Three Angels Visit Abraham

1 Three angels were sent to our father Abraham at the time that he circumcised the flesh of his foreskin, and the three of them were sent for three matters,⁠a because it is not possible for one of the angels on high to be sent with more than one matter. The first angel was sent to bring Abraham the news that Sarah would bear Isaac for him; and the second angel was sent to rescue Lot from the midst of the overthrow; and the third angel was sent to overturn Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim. And the Memra of the Lord was revealed to Abraham in the plains of Vision, and he was sitting at the door of his tent in the strength of the day, warming himself from the blood of his circumcision, in the heat of the day. 2 And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and there were three angels in the likeness of men standing over him. And he saw them and ran from the door of the tent to meet them, and he greeted them according to the custom of the land. 3 And he said, “I beg you, from before you, Lord: if now I have found grace and favor in your face, do not let the Glory of your Shekinah go up from your servant. 4 Let a little water be brought now, and wash your feet and rest under the tree. 5 And I will bring a little food, and you can refresh your hearts, and after that you will pass on, since for this reason you have passed by your servant at the hour of the meal.” And they said, “Do as you have said.” 6 And Abraham hurried and went to the tent, to Sarah, and said, “Hurry, take three seahs of fine flour; knead it and make unleavened cakes.” 7 And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the young man, and he hurried to prepare it. 8 And he took cream and milk and the calf that he had prepared and set them before them, and he was standing over them under the tree, and they appeared as though they were eating and as though they were drinking.⁠b

The Promise of Sarah’s Son

9 And they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “Look, she is in the tent.” 10 And he said, “I will surely come back to you at this time, and there will be a male son for Sarah your wife.” And Sarah was listening at the door of the tent, and Ishmael was standing behind her, listening. 11 And Abraham and Sarah were old and advanced in days; the way of women had stopped being with Sarah. 12 And Sarah wondered in her heart, saying, “After I have grown old, is it possible for me to go back to the days of my youth and to conceive again, when my master Abraham is old?” 13 And the Lord said to Abraham, “Now Sarah has laughed, saying, ‘Is it really true that I will give birth, when I have grown old?’ 14 Is it possible for anything to be hidden from before the Lord? At the set time I will come back to you, at this time, and Sarah will have a male son.” 15 And Sarah lied, saying, “I did not laugh,” because she was afraid. And he said to her, “No, for you did laugh.”

Abraham Pleads for Sodom

16 And the men rose from there and gazed out toward Sodom, and Abraham was going with them to see them on their way. 17 And the Lord said in his Memra, “Look, am I hiding from Abraham my friend what I am doing? Since the city of Sodom is within the gift I gave him, it is right that I not overturn it until I have let him know. 18 And Abraham will surely become a great and strong nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in his merit. 19 For it is revealed before me that he will command his sons and the people of his house after him, and they will keep the way of the Lord, doing righteousness and justice, so that the Memra of the Lord may bring upon Abraham what he has spoken with him.” 20 And the Lord said, “The outcry of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, indeed it has grown great, and their sins, indeed they are very heavy. 21 I will be revealed now and see: if they have done according to their outcry that has come up before me, they are guilty of complete destruction; and if they seek to repent, and they think in their souls that perhaps their evil deeds are not revealed before me, look, they are before me as though I did not know.” 22 And the men turned from there and went to Sodom, and Abraham was still standing, praying for mercy from before the Lord. 23 And Abraham drew near and said, “Look, will you in anger destroy the innocent with the guilty? 24 Perhaps there are fifty innocent in the midst of the city; will you in anger destroy, and not pardon and forgive the sins of the place for the sake of the fifty innocent who are in it? 25 Far be it from before you to do this thing, to kill the innocent with the guilty, so that the judgment of the innocent is like the judgment of the guilty. Far be it from before you to do this thing! Shall the Judge of the judges of all the inhabitants of the earth not do justice?” 26 And the Lord said, “If I find in Sodom fifty innocent in the midst of the city, I will pardon and forgive all the guilty of the place for their sake.” 27 And Abraham answered and said, “Look, now I have begun to speak before the Lord, and I am dust and ashes. 28 Perhaps the fifty innocent will lack five; will you destroy the whole city because of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” 29 And he spoke with him again and said, “Perhaps forty will be found there?” And he said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of forty innocent.” 30 And he said, “Do not let the anger of the Lord grow strong now, and I will speak: perhaps thirty will be found there?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find thirty there.” 31 And he said, “Look, now I have begun to speak before the Lord: perhaps twenty will be found there?” And he said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty innocent.” 32 And he said, “Do not let the anger of the Lord grow strong now, and I will speak only this one time: perhaps ten will be found there?” And he said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.” 33 And the Glory of the Shekinah of the Lord went up when he had finished speaking with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.