Gênesis 18

¹ Againe the Lord appeared vnto him in the plaine of Mamre, as he sate in his tent doore about the heate of the day.

² And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, threeThat is, three angels in the shape of men.men stood by him: and when he saw [them], he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground,

³ And said, MySpeaking to the one who appeared to be most majestic, for he thought they were men.Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:

⁴ Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, andFor men used to go bare footed in those parts because of the heat.wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:

⁵ And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are yeAs sent by God that I should do my duty to you.come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said.

⁶ Then Abraham made haste into the tent vnto Sarah, and saide, Make ready at once three measures of fine meale: kneade it, and make cakes vpon the hearth.

⁷ And Abraham ranne to the beastes, and tooke a tender and good calfe, and gaue it to the seruant, who hasted to make it ready.

⁸ And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set [it] before them; and he stood by them under the tree, andFor as God gave them bodies for a time, so he gave them the abilities of them, to walk, to eat and drink, and such like.they did eat.

⁹ Then they saide to him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he answered, Beholde, she is in the tent.

¹⁰ And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time ofThat is, about this time when she shall be alive, or when the child shall come into this life.life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard [it] in the tent door, which [was] behind him.

¹¹ (Nowe Abraham and Sarah were old and striken in age, and it ceased to be with Sarah after the maner of women)

¹² Therefore SarahFor she believed the order of nature, rather than believing the promise of God.laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?

¹³ And ye Lord saide vnto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah thus laugh, saying, Shall I certainely beare a childe, which am olde?

¹⁴ (Shall any thing be hard to the Lord? at the time appointed will I returne vnto thee, euen according to the time of life, and Sarah shall haue a sonne.)

¹⁵ But Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not: for she was afraide; he said, It is not so: for thou laughedst.

¹⁶ Afterwarde the men did rise vp from thence and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.

¹⁷ And theJehovah the Hebrew word we call Lord, shows that this angel was Christ: for this word is only applied to God.LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;

¹⁸ Seeing that Abraham shalbe in deede a great and a mightie nation, and all the nations of the earth shalbe blessed in him?

¹⁹ For I know him,He shows that fathers ought both to know God's judgments, and to declare them to their children.that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

²⁰ Then the Lorde saide, Because the crie of Sodom and Gomorah is great, and because their sinne is exceeding grieuous,

²¹ I willGod speaks after the fashion of men: that is, I will enter into judgment with good advise.go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to theFor our sins cry for vengeance, though no one accuses us.cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.

²² And the men turned thence and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stoode yet before the Lord.

²³ Then Abraham drewe neere, & said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?

²⁴ If there be fiftie righteous within the citie, wilt thou destroy and not spare the place for the fiftie righteous that are therein?

²⁵ Be it farre fro thee from doing this thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be euen as the wicked, be it farre from thee. shall not the Iudge of all the worlde doe right?

²⁶ And the LORD said, If I find in SodomGod declares that his judgments were done with great mercy, even though all were so corrupt that not only fifty but ten righteous men could not be found there, and also that the wicked are spared for the sake of the righteous.fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.

²⁷ And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which [amBy this we learn, that the nearer we approach to God, the more our miserable estate appears, and the more we are humbled.but] dust and ashes:

²⁸ If there shall lacke fiue of fiftie righteous, wilt thou destroy all the citie for fiue? And he saide, If I finde there fiue and fourtie, I will not destroy it.

²⁹ And he yet spake to him againe, and saide, What if there shalbe found fourtie there? Then he answered, I will not doe it for fourties sake.

³⁰ Againe he said, Let not my Lord nowe be angry, that I speake, What if thirtie be founde there? Then he saide, I will not doe it, if I finde thirtie there.

³¹ Moreouer he said, Behold, now I haue begonne to speake vnto my Lord, What if twentie be founde there? And he answered, I will not destroy it for twenties sake.

³² And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but thisIf God did not refuse the prayer for the wicked Sodomites, even to the sixth request, how much more will he grant the prayers of the godly for the afflicted Church?once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy [it] for ten's sake.

³³ And the Lord went his way when he had left communing with Abraham, and Abraham returned vnto his place.