Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageHe said, "May the Lord not be angry if I speak just this once more. Suppose ten are found there?" He said, "I will not destroy it for the sake of ten."
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GHe said, "Let not Adonai's anger burn, and I will speak just this once more. Perhaps ten are found there?" He said, "I will not destroy it for the sake of ten."
KJV
King James VersionAnd he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleFinally, Abraham said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak once more. Suppose ten are found there?” And He answered, “On account of the ten, I will not destroy it.”
Footnotes
The descent from fifty to ten is Avraham's bold, sustained intercession — each petition pressing against divine justice in the name of mercy. The stopping point of ten is theologically freighted: rabbinic tradition sees here the scriptural basis for the מִנְיָן (minyan) — the quorum of ten required for communal prayer (Megillah 23b). Ten becomes the threshold of a redemptive community: if ten righteous could anchor a condemned city, ten gathered in prayer constitute sufficient community for the divine presence. The intercession stops at ten not because Avraham grew weary, but — as tradition notes (Bereshit Rabbah 49:13) — because he knew Lot's household fell short of even that number.
