and the lord appeared unto him in the plains of mamre and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day
and he lift up his eyes and looked and lo three men stood by him and when he saw them he ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed himself toward the ground
and said my lord if now i have found favour in thy sight pass not away i pray thee from thy servant
let a little water i pray you be fetched and wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree
and i will fetch a morsel of bread and comfort ye your hearts after that ye shall pass on for therefore are ye come to your servant and they said so do as thou hast said
and abraham hastened into the tent unto sarah and said make ready quickly three measures of fine meal knead it and make cakes upon the hearth
and abraham ran unto the herd and fetcht a calf tender and good and gave it unto a young man and he hasted to dress
and he took butter and milk and the calf which he had dressed and set it before them and he stood by them under the tree and they did eat
and they said unto him where is sarah thy wife and he said behold in the tent
and he said i will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life and lo sarah thy wife shall have a son and sarah heard it in the tent door which was behind him
now abraham and sarah were old and well stricken in age and it ceased to be with sarah after the manner of women
therefore sarah laughed within herself saying after i am waxed old shall i have pleasure my lord being old also
and the lord said unto abraham wherefore did sarah laugh saying shall i of a surety bear a child which am old
is any thing too hard for the lord at the time appointed i will return unto thee according to the time of life and sarah shall have a son
then sarah denied saying i laughed not for she was afraid and he said nay but thou didst laugh
and the men rose up from thence and looked toward sodom and abraham went with them to bring them on the way
and the lord said shall i hide from abraham that thing which i do
seeing that abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed
for i know him that he will command his children and his household after him and they shall keep the way of the lord to do justice and judgment that the lord may bring upon abraham that which he hath spoken
and the lord said because the cry of sodom and gomorrah is great and because their sin is very grievous
i will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it which is come unto me and if not i will know
and the men turned their faces from thence and went toward sodom but abraham stood yet before the lord
and abraham drew near and said wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked
peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein
that be far from thee to do after this manner to slay the righteous with the wicked and that the righteous should be as the wicked that be far from thee shall not the judge of all the earth do right
and the lord said if i find in sodom fifty righteous within the city then i will spare all the place
and abraham answered and said behold now i have taken upon me to speak unto the lord which am but dust and ashes
peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five and he said if i find there forty and five i will not destroy
and he spake unto him yet again and said peradventure there shall be forty found there and he said i will not do it for fortys
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
and he said behold now i have taken upon me to speak unto the lord peradventure there shall be twenty found there and he said i will not destroy it for twentys
and 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 tens
and the lord went his way as soon as he had left communing with abraham and abraham returned unto his place