Genesis 18:26

Summary

Yehovah responds to a conditional proposal: if fifty tzaddiqim ("righteous people", H6662) are found within the city of Sodom, he will act favorably toward the entire place for their sake. The verse is structured as a conditional clause followed by a consequence.

Key words

• im ("if", H0518A) — conditional particle opening the protasis; introduces a hypothetical scenario dependent on the following verb.
• 'emtza' ("I will find", H4672) — qal imperfect, first person; the imperfect aspect marks an action not yet completed, appropriate for a hypothetical future search.
• tzaddiqim ("righteous [people]", H6662) — masculine plural adjective functioning as a substantive; modified by the cardinal number chamishim ("fifty", H2572) preceding it.
• nasa'ti ("I will forgive", H5375H) — qal sequential perfect, first person; the vav-consecutive perfect continues the logical sequence begun by the imperfect 'emtza', producing an apodosis ("then I will...") despite its perfect form.
• ba'avuram ("for their sake", H5668 + suffix H9038) — construct noun with attached third-person masculine plural pronominal suffix, meaning literally "in the sake-of-them," specifying the reason for the action.

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative vav (H9001) attached to yomer ("he said", H0559), continuing the storyline: "and Yehovah said." The core of the utterance is a conditional sentence. The protasis begins with im ("if", H0518A), followed by 'emtza' ("I will find", H4672) in the qal imperfect — grammatically marking unfinished or hypothetical action, fitting the conditional framing. The object of the search is chamishim tzaddiqim ("fifty righteous [people]", H2572 + H6662), located betokh ha'ir ("in the midst of the city", H8432 + H5892B), a construct phrase specifying the search's location within the city rather than merely inside it generally.

The apodosis, marked by the narrative vav on nasa'ti ("I will forgive/bear", H5375H), uses the sequential perfect form. Although morphologically a perfect, this construction functions as a continuation of the preceding imperfect, expressing the consequence that follows if the condition is met — a common Hebrew mechanism where verb sequences shift aspect while maintaining temporal-logical continuity. The scope of this action is marked by le-khol-hamaqom ("to all the place", H3605 + H4725), using the construct chain "all of the place" to indicate totality — the entire location, not merely the righteous individuals within it. The reason clause closes the verse with ba'avuram ("for their sake", H5668 + H9038), a construct noun plus pronominal suffix meaning literally "in the sake of them," attributing the outcome directly to the presence of the tzaddiqim.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew nasa'ti (H5375H) carries a semantic range including "to lift," "to bear," or "to forgive/spare." The LXX renders this with aphēsō ("I will let go/release"), and the Vulgate uses dimittam ("I will let go/release"), both leaning toward "release/spare" rather than "forgive" in a moral sense. The English BSB and Spanish versions (RV1909, SBLIBRE) similarly render it as "spare" or "perdonaré" ("I will pardon/spare"), reflecting the same semantic choice as the LXX and Vulgate rather than a literal "lift" or "carry."