What Does Genesis 18:30 Mean?
And he said, Please, let not the Lord burn, and I will speak. Perhaps thirty will be found there. And he said, I will not make it if I find thirty there.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.THE KEY
The Hebrew for “I will speak” shares its root with “word” and “matter,” so the plea itself becomes part of what is being weighed.
THE MEANING
Your voice can re-enter a situation that seems decided: the plea recognizes the risk of anger and still continues. The answer leaves a condition open, if thirty are found there, the destruction is withheld.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that an appeal becomes useless once it risks anger is challenged here: the plea continues, and the answer still makes room for it.
THE ROOT
וְאַדַבְּרָה
ve’adabberah
GROWS FROM
דבר
To speak or utter; as a noun, דָּבָר (davar) means “word” and can also mean “matter” or “affair.”
The verse’s וְאַדַבְּרָה (ve’adabberah, “I will speak”) grows from דָּבָר (davar, “word” or “matter”). Hebrew holds the act of speaking and the matter spoken within one root, so Abraham’s plea is not separate from what is at stake.
ALSO GROWS
davar: Word; matter; affair.
דָּבָר
The noun shares all three root consonants, joining spoken words to the matter under consideration.
dibber: He spoke; he uttered.
דִּבֵּר
This verb form shares the root consonants and makes the link to Abraham’s “I will speak” explicit.
THE PATTERN
A voiced plea can interrupt a path toward destruction and receive an answer that leaves room for life.
And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty aligned ones in the midst of the city, then I will lift all the place for their sake.And the LORD relented from the harm he had spoken of doing to his people.The LORD relented concerning this. It shall not be, says the LORD.THE THREAD
After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, Do not fear, Abram. I am your shield, and your very great wages.The “word” here is דָּבָר (davar), from the same ד־ב־ר root as Abraham’s “I will speak” in Genesis 18:30. In one verse the word comes to Abram; in the other he speaks into the matter before him, keeping speech and what is at stake joined.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us