Genesis 18:23
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
And Abraham drew near, and said, Will you also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
American King James Version (AKJV)
And Abraham drew near, and said, Will you also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
American Standard Version (ASV)
And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou consume the righteous with the wicked?
Basic English Translation (BBE)
And Abraham came near, and said, Will you let destruction come on the upright with the sinners?
Webster's Revision
And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
World English Bible
Abraham drew near, and said, "Will you consume the righteous with the wicked?
English Revised Version (ERV)
And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou consume the righteous with the wicked?
Clarke's Genesis 18:23 Bible Commentary
Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? - A form of speech similar to that in Genesis 18:17, an invariable principle of justice, that the righteous shall not be punished for the crimes of the impious. And this Abraham lays down as the foundation of his supplications. Who can pray with any hope of success who cannot assign a reason to God and his conscience for the petitions he offers? The great sacrifice offered by Christ is an infinite reason why a penitent sinner should expect to find the mercy for which he pleads.
Barnes's Genesis 18:23 Bible Commentary
Abraham intercedes for Sodom. His spiritual character is unfolded and exalted more and more. He employs the language of a free-born son with his heavenly Father. He puts forward the plea of justice to the righteous in behalf of the city. He ventures to repeat his intervention six times, every time diminishing the number of the righteous whom he supposes to be in it. The patience of the Lord is no less remarkable than the perseverance of Abraham. In every case he grants his petition. "Dust and ashes." This may refer to the custom of burning the dead, as then coexistent with that of burying them. Abraham intimates by a homely figure the comparative insignificance of the petitioner. He is dust at first, and ashes at last.
This completes the full and free conversation of God with Abraham. He accepts his hospitable entertainment, renews his promise of a son by Sarah, communicates to him his counsel, and grants all his requests. It is evident that Abraham has now fully entered upon all the privileges of the sons of God. He has become the friend of God James 2:23.
- The Destruction of Sodom and Amorah
9. גשׁ־<הלאה gesh-hāl'âh, "approach to a distant point," stand back.
11. סנורים sanevērı̂ym, "blindness," affecting the mental more than the ocular vision.
37. מואב mô'āb, Moab; מאב mē'āb, "from a father." בן־עמי ben-‛amı̂y, Ben-'ammi, "son of my people." עמון ‛amôn, 'Ammon, "of the people."
This chapter is the continuation and conclusion of the former. It records a part of God's strange work - strange, because it consists in punishment, and because it is foreign to the covenant of grace. Yet it is closely connected with Abraham's history, inasmuch as it is a signal chastisement of wickedness in his neighborhood, a memorial of the righteous judgment of God to all his posterity, and at the same time a remarkable answer to the spirit, if not to the letter, of his intercessory prayer. His kinsman Lot, the only righteous man in Sodom, with his wife and two daughters, is delivered from destruction in accordance with his earnest appeal on behalf of the righteous.
Wesley's Genesis 18:23 Bible Commentary
18:23 Abraham drew near - This expression intimates, A holy concern. A holy confidence; he drew near with an assurance of faith, drew near as a prince, Job 31:37.