Abraham came near, and said, “Will you consume the righteous with the wicked?
Parallel translations
- KJV And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
- BSB Abraham stepped forward and said, “Will You really sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
- NKJV And Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
- NASB Abraham approached and said, “Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
- NLT Abraham approached him and said, “Will you sweep away both the righteous and the wicked?
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
Abraham boldly asks whether God would sweep away the righteous along with the wicked.
Overview
His question rests on confidence in God's justice, which distinguishes the innocent from the guilty. Abraham intercedes not for himself but for others, including likely his nephew Lot. This pleading on the basis of God's character models prayer that appeals to who God is.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Num 16:22They fell on their faces, and said, “God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?”
- 2 Sam 24:17David spoke to Yahweh when he saw the angel who struck the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done perversely; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me, and against my father’s house.”
- Gen 20:4Now Abimelech had not come near her. He said, “Lord, will you kill even a righteous nation?
- Job 34:17Shall even one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn him who is righteous and mighty? —
- Heb 10:22let’s draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and having our body washed with pure water,
- Gen 18:25Be it far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?”
- Ps 11:4–7Yahweh is in his holy temple. Yahweh is on his throne in heaven. His eyes observe. His eyes examine the children of men.
- Rom 3:5–6But if our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God, what will we say? Is God unrighteous who inflicts wrath? I speak like men do.
- Jer 30:21Their prince shall be of themselves, and their ruler shall proceed from among them. I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach to me; for who is he who has had boldness to approach to me?” says Yahweh.
- Ps 73:28But it is good for me to come close to God. I have made the Lord Yahweh my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.
- Job 8:3Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness?
- Jas 5:17Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it didn’t rain on the earth for three years and six months.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 18:23 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.