Genesis 18:1-21

EasyEnglish Bible

God promises a son to Abraham

18 The Lord appeared to Abraham near the special oak trees of Mamre. It was the hot time of day and Abraham was sitting by the door of his tent. ² Abraham looked up and he saw three men. He ran in a hurry to meet them. He bent down to the ground to respect them.^[a]

³ Abraham said, ‘Please sir, stop here and let me serve you. That would make me very happy. ⁴ Let us bring some water so that you can all wash your feet. Then you can rest under this tree. ⁵ Let me also bring some food for you to eat. Now that you have come to my home, you should rest and become strong again. Then you will be ready to continue with your journey.’ The men replied, ‘That is good. Please do what you have said.’

⁶ Abraham went quickly to the tent. He said to Sarah, ‘Be quick! Get plenty of good flour and make bread with it.’ ⁷ Then Abraham ran to his cows. He chose a very nice young cow. He gave it to his servant. The servant quickly prepared it for the men to eat. ⁸ Then Abraham also brought some cream and some milk, as well as the meat from the cow. He put all the food in front of the men. While they ate it, Abraham stood near them, under a tree.

⁹ Then the men asked Abraham, ‘Where is Sarah, your wife?’ Abraham replied, ‘She is there in the tent.’

¹⁰ Then one of the men said, ‘I will certainly return to you at about this time next year. At that time Sarah, your wife, will have a son!’

Sarah was listening to all this. She was at the door of the tent, near to where they were talking. ¹¹ Abraham and Sarah were now very old. Sarah was past the age when she could give birth to a child. ¹² So Sarah laughed to herself. She thought, ‘I have become old and weak. My husband is also old. I will never have a baby and be happy like that.’

¹³ Then the Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh like that? She said, “I am too old to have a child.” ¹⁴ But surely, nothing is too difficult for the Lord to do. At this time next year, I will return to you and Sarah will have a son.’

¹⁵ Then Sarah was afraid. So she told a lie. She said, ‘I did not laugh.’ But the Lord said, ‘Yes, you did laugh.’

God decides to punish the people in Sodom

¹⁶ Then Abraham's visitors started to leave. They looked down in the valley towards Sodom. Abraham was walking with them to say ‘goodbye’ to them. ¹⁷ Then the Lord said to himself, ‘I should tell Abraham what I have decided to do. ¹⁸ Abraham's descendants will become a great nation of people. They will be very powerful. Through him, I will bless all the nations of the earth.^{[b] 19} I have chosen him so that he will teach my message to his children and their families. He will teach them to do what is right and what is fair. Then I, the Lord, will do for Abraham everything that I have promised to him.’

²⁰ So the Lord said to Abraham, ‘I have heard how bad the people in Sodom and Gomorrah are. Everybody says that their sins are very bad. ²¹ So I must go down there to see if it is really true. I will see if those people are as bad as everybody says they are. Then I will know what is true.’