I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.
Parallel translations
- WEB 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.”
- BSB I will go down to see if their actions fully justify the outcry that has reached Me. If not, I will find out.”
- NKJV I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”
- NASB I will go down now and see whether they have done entirely as the outcry, which has come to Me indicates; and if not, I will know.”
- NLT I am going down to see if their actions are as wicked as I have heard. If not, I want to know.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God speaks of 'going down' to verify the cities' guilt before acting.
Overview
This anthropomorphic language stresses that God judges justly, on the basis of true knowledge, not hasty rumor. It echoes the same divine 'coming down' to assess Babel (Genesis 11:5). The point is the perfect righteousness of the Judge, who never condemns unfairly.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Exod 3:8And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
- Gen 11:5And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
- Josh 22:22The LORD God of gods, the LORD God of gods, he knoweth, and Israel he shall know; if it be in rebellion, or if in transgression against the LORD, (save us not this day,)
- Ps 139:1–24O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.
- Jer 17:10I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
- Deut 8:2And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
- Zeph 1:12And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil.
- Luke 16:15And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
- Mic 1:3For, behold, the LORD cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth.
- Gen 11:7Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
- Exod 33:5For the LORD had said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee: therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee.
- Deut 13:3Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
- Job 34:22There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.
- John 6:38For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
- 1 Th 4:16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
- 2 Cor 11:11Wherefore? because I love you not? God knoweth.
- Jer 17:1The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars;
- Ps 90:8Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
- Heb 4:13Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 18:21 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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