Surely you wouldn’t do such a thing, destroying the righteous along with the wicked. Why, you would be treating the righteous and the wicked exactly the same! Surely you wouldn’t do that! Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”
Parallel translations
- WEB Be 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?”
- KJV That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
- BSB Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”
- NKJV Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
- NASB Far be it from You to do such a thing, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?”
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 appeals to God as the just Judge of all the earth who must do right.
Overview
This is a foundational statement of God's perfect justice: he will never treat the righteous as the wicked. Abraham's reasoning rests not on God's obligation to him but on God's own holy character. It assures believers that the final Judge of all will always act rightly (Romans 3:5-6).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Job 8:20“Behold, God will not cast away a blameless man, neither will he uphold the evildoers.
- Isa 3:10–11Tell the righteous “Good!” For they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.
- Job 8:3Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness?
- Ps 58:11so that men shall say, “Most certainly there is a reward for the righteous. Most certainly there is a God who judges the earth.”
- Deut 32:4The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are just. A God of faithfulness who does no wrong, just and right is he.
- 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.
- Ps 94:2Rise up, you judge of the earth. Pay back the proud what they deserve.
- Mal 3:18Then you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who doesn’t serve him.
- Job 34:17–19Shall even one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn him who is righteous and mighty? —
- John 5:22–27For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son,
- 2 Cor 5:10For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
- Ps 98:9Let them sing before Yahweh, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.
- Jer 12:1You are righteous, Yahweh, when I contend with you; yet I would reason the cause with you: why does the way of the wicked prosper? why are all they at ease who deal very treacherously?
- Eccl 7:15All this I have seen in my days of vanity: there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who lives long in his evildoing.
- Isa 57:1–2The righteous perish, and no one lays it to heart. Merciful men are taken away, and no one considers that the righteous is taken away from the evil.
- Eccl 8:12–13Though a sinner commits crimes a hundred times, and lives long, yet surely I know that it will be better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him.
- Ps 11:5–7Yahweh examines the righteous, but the wicked and him who loves violence his soul hates.
- Job 9:22–23“It is all the same. Therefore I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked.
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 18:25 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.