שופט כל הארץ לא יעשה משפט

"And I won't reveal to him?" Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said, it's a parable to a king who gave an orchard to his lover. After a time, the king wanted to cut down five non-fruit-bearing trees in it. The king said, "If I wanted [to cut down trees] from his paternal inheritance, he wouldn't stop me, so what of it?" And he consulted him. So said God, I have already given the land as a gift to Avraham, as it says, "To your children I have given the land," and these five cities are in his land, and if I was asking [to destroy cities] from his paternal inheritance he wouldn't stop me, so what of it? And [God] consulted him. Rabbi Yehuda said in the name of Rabbi Simon: It is like a king who had three loved ones and wouldn't do anything without their knowledge. Once the king wanted to do a thing without their knowledge. He took the first and made him suffer and kicked him out of the palace, the second he put into prison, the third he loved too much and said, I cannot do this thing without his knowledge. So, with Adam: And [God] expelled man. Noah: And God closed on him. Avraham, who was too beloved to God, God said, How can I do this thing without his knowledge?

Rabbi Shmuel bar Nahman said, It's comparable to a king who had one close advisor and wouldn't do anything without his knowledge. Once the king wanted to do something without telling him. The king said, I only made him my advisor so that I wouldn't do anything without his knowledge. Rabbi Yudan said, God said, Lot his nephew is there and I won't tell him? And the rabbis said, I already called him their father, as it says: Because I have made you the father of many nations. Do we judge the son without the father['s knowledge]? I have revealed to him the giving of the Torah. I have revealed to him Hell. The judgment of Sodom is tomorrow, and I won't reveal it to him?

Avraham is indeed to become. In view of his future as a great and mighty nation, with his memory a blessing among his children and all the nations of the world, I cannot conceal from him what I am about to do. Future generations will say, how could God conceal such a thing from him? Or how did a righteous man turn so cruelly against his neighbors and did not have mercy and pray for them at all?

Moreover, only good can come of his knowing — I know that he knows that I, God, love justice and pass sentence justly, and so will command his offspring after him to keep my