And the men rose up, and Abraham followed them. Then the Lord said: I
will destroy Sodom; for its sins are grievous. The two angels went
toward Sodom, and Abraham stood alone before the Lord and said: Wilt
Thou consume the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there are fifty
righteous within the city; wilt Thou not spare it for the sake of these?
The Lord answered: If I find fifty righteous I will not consume it.
Abraham said: Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord,
who am but dust and ashes; peradventure there shall lack five of the
fifty, wilt Thou destroy the whole city for lack of five? The Lord
answered: I will not destroy it if I find there forty and five. And
Abraham continued to pray, until he came down to ten, and the Lord
promised to spare the city if He should find ten righteous in it.
Meanwhile the two angels came to Sodom and went in to Lot. Then the men
in the city surrounded Lot’s house to seize the angels; but they smote
them with blindness, and brought Lot and his wife and his two daughters
out of the city. And one of the angels said: Look not behind thee,
neither stay in all the plain; escape to the mountain. But Lot’s wife
looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. Then the Lord rained fire
from heaven, and the fertile plain where Sodom and Gomorrah stood became
the Dead Sea.--Thus it appeared that there were not ten righteous in
Sodom. (Gen. 18:16-33; 19.)