1 The LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the door of the tent in the heat of the day.
2 He raised his eyes and looked, and there were three men standing over against him. Seeing them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed down to the ground.
3 He said, "Lord, if I have found favor in your eyes, please do not pass your servant by.
4 Let a little water be fetched, and wash your feet, and recline under the tree.
5 I will get a morsel of bread so you can sustain your hearts; afterward you can go on, since that is why you have passed by your servant." They answered, "Do just as you have said."
6 Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, "Quickly, three seahs of fine flour! Knead it and make round loaves."
7 Abraham ran to the herd, picked out a calf, tender and choice, and gave it to the servant, who hurried to prepare it.
8 He took butter and milk and the calf he had prepared and set them before them; he himself stood beside them under the tree, and they ate.
9 They asked him, "Where is your wife Sarah?" He answered, "Here in the tent."
10 He said, "I will certainly come back to you when the season comes round again, and your wife Sarah will have a son." Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him.
11 Abraham and Sarah were old, well along in years, and the way of women had stopped for Sarah.
12 So Sarah laughed inwardly, thinking, "Now that I am worn out, am I to have delight, with my lord old as well?"
13 The LORD said to Abraham, "Why is it that Sarah laughed and said, 'Will I truly give birth, old as I am?'
14 Is anything too wonderful for the LORD? At the appointed time I will come back to you, when the season comes round, and Sarah will have a son."
15 Sarah denied it: "I did not laugh," because she was afraid. But he said, "No, you did laugh."
16 The men got up from there and looked out over Sodom, and Abraham was walking with them to see them off.
17 And the LORD said, "Am I to conceal from Abraham what I am doing,
18 when Abraham is certainly to become a great and powerful nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed?
19 For I have known him, so that he will instruct his sons and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by practicing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring about for Abraham what he has promised him."
20 Then the LORD said, "The outcry over Sodom and Gomorrah, how great it is! And their sin, how very heavy!
21 I will go down and see whether they have done entirely as the outcry that has reached me says; and if not, I will know."
22 The men turned from there and went on toward Sodom, while Abraham remained standing before the LORD.
23 Abraham came near and said, "Will you really sweep away the righteous along with the wicked?
24 What if there are fifty righteous in the city? Will you really sweep it away, and not forgive the place for the fifty righteous inside it?
25 It would be unthinkable for you to do such a thing, to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating righteous and wicked alike! Unthinkable for you! Will the Judge of all the earth not do justice?"
26 The LORD said, "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous inside the city, I will forgive the whole place on their account."
27 Abraham replied, "Here I have ventured to speak to the Lord, though I am dust and ashes.
28 What if the fifty righteous are five short? Will you destroy the whole city for the five?" He said, "I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there."
29 Once more he spoke to him and said, "What if forty are found there?" He answered, "I will not do it, for the sake of the forty."
30 He said, "Please, let the Lord not be angry, and let me speak. What if thirty are found there?" He answered, "I will not do it if I find thirty there."
31 He said, "Here I have ventured to speak to the Lord. What if twenty are found there?" He answered, "I will not destroy it, for the sake of the twenty."
32 He said, "Please, let the Lord not be angry, and let me speak just this once. What if ten are found there?" He answered, "I will not destroy it, for the sake of the ten."
33 When the LORD had finished speaking with Abraham, he went away, and Abraham went back to his place.