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.

GENESIS 18:28KJV
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Genesis 18:28 (KJV)

What does Genesis 18:28 mean?

Genesis 18:28 records Abraham asking the LORD whether he would destroy Sodom if the city had only forty-five righteous people, five fewer than fifty. The LORD answers that he will spare the city if he finds forty-five.

The question follows Abraham’s earlier request about fifty righteous people. By changing the number by just five, Abraham asks whether a small shortfall would change the outcome for the whole city.

The Hebrew behind Genesis 18:28

  • “lack” — חָסֵר (ḥaser): This word can mean to be short of a number. Abraham frames forty-five as five short of fifty, keeping his new request close to the previous one.
  • “righteous” — צַדִּיק (tsaddiq): This word describes someone who is upright or in the right. Here Abraham uses it to distinguish certain people in Sodom from those whose conduct has brought the city under judgment.

Why Genesis 18:28 matters

  • Abraham’s question concerns the whole city, not just the forty-five. His words ask whether the LORD will “destroy all the city,” and the answer promises that the city will be spared if the forty-five are found.
  • The answer is conditional on finding that number. The LORD says, “If I find there forty and five,” placing the condition within Sodom itself.
  • The exchange is one step in an ongoing conversation. Abraham continues to ask about smaller numbers in Genesis 18:29–32, with the final request concerning ten.

Where else these words appear

“lack” Hebrew H2637 · used in 21 verses

  • Genesis 8:3 And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.
  • 1 Kings 17:14 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.
  • Ecclesiastes 4:8 There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he hath neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither saith he, For whom do I labour, and bereave my soul of good? This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail.

“forty” Hebrew H705 · used in 124 verses

  • Genesis 5:13 And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters:
  • Deuteronomy 8:4 Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.
  • 1 Chronicles 12:36 And of Asher, such as went forth to battle, expert in war, forty thousand.

“destroy” Hebrew H7843 · used in 136 verses

  • Genesis 6:11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
  • 2 Samuel 11:1 And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem.
  • Jeremiah 6:5 Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces.

“fifty” Hebrew H2572 · used in 141 verses

  • Genesis 6:15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.
  • Numbers 4:35 From thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old, every one that entereth into the service, for the work in the tabernacle of the congregation:
  • 1 Chronicles 5:21 And they took away their cattle; of their camels fifty thousand, and of sheep two hundred and fifty thousand, and of asses two thousand, and of men an hundred thousand.