [against me], Lord, if I speak yet once? but if there should be found there ten? And he said, I will not destroy it for the ten’s sake. 33 And the Lord departed, when he left off speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.
Genesis · Updated Brenton English Septuagint
Genesis 18 Updated Brenton English Septuagint
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
- Same Septuagint text as Brenton, with modernised spelling.
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Abraham
Called by God, he left home in faith to become the father of a chosen people.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 12–25
Sarah
Wife of Abraham who bore Isaac in her old age, long after hope seemed gone.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 17-21
Cross references (32)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Genesis 14:13; Genesis 13:18; Genesis 48:3; Acts 7:2; Genesis 26:2
- 2 Hebrews 13:2; Genesis 18:22; Genesis 19:1; Judges 13:3; Genesis 23:7
- 4 Genesis 43:24; Genesis 24:32; Genesis 19:2; Luke 7:44; 1 Samuel 25:41
- 5 Psalm 104:15; Judges 6:18; Judges 13:15; Matthew 6:11; Judges 19:5
- 6 Matthew 13:33; Galatians 5:13; Romans 12:13; Hebrews 13:2; Luke 10:38–40
- 7 Judges 13:15–16; Matthew 22:4; Luke 15:27; Amos 6:4; Luke 15:30
- 8 Genesis 19:3; Acts 10:41; Judges 13:15; John 12:2; Revelation 3:20
- 9 Titus 2:5; Genesis 24:67; Genesis 4:9; Genesis 31:33
- 10 Genesis 21:2; Genesis 17:21; Romans 9:8–9; Genesis 17:19; 2 Kings 4:16–17
- 11 Genesis 17:17; Hebrews 11:11–12; Luke 1:36; Romans 4:18–21; Leviticus 15:19
- 12 1 Peter 3:6; Genesis 17:17; Luke 1:18–20; Genesis 21:6–7; Luke 1:34–35
- 13 John 2:25
- 14 Luke 1:37; Matthew 19:26; Mark 10:27; Jeremiah 32:27; Ephesians 3:20
- 15 Proverbs 28:13; 1 John 1:8; Ephesians 4:23; Psalm 44:21; John 18:25–27
- 16 Acts 21:5; Acts 15:3; Acts 20:38; 3 John 6; Romans 15:24
- 17 Amos 3:7; Psalm 25:14; John 15:15; Genesis 19:24; James 2:23
- 18 Galatians 3:8; Genesis 26:4; Galatians 3:14; Genesis 12:2–3; Genesis 22:17–18
- 19 1 Timothy 3:4–5; Deuteronomy 6:6–7; Deuteronomy 4:9–10; Ephesians 6:4; 2 Timothy 3:15
- 20 Genesis 19:13; Ezekiel 16:49–50; Isaiah 3:9; Genesis 13:13; Genesis 4:10
- 21 Exodus 3:8; Genesis 11:5; Joshua 22:22; Zephaniah 1:12; Deuteronomy 8:2
- 22 Genesis 19:1; 1 Timothy 2:1; Acts 7:55; Ezekiel 22:30; Jeremiah 18:20
- 23 Numbers 16:22; 2 Samuel 24:17; Genesis 20:4; Genesis 18:25; Psalm 11:4–7
- 24 Jeremiah 5:1; Isaiah 1:9; Matthew 7:13–14; Genesis 18:32; Acts 27:24
- 25 Job 8:20; Job 8:3; Isaiah 3:10–11; Psalm 58:11; Deuteronomy 32:4
- 26 Jeremiah 5:1; Matthew 24:22; Isaiah 65:8; Ezekiel 22:30; Isaiah 10:22
- 27 Isaiah 6:5; Genesis 3:19; Luke 5:8; Isaiah 64:8; Job 30:19
- 28 Genesis 18:26; Job 23:3–4; Numbers 14:17–19; Genesis 18:29; 1 Kings 20:32–33
- 29 Ephesians 6:18; Hebrews 4:16
- 30 Psalm 10:17; Job 40:4; Isaiah 55:8–9; Hebrews 12:28–29; Psalm 89:7
- 31 Luke 11:8; Matthew 7:7; Hebrews 10:20–22; Hebrews 4:16; Luke 18:1
- 32 James 5:15–17; Judges 6:39; Matthew 7:7; 1 John 5:15–16; Ephesians 3:20
- 33 Genesis 32:26; Genesis 18:22; Genesis 18:16; Genesis 31:55
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
Abraham was specially honoured, and was called the friend of God; yet he, earnestly regarding the glory of God, humbly declared, "I am but dust and ashes." Moreover, it is thus written of Job, "Job was a righteous man, and blameless, truthful, God-fearing, and one that kept himself from all evil." But bringing an accusation against himself, he said, "No …
Still suffer me to speak before Thy mercy--me, "dust and ashes." Suffer me to speak, for, behold, it is Thy mercy I address, and not derisive man.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
So likewise He doth in Abraham's case, saying, "I will by no means hide from Abraham my servant;" to make thee know that man's kindly affection, and his care for Sodom.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
A great and honourable man was Abraham, but only great in comparison with men; and when he came before God, then speaking the truth candidly he saith, I am earth and ashes.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
I should seem tedious were I to recount all the ancient miracles, which were wrought in attestation of God's promises which He made to Abraham thousands of years ago, that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed. For who can but marvel that Abraham's barren wife should have given birth to a son at an …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)