YAHWEH appeared once again to Abraham while he lived by the oak grove of Mamre. During the hottest part of the day, as Abraham sat at his tent door, he looked up and suddenly saw three men standing nearby. As soon as he saw them, he ran from his tent to welcome them. He bowed down to the ground and said, “My Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, don’t pass me by. Stay for a while with your servant. I’ll have some water brought to you all so that you can wash your feet. Rest here a while under the tree. Since you’ve stopped by your servant’s home and honored me with your presence, I’ll have food prepared for you so that you can be refreshed; then you can go on your way.”
“Very well,” they responded, “go ahead and do as you have said.”
Abraham hurried back into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick, we have guests! Get three measures of fine flour, knead it, and bake some bread.” Then Abraham ran to the herd, selected a tender choice calf, and told his servant, “Hurry—prepare this calf for my guests!” Then he brought the meal they had prepared—roasted meat, bread, curds, and milk—and set it before his guests. Abraham stood by them under the tree while they ate.
They asked him, “Where is your wife Sarah?”
He answered, “Over there—in the tent.”
Then one spoke up and said, “I will return about this time next year, when your wife Sarah will certainly have a son.” Sarah overheard it, for she was at the tent door not far behind him. Now, both Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing.
Sarah laughed to herself with disbelief, saying, “A woman my age—have a baby? After I’m worn out will I now enjoy marital bliss and conceive—and with my aged husband?”
YAHWEH knew her thoughts and asked Abraham, “Why is Sarah laughing, saying, ‘How can a woman my age have a baby?’ Do you think there is anything too marvelous for YAHWEH? I will appear to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son!”
Sarah was afraid, so she denied it, saying, “I wasn’t laughing.”
But he said, “Yes, you were!”
Afterward, the three men departed and walked toward Sodom, and Abraham went off with them to see them on their way. As they walked, YAHWEH said, “Should I really hide from Abraham what I intend to do? After all, he will become a great and powerful nation, and every nation on earth will seek bliss like his. It is true; I have singled him out as my own, so that he will lead his family and household to follow my ways and live by what is right and just. I will fulfill all the promises that I have spoken to him.”
YAHWEH explained to Abraham, “The outcry for justice against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so blatant that I must go down and see if their wicked actions are as great as the outrage that has come to me, and if not, then I will know.”
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