What Does Genesis 18:30 Mean in the King James?
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 analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
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 righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, saith the LORD.THE THREAD
After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.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.
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