Verse Lens · Context pointer
Genesis 18:28 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 28. 28Peradventure 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 it.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
Abraham lowers the first proposal by five, asking about forty-five, and the LORD again agrees not to destroy the city if they are found.
Read It With
- Genesis 18:16–33
Read verses 24–32 as one descending dialogue. Verse 28 modifies the already established justice-and-mercy principle; it does not introduce an independent doctrine about the number forty-five.
Why It Needs Context
The verse belongs to the repeated sequence and cannot explain the numbers' meaning by itself.
Read Genesis 18:27–28 together
Why these verses belong together: Dust-and-ashes humility introduces the first reduction from fifty to forty-five.
Verse 27. 27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes:
Verse 28. 28 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 it.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Genesis 18:16–33 — Abraham Pleads for Righteous JudgmentSources used for this context pointer
How certain is this explanation? very strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Displayed wording, unit movement, vocation, outcry, investigation, intercession, numbers, and canonical links.
Exact location: Genesis 18:16–33 in the pinned eng-kjv2006 source; compared with Genesis 13:10–13; 14:1–24; 19:1–29; 20:7; Exodus 32:7–14; Jeremiah 15:1
Open source ↗hebrew text morphology and lemma data
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible — Genesis
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project
Open Scriptures, Version 2.2 released 2021; repository inspected 2026
Supports: Yada, purpose clauses, righteousness and justice, outcry, cohortative investigation sequence, standing, sweep away, spare, far-be-it, Judge, dust and ashes, conditional proposals, and closure.
Exact location: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible, wlc/Gen.xml, Genesis 18:16–33
Open source ↗