Genesis 18:30
New International Version
Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?” He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

New Living Translation
“Please don’t be angry, my Lord,” Abraham pleaded. “Let me speak—suppose only thirty righteous people are found?” And the LORD replied, “I will not destroy it if I find thirty.”

English Standard Version
Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.”

Berean Standard Bible
Then Abraham said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak further. Suppose thirty are found there?” He replied, “If I find thirty there, I will not do it.”

King James Bible
And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.

New King James Version
Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Suppose thirty should be found there?” So He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

New American Standard Bible
Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

NASB 1995
Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

NASB 1977
Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

Legacy Standard Bible
Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

Amplified Bible
Then Abraham said [to Him], “Oh, may the Lord not be angry, and I will speak; suppose thirty [righteous people] are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

Christian Standard Bible
Then he said, “Let my lord not be angry, and I will speak further. Suppose thirty are found there? ” He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Then he said, “Let the Lord not be angry, and I will speak further. Suppose 30 are found there?” He answered, “I will not do it if I find 30 there.”

American Standard Version
And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.

Contemporary English Version
Abraham said, "Please don't be angry, LORD, if I ask you what you will do if there are only 30 good people in the city." "If I find 30," the LORD replied, "I still won't destroy it."

English Revised Version
And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"Please don't be angry if I speak again," Abraham said. "What if 30 are found there?" He answered, "If I find 30 there, I will not do it."

Good News Translation
Abraham said, "Please don't be angry, Lord, but I must speak again. What if there are only thirty?" He said, "I will not do it if I find thirty."

International Standard Version
Abraham then asked, "I hope my LORD will not be angry if I speak. What if 30 are found there?" The LORD answered, "I won't do it for the sake of those 30."

Majority Standard Bible
Then Abraham said, ?May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak further. Suppose thirty are found there?? He replied, ?If I find thirty there, I will not do it.?

NET Bible
Then Abraham said, "May the Lord not be angry so that I may speak! What if thirty are found there?" He replied, "I will not do it if I find thirty there."

New Heart English Bible
He said, "Oh do not let the Lord 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."

Webster's Bible Translation
And he said, Oh, let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there will thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.

World English Bible
He said, “Oh don’t let the Lord 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.”
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
And he says, “Please let it not be displeasing to the Lord, and I speak: perhaps there are found there thirty?” And He says, “I do not do [it], if I find there thirty.”

Young's Literal Translation
And he saith, 'Let it not be, I Pray thee, displeasing to the Lord, and I speak: peradventure there are found there thirty?' and He saith, 'I do it not, if I find there thirty.'

Smith's Literal Translation
And he will say, Now will it not kindle to the Lord, and I will speak: If thirty shall be found there? And he will say, I will not do, if I shall find thirty there.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
Lord, saith he, be not angry, I beseech thee, if I speak: What if thirty shall be found there? He answered: I will not do it, if I And thirty there.

Catholic Public Domain Version
“I ask you,” he said, “not to be angry, Lord, if I speak. What if thirty were found there?” He responded, “I will not act, if I find thirty there.”

New American Bible
Then he said, “Do not let my Lord be angry if I go on. What if only thirty are found there?” He replied: I will refrain from doing it if I can find thirty there.

New Revised Standard Version
Then he said, “Oh do not let the Lord be angry if I speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.”
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
Then Abraham said, Oh let not the LORD be displeased and I will speak: Suppose there shall thirty be found there? And he said, I will not destroy it, if I find thirty there.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
And he said, “Let it not be evil to LORD JEHOVAH, and I shall speak; and if thirty are found there?” and he said “I shall not destroy if I find thirty there.”
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
And he said: 'Oh, let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Peradventure there shall thirty be found there.' And He said: 'I will not do it, if I find thirty there.'

