God promises a son to Abraham

18 The Lord appeared to Abraham near the special oak trees of Mamre. It was the hot time of day and Abraham was sitting by the door of his tent. ² Abraham looked up and he saw three men. He ran in a hurry to meet them. He bent down to the ground to respect them.^[a]

³ Abraham said, ‘Please sir, stop here and let me serve you. That would make me very happy. ⁴ Let us bring some water so that you can all wash your feet. Then you can rest under this tree. ⁵ Let me also bring some food for you to eat. Now that you have come to my home, you should rest and become strong again. Then you will be ready to continue with your journey.’ The men replied, ‘That is good. Please do what you have said.’

⁶ Abraham went quickly to the tent. He said to Sarah, ‘Be quick! Get plenty of good flour and make bread with it.’ ⁷ Then Abraham ran to his cows. He chose a very nice young cow. He gave it to his servant. The servant quickly prepared it for the men to eat. ⁸ Then Abraham also brought some cream and some milk, as well as the meat from the cow. He put all the food in front of the men. While they ate it, Abraham stood near them, under a tree.

⁹ Then the men asked Abraham, ‘Where is Sarah, your wife?’ Abraham replied, ‘She is there in the tent.’

¹⁰ Then one of the men said, ‘I will certainly return to you at about this time next year. At that time Sarah, your wife, will have a son!’

Sarah was listening to all this. She was at the door of the tent, near to where they were talking. ¹¹ Abraham and Sarah were now very old. Sarah was past the age when she could give birth to a child. ¹² So Sarah laughed to herself. She thought, ‘I have become old and weak. My husband is also old. I will never have a baby and be happy like that.’

¹³ Then the Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh like that? She said, “I am too old to have a child.” ¹⁴ But surely, nothing is too difficult for the Lord to do. At this time next year, I will return to you and Sarah will have a son.’

¹⁵ Then Sarah was afraid. So she told a lie. She said, ‘I did not laugh.’ But the Lord said, ‘Yes, you did laugh.’

God decides to punish the people in Sodom

¹⁶ Then Abraham's visitors started to leave. They looked down in the valley towards Sodom. Abraham was walking with them to say ‘goodbye’ to them. ¹⁷ Then the Lord said to himself, ‘I should tell Abraham what I have decided to do. ¹⁸ Abraham's descendants will become a great nation of people. They will be very powerful. Through him, I will bless all the nations of the earth.^{[b] 19} I have chosen him so that he will teach my message to his children and their families. He will teach them to do what is right and what is fair. Then I, the Lord, will do for Abraham everything that I have promised to him.’

²⁰ So the Lord said to Abraham, ‘I have heard how bad the people in Sodom and Gomorrah are. Everybody says that their sins are very bad. ²¹ So I must go down there to see if it is really true. I will see if those people are as bad as everybody says they are. Then I will know what is true.’

²² The other two men then turned away and they went towards Sodom. But Abraham stayed there to talk with the Lord.

²³ Then Abraham went near to the Lord and he asked, ‘Will you destroy the good people as well as the bad people? ²⁴ There might be 50 people in the city who live in a good way. Will you still destroy the whole city? Or will you leave it there, because there are 50 good people in it? ²⁵ Will you kill them all, the good people and the bad people? Surely you would not do anything like that! You would not punish good people in the same way as bad people. You are the great judge of everyone on the earth. You will surely do what is right!’

²⁶ The Lord replied, ‘If I see that there are 50 good people in the city of Sodom, I will not destroy that place. Because of those 50 good people, I will leave the city there.’

²⁷ Then Abraham spoke again. He said, ‘I have been brave enough to speak to the Lord. I know that I am nothing more than dust and ashes.^{[c] 28} But let me ask you this. What will you do if there are 45 good people in the city? Will you destroy the city, because there are only five fewer good people there?’ The Lord replied, ‘If I see that there are 45 good people in the city, I will not destroy it.’

²⁹ Abraham spoke to God again. He said, ‘What will you do if only 40 good people are there?’ The Lord said, ‘Because of 40 good people, I will not destroy the city.’

³⁰ Then Abraham said, ‘Please do not be angry, Lord. Let me speak again. What will you do if there are only 30 good people there?’ The Lord answered, ‘I will not destroy the city if I find 30 good people there.’

³¹ Abraham said, ‘I have been brave to speak to you, Lord. What will you do if only 20 good people are there?’ The Lord said, ‘Because of 20 good people, I will not destroy the city.’

³² After all that, Abraham said, ‘Please do not be angry, Lord. Let me speak just one more time. If there are only ten good people there, what will you do?’ The Lord replied, ‘Because of ten good people, I will not destroy the city.’^[d]

³³ The Lord had finished speaking with Abraham. So he continued on his journey. Abraham returned home.