Genesis 18:32

Summary

Abraham makes his final appeal in the negotiation over Sodom, asking permission to speak "only this time" more and proposing the number ten. The Lord responds with a promise not to destroy the city for the sake of those ten, closing the bargaining sequence that began at fifty.

Key words

• yichar ("it burn", H2734) — qal jussive form, used in the idiom "let it not burn" (i.e., let anger not kindle), softening the request with a volitive rather than indicative mood.
• na' ("please", H4994) — interjection attached to the negation, marking the sentence as a polite entreaty rather than a flat command.
• 'adabberah ("let me speak", H1696G) — a first-person volitive verb form (cohortative-type), expressing Abraham's self-directed request to be allowed to continue speaking.
• yimmatze'un ("they will be found", H4672) — niphal (passive) imperfect with the paragogic nun ending, which adds rhetorical emphasis to the passive verb "be found," referring to the hypothetical ten righteous persons.
• 'ash.chit ("I will destroy", H7843) — hiphil (causative) imperfect, first person, expressing the divine subject's active, causative action of destruction.

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative va-yomer ("and he said", H0559), the standard verb marking direct speech in the story's chain. Abraham's request is built on the negated jussive 'al na' yichar — literally "let it not, please, burn" — an idiomatic way of asking that anger not be provoked, addressed la-'Adonai ("to the Lord", H0136). This is followed by the volitive 'adabbera ("let me speak"), coordinated with na' to reinforce the tone of humble petition rather than assertion.

The phrase 'akh ha-pa'am ("only this time", H0389 + H6471) restricts the request to a single additional instance, marking this as the last round of the exchange. The conditional clause 'ulai yimmatze'un sham 'asarah ("perhaps they will be found there, ten") uses the niphal passive of matza' ("to find", H4672) with the paragogic nun, giving weight to the uncertain, hoped-for outcome — the ten are the grammatical subject of a passive verb, not something Abraham asserts to exist.

The Lord's reply reuses the narrative va-yomer and answers with lo' 'ashchit ("I will not destroy", H7843), a hiphil imperfect denoting a causative future action attributed to the divine speaker. The reason is given by ba'avur ha-'asarah ("for the sake of the ten", H5668), a construct noun phrase indicating the ten function as the basis or cause for withholding destruction.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the initial idiom as Μή τι, κύριε ("nothing at all, Lord") rather than translating the "burning" image of yichar literally, shifting the metaphor of kindled anger into a plain negation. The Vulgate's ne irascaris ("do not be angry") preserves the sense of anger more directly than the LXX but still abandons the Hebrew's "burning" figure. Both LXX and Vulgate render the hiphil 'ashchit with straightforward destruction verbs (ἀπολέσω, delebo), matching the Hebrew's causative sense without notable divergence in that clause.