Bible Strands
Genesis 18:30
Then Abraham said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak further. Suppose thirty are found there?” He replied, “If I find thirty there, I will not do it.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Abraham speaks to the Lord during a repeated negotiation over the fate of Sodom, immediately following his request for forty and preceding his request for twenty. The dialogue occurs in the context of interceding for the righteous who might be found in the city.
The words — The Hebrew phrase אַל־ נָא יִחַר (’al-nā yichar) literally renders “may not burn please,” expressing a plea for the Lord’s anger not to flare up during further speech. The particle אוּלַי (’ulay) introduces the hypothetical “perhaps” before the proposed number of thirty.
The thread — This pattern of conditional negotiation and divine forbearance echoes in Job 40:4, where human speech halts before divine authority, and Psalms 10:17, which notes God’s attention to the humble’s desire. The tension between divine judgment and human intercession also surfaces in Isaiah 55:8 through the declared gap between God’s thoughts and human ways.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that intercession operates within strict boundaries of divine sovereignty rather than human leverage. It requires the reader to observe how repeated requests are met with consistent divine restraint without assuming the outcome is guaranteed by the bargaining itself.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.
Cross-references
- Job 40:4 “Behold, I am insignificant. How can I reply to You? I place my hand over my mouth.
- Psalms 10:17 You have heard, O LORD, the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their hearts. You will incline Your ear,
- Isaiah 55:8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.
- Genesis 44:18 Then Judah approached Joseph and said, “Sir, please let your servant speak personally to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, for you are equal to Pharaoh himself.
- Judges 6:39 Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me; let me speak one more time. Please allow me one more test with the fleece. This time let it be dry, and the ground covered with dew.”
- Esther 4:11 “All the royal officials and the people of the king’s provinces know that one law applies to every man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned—that he be put to death. Only if the king extends the gold scepter may that person live. But I have not been summoned to appear before the king for the past thirty days.”
- Psalms 9:12 For the Avenger of bloodshed remembers; He does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.
- Psalms 89:7 In the council of the holy ones, God is greatly feared, and awesome above all who surround Him.
- Isaiah 6:5 Then I said: “Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts.”
- Hebrews 12:28 Therefore, since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be filled with gratitude, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.