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And he said, Will there be anything against me, Lord, if I shall speak? but if there be found there thirty? And he said, I will not destroy it for the thirty's sake.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Abraham Begs for Sodom
29Once again Abraham spoke to the LORD, “Suppose forty are found there?” He answered, “On account of the forty, I will not do it.” 30Then Abraham said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak further. Suppose thirty are found there?” He replied, “If I find thirty there, I will not do it.” 31And Abraham said, “Now that I have ventured to speak to the Lord, suppose twenty are found there?” He answered, “On account of the twenty, I will not destroy it.”…

Cross References
Exodus 32:11-14
But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God, saying, “O LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people, whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? / Why should the Egyptians declare, ‘He brought them out with evil intent, to kill them in the mountains and wipe them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce anger and relent from doing harm to Your people. / Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, to whom You swore by Your very self when You declared, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give your descendants all this land that I have promised, and it shall be their inheritance forever.’” ...

Numbers 14:17-20
So now I pray, may the power of my Lord be magnified, just as You have declared: / ‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion, forgiving iniquity and transgression. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon their children to the third and fourth generation.’ / Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people, in keeping with the greatness of Your loving devotion, just as You have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt.” ...

Jeremiah 18:7-10
At any time I might announce that a nation or kingdom will be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed. / But if that nation I warned turns from its evil, then I will relent of the disaster I had planned to bring. / And if at another time I announce that I will build up and establish a nation or kingdom, ...

Amos 7:2-6
And when the locusts had eaten every green plant in the land, I said, “Lord GOD, please forgive! How will Jacob survive, since he is so small?” / So the LORD relented from this plan. “It will not happen,” He said. / This is what the Lord GOD showed me: The Lord GOD was calling for judgment by fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the land. ...

Jonah 3:9-10
Who knows? God may turn and relent; He may turn from His fierce anger, so that we will not perish.” / When God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—He relented from the disaster He had threatened to bring upon them.

2 Chronicles 7:14
and if My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

Isaiah 1:18
“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool.

Ezekiel 22:30
I searched for a man among them to repair the wall and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, so that I should not destroy it. But I found no one.

Psalm 106:23
So He said He would destroy them—had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach to divert His wrath from destroying them.

Job 42:8-10
So now, take seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. Then My servant Job will pray for you, for I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken accurately about Me, as My servant Job has.” / So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the LORD had told them; and the LORD accepted Job’s prayer. / After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his prosperity and doubled his former possessions.

Matthew 7:7-11
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. / For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. / Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ...

Luke 11:9-13
So I tell you: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. / For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. / What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? ...

James 5:16
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail.

1 John 5:14-15
And this is the confidence that we have before Him: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. / And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we already possess what we have asked of Him.

Hebrews 4:16
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.


Treasury of Scripture

And he said to him, Oh let not the LORD be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.

Genesis 44:18
Then Judah came near unto him, and said, Oh my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord's ears, and let not thine anger burn against thy servant: for thou art even as Pharaoh.

Judges 6:39
And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.

Esther 4:11-16
All the king's servants, and the people of the king's provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days…

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Angry Displeasing Find Found Peradventure Perhaps Speak Suppose Thirty
Genesis 18
1. The Lord appears to Abraham, who entertains angels.
9. Sarah is reproved for laughing at the promise of a son.
16. The destruction of Sodom is revealed to Abraham.
23. Abraham makes intercession for its inhabitants.














Then he said
This phrase introduces Abraham's continued intercession with God. The Hebrew root for "said" is אָמַר (amar), which is often used to denote not just speaking, but a thoughtful or deliberate communication. Abraham's approach to God is respectful and earnest, reflecting a deep relationship where he feels comfortable to speak openly with the Creator.

May the Lord not be angry
Here, Abraham acknowledges the sovereignty and holiness of God. The Hebrew word for "angry" is חָרָה (charah), which can mean to burn or be kindled with anger. Abraham is aware of the gravity of his request and approaches God with humility, recognizing that he is speaking to the Almighty. This phrase underscores the reverence and fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10).

but let me speak further
Abraham's persistence in prayer is evident here. The Hebrew root דָּבַר (dabar) for "speak" implies a continuation or furtherance of dialogue. This reflects the biblical principle of persistent prayer, as seen in the New Testament with the parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8). Abraham's boldness in intercession is a model for believers to approach God with confidence and perseverance.

Suppose thirty are found there
Abraham's negotiation with God continues with the number thirty. The number thirty in biblical numerology often signifies dedication to a particular task or calling, as seen with Joseph and Jesus beginning their ministries at age thirty. Abraham's intercession is not just about numbers but about the value of righteousness and the potential for redemption within a community.

He answered
God's response to Abraham is immediate and gracious. The Hebrew root עָנָה (anah) for "answered" suggests a response that is attentive and considerate. This highlights God's willingness to engage with humanity and His openness to dialogue. It reassures believers of God's readiness to listen and respond to their prayers.

If I find thirty there
God's conditional statement emphasizes His justice and mercy. The Hebrew word מָצָא (matsa) for "find" implies a search or discovery, indicating God's thoroughness in judgment. This phrase reassures believers that God is just and will not punish the righteous with the wicked, aligning with His character as a fair and righteous judge.

I will not do it
God's promise here is a testament to His mercy. The Hebrew root עָשָׂה (asah) for "do" means to act or accomplish. God's willingness to spare the city for the sake of thirty righteous people demonstrates His compassion and desire for repentance rather than destruction. This reflects the overarching biblical theme of God's mercy triumphing over judgment (James 2:13).

Verse 30. - And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord he angry, - literally, let there not be burning with anger to the Lord (Adonai) - and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Then [Abraham] said,
וַ֠יֹּאמֶר (way·yō·mer)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

“May the Lord
לַֽאדֹנָי֙ (la·ḏō·nāy)
Preposition-l | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 136: The Lord

not
אַל־ (’al-)
Adverb
Strong's 408: Not

be angry,
יִ֤חַר (yi·ḥar)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect Jussive - third person masculine singular
Strong's 2734: To glow, grow warm, to blaze up, of anger, zeal, jealousy

but let me speak [further].
וַאֲדַבֵּ֔רָה (wa·’ă·ḏab·bê·rāh)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Piel - Conjunctive imperfect Cohortative - first person common singular
Strong's 1696: To arrange, to speak, to subdue

Suppose
אוּלַ֛י (’ū·lay)
Adverb
Strong's 194: Perhaps

thirty
שְׁלֹשִׁ֑ים (šə·lō·šîm)
Number - common plural
Strong's 7970: Thirty, thirtieth

are found
יִמָּצְא֥וּן (yim·mā·ṣə·’ūn)
Verb - Nifal - Imperfect - third person masculine plural | Paragogic nun
Strong's 4672: To come forth to, appear, exist, to attain, find, acquire, to occur, meet, be present

there?”
שָׁ֖ם (šām)
Adverb
Strong's 8033: There, then, thither

He answered,
וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ (way·yō·mer)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

“If
אִם־ (’im-)
Conjunction
Strong's 518: Lo!, whether?, if, although, Oh that!, when, not

I find
אֶמְצָ֥א (’em·ṣā)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - first person common singular
Strong's 4672: To come forth to, appear, exist, to attain, find, acquire, to occur, meet, be present

thirty
שְׁלֹשִֽׁים׃ (šə·lō·šîm)
Number - common plural
Strong's 7970: Thirty, thirtieth

there,
שָׁ֖ם (šām)
Adverb
Strong's 8033: There, then, thither

I will not
לֹ֣א (lō)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

do it.”
אֶֽעֱשֶׂ֔ה (’e·‘ĕ·śeh)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - first person common singular
Strong's 6213: To do, make


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OT Law: Genesis 18:30 He said Oh don't let the Lord (Gen. Ge Gn)
Genesis 18:29
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