The Three Visitors
Genesis 18YHWH appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men stood near him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth, and said, “My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please don’t pass over your servant. Now let a little water be brought, so y’all can wash y’all’s feet, and rest under the tree. Let me get a little bit of bread so y’all can refresh y’all’s heart. After that y’all may go y’all’s way, now that y’all have come to y’all’s servant.”
They said, “Very well, do as you have said.”
Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quickly prepare thirty-five pounds+18:6 literally "three seahs" where 1 seah is about 7 liters or 1.9 gallons by volume, or about 12 pounds or 5.3 kiolograms by weight. of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes.” Abraham ran to the herd, and fetched a tender and good calf, and gave it to the servant. He hurried to dress it. He took butter, milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them. He stood by them under the tree, and they ate.
They asked him, “Where is Sarah, your wife?”
He said, “There, in the tent.”
One of them said, “I will return-return to you at about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son!”
Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I am worn out, will I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”
YHWH said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Will I really bear a child when I am old?’ Is anything too hard for YHWH? At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes around, and Sarah will have a son.”
Then Sarah denied it, saying, “I didn’t laugh,” for she was afraid.
He said, “No, but you did laugh.”
Abraham Pleads for Sodom
Then the men rose up from there, and looked toward Sodom. Abraham went with them to see them on their way. YHWH said, “Should I hide from Abraham what I am doing, since Abraham will become-become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him? For I have chosen him so that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of YHWH, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that YHWH may bring on Abraham that which he has spoken of him.” YHWH said, “Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, I will go down now, and see whether their deeds are as bad as the reports which have come to me. If not, I will know.”
The men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before YHWH. Abraham came near, and said, “Will you consume the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous within the city? Will you consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. Far be it from you. Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?”
YHWH said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place for their sake.” Abraham answered, “See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord, although I am dust and ashes. What if there will lack five of the fifty righteous? Will you destroy all the city for lack of five?”
He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”
He spoke to him yet again, and said, “What if there are forty found there?”
He said, “I will not do it for the forty’s sake.”
He said, “My the Lord not be angry, and I will speak. What if there are thirty found there?”
He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
He said, “See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord. What if there are twenty found there?”
He said, “I will not destroy it for the twenty’s sake.”
He said, “Oh don’t let the Lord be angry, and I will speak just once more. What if ten are found there?”
He said, “I will not destroy it for the ten’s sake.”
YHWH went his way as soon as he had finished communing with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.