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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Genesis 18 NIV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/genesis/18.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/genesis/18-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NIV</a> > Genesis 18</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../genesis/17.htm" title="Genesis 17">◄</a> Genesis 18 <a href="../genesis/19.htm" title="Genesis 19">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New International Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/niv/esv/genesis/18.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="sectionhead">The Three Visitors</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>The <span class="name">Lord</span> appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or eyes, Lord">a</a></sup></span> do not pass your servant by. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.”</p><p class="reg">“Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three seahs <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="That is, probably about 36 pounds or about 16 kilograms">b</a></sup></span> of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>“Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him.</p><p class="reg">“There, in the tent,” he said.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”</p><p class="reg">Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>Then the <span class="name">Lord</span> said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>Is anything too hard for the <span class="name">Lord</span>? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.”</p><p class="reg">But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.”</p> <p class="sectionhead">Abraham Pleads for Sodom</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>Then the <span class="name">Lord</span> said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or will use his name in blessings (see 48:20)">c</a></sup></span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the <span class="name">Lord</span> by doing what is right and just, so that the <span class="name">Lord</span> will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>Then the <span class="name">Lord</span> said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the <span class="name">Lord</span>. <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Masoretic Text; an ancient Hebrew scribal tradition but the LORD remained standing before Abraham">d</a></sup></span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or forgive; also in verse 26">e</a></sup></span> the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>The <span class="name">Lord</span> said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?”</p><p class="reg">“If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>Once again he spoke to him, “What if only forty are found there?”</p><p class="reg">He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-30.htm"><b>30</b></a></span>Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?”</p><p class="reg">He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-31.htm"><b>31</b></a></span>Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?”</p><p class="reg">He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-32.htm"><b>32</b></a></span>Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?”</p><p class="reg">He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/18-33.htm"><b>33</b></a></span>When the <span class="name">Lord</span> had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.</p><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><A name="footnotes"></a><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">a</span> <span class="fnverse">3</span> <span class="footnotebot">Or <i>eyes, Lord</i></span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">b</span> <span class="fnverse">6</span> <span class="footnotebot">That is, probably about 36 pounds or about 16 kilograms</span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">c</span> <span class="fnverse">18</span> <span class="footnotebot">Or <i>will use his name in blessings</i> (see 48:20)</span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">d</span> <span class="fnverse">22</span> <span class="footnotebot">Masoretic Text; an ancient Hebrew scribal tradition <i>but the <span class="name">Lord</span> remained standing before Abraham</i></span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">e</span> <span class="fnverse">24</span> <span class="footnotebot">Or <i>forgive</i>; also in verse 26</span><br><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><p class="ntext"><a href="http://niv.scripturetext.com/version.htm">New International Version</a> (NIV)</p><p class="ntext2">Holy Bible, New International Version&reg, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by <a href="http://biblica.com">Biblica, Inc.</a>® Used by permission. 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