²³ Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?^{(A) 24} What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare^[a] the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it?^{(B) 25} Far be it from you to do such a thing^(C)—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous^(D) and the wicked alike.^(E) Far be it from you! Will not the Judge^(F) of all the earth do right?”^(G)

²⁶ The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.^(H)”

²⁷ Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes,^{(I) 28} what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?”

“If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”

²⁹ Once again he spoke to him, “What if only forty are found there?”

He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”

³⁰ Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry,^(J) but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?”

He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

³¹ Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?”

He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”

³² Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more.^(K) What if only ten can be found there?”

He answered, “For the sake of ten,^(L) I will not destroy it.”

²⁴ So Jacob was left alone,^(A) and a man^(B) wrestled with him till daybreak. ²⁵ When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip^(C) so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. ²⁶ Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”^(D)

²⁷ The man asked him, “What is your name?”

“Jacob,”^(E) he answered.

²⁸ Then the man said, “Your name^(F) will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,^[a](G) because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”^(H)

²⁹ Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”^(I)

But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?”^(J) Then he blessed^(K) him there.

³² But now, please forgive their sin^(A)—but if not, then blot me^(B) out of the book^(C) you have written.”

²⁵ I lay prostrate before the Lord those forty days and forty nights^(A) because the Lord had said he would destroy you.^(B)

³ Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites^(A) and other eastern peoples^(B) invaded the country.