World English Bible · The patriarchs
Genesis 18
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appeared to him by the oaks of , 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, 3and said, "My , if now I have in your sight, please don't go away from . Now let a little water be fetched, wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. I will get a piece of bread so you can refresh . After that you may go your way, now that you have come to ." They said, "Very well, do as you have said." hurried into the tent to , and said, "Quickly prepare three seahs of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes." 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 , your wife?" He said, "There, in the tent." He said, "I will certainly return to you at about this time next year; and behold, your wife will have a son." heard in the tent door, which was behind him. Now and were old, well advanced in age. had passed the age of childbearing. laughed within herself, saying, "After I have grown old will I have pleasure, my being old also?" said to , "Why did laugh, saying, 'Will I really bear a child when I am old?' Is anything too hard for ? I will return to you, when the season comes around, and will have a son." Then denied it, saying, "I didn't laugh," for she was afraid. He said, "No, but you did laugh." The men rose up from there, and looked toward . went with them to see them on their way. said, "Will I hide from what I do, since will surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be in him? For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep of , to do and ; to the end that may bring on that which he has spoken of him." said, "Because the cry of and is great, and because their 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 , but stood yet before . came near, and said, "Will you consume with ? What if there are fifty within the city? Will you consume and not spare the place for the fifty who are in it? May it be far from you to do things like that, to kill with , so that should be like . May that be far from you. Shouldn't the Judge of all the earth do right?" said, "If I find in fifty within the city, then I will spare the whole place for their sake." answered, "See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to , although I am . What if there will lack five of the fifty ? 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, "Oh don't let 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 . 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 be angry, and I will speak once more. What if ten are found there?" He said, "I will not destroy it for the ten's sake." went his way as soon as he had finished communing with , and returned to his place.
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · The patriarchs, 2000 BC to 1600 BC ›
Abraham's family as herdsmen among settled Canaanite city-states, in a world where Egypt and Mesopotamia are the great powers and Canaan is the corridor between them.
- Mesopotamia
- Abraham's own century is Hammurabi's. The great empire of Ur has already fallen, and Babylon rises under a king who published a law code on a stone pillar for everyone to see. Reading Genesis alongside Hammurabi's laws is illuminating in both directions: some provisions are strikingly similar, and the places where Israel's later law diverges are the places worth stopping at.
- Egypt
- The Middle Kingdom, wealthy, bureaucratic, and organised around the Nile flood. Egyptian tomb paintings from this period show Semitic traders arriving with donkeys and striped cloaks, which is more or less the picture Genesis gives of a family going down to Egypt in a famine. Toward the end of the era the Hyksos, rulers of Semitic origin, take the delta.
- Anatolia and the Aegean
- Assyrian merchants run a long-distance trading colony at Kanesh in Anatolia, leaving thousands of clay letters about copper, tin, and debt. On Crete the Minoan palaces are at their height, with plumbing, frescoes, and a script nobody has yet read.
- Further afield
- The Indus Valley cities are in decline after centuries of grid-planned streets and drains. In China the Erlitou culture is building the first palace complexes. Stonehenge is standing and already old.
All of Genesis