Genesis 18:21

Justice

¹⁹ For I have chosen him, so that he will command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, in order that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has promised.”

²⁰ Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great. Because their sin is so grievous,

I will go down to see if their actions fully justify the outcry that has reached Me. If not, I will find out.”

²² And the two men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD.

²³ Abraham stepped forward and said, “Will You really sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: I will go down to see if their actions fully justify the outcry that has reached Me. If not, I will find out.”
KJV: 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.
WEB: I will go down now, and see whether their deeds are as bad as the reports which have come to me. If not, I will know.”
ASV: 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.
DARBY: I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come to me; and if not, I will know [it].
BLB: I will go down now and see whether the outcry against it that has come to Me they have done completely—and if not, I will know.”

ÅB: Jeg vil stige ned og se om de i alt har båret seg slik at som det lyder det rop som er nådd opp til meg, og hvis ikke, så vil jeg vite det.
OTB: Jeg vil nå dra ned og se om det de har gjort er så ille som ropet som har nådd meg. Hvis ikke, vil jeg vite det.”
B1930: Jeg vil stige ned og se om de i alt har båret sig slik at som det lyder det rop som er nådd op til mig, og hvis ikke, så vil jeg vite det.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Exodus 3:8
I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
Read in context
Genesis 11:5
Then the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men were building.
Read in context
Joshua 22:22
“The LORD, the Mighty One, is God! The LORD, the Mighty One, is God! He knows, and may Israel also know. If this was in rebellion or breach of faith against the LORD, do not spare us today.
Read in context
Zephaniah 1:12
And at that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish the men settled in complacency, who say to themselves, ‘The LORD will do nothing, either good or bad.’
Read in context
Deuteronomy 8:2
Remember that these forty years the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commandments.
Read in context
Deuteronomy 13:3
you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. For the LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
Read in context
Genesis 11:7
Come, let Us go down and confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”
Read in context
Jeremiah 17:10
I, the LORD, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.
Read in context