1 Some time later, when Abraham was camped near the Great Trees of Mamre, the Lord came to talk to Abraham again. It was the hottest part of the day and Abraham was sitting in the doorway of his tent.
2 He looked up and saw 3 men standing there. When Abraham saw them, he left his tent and ran to meet them. He bowed down with his face on the ground in front of them.
6 Straight away, Abraham went and found Sarah in the tent and said, “Quick, get some of our best flour and make bread for our visitors.”
7 Then he ran and picked a nice young calf from his mob of cattle. He gave it to one of his workers, who quickly killed the calf and cooked it for the men.
8 Abraham gave the men some milk, yogurt and meat to eat, and then went to stand in the shade of a tree.
9 The men said to Abraham, “Where is your wife Sarah?”
10 Sarah was sitting in the tent behind where the men were eating, and she heard one of the men say, “I will come back to visit you this time next year, and Sarah will have a baby boy.”
13 The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say to herself, ‘I am too old to have a baby?’
14 I tell you, God can do anything. Just like I said, at the right time next year, I will come back to visit you, and Sarah will have a baby boy.”
15 Sarah was frightened and so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.”
16 When the 3 men finished eating, they got up to leave. Abraham walked with them to say goodbye and as they walked along the men looked down at the town called Sodom.
17 The Lord was saying to himself as they walked, “Is it a good idea to tell Abraham what I am going to do, or will I say nothing?
18 Abraham's family will be a big and powerful nation one day, and I will use his family to do good things for all the nations on the earth.
19 I have picked him so that he can teach his family to live my way and do what is right. If Abraham's family do these things, I will keep my promise to him.”
20 Then the Lord said, “Abraham, I have heard about all the really bad things that happen in Sodom and Gomorrah. And I am shocked to hear what those people do.
21 I am going to go down and find out if what I hear is true. If it is true, I will burn those towns.”
22 Straight away, the other 2 men turned and walked towards Sodom. They left Abraham standing next to the Lord.
23 Abraham turned to the Lord and asked, “Are you going to kill all the good people when you kill all the bad people that have gone against you?
26 The Lord answered, “Ok Abraham. If I find 50 people that live my way in Sodom, I will leave that town alone. Those 50 good people will save everyone else in the town.”
29 Again Abraham asked, “What if there are only 40 good people there?”
30 And again, Abraham asked, “Please do not get angry with me, but what if there are only 30 good people?”
31 Abraham asked, “I know that I am being brave to ask you this but, what if there are only 20 people that live your way in the town?”
32 Abraham said, “Please do not be angry with me if I ask one last question. What if you only find 10 good people in that town?”
33 When they finished talking, the Lord left Abraham and Abraham went back to his camp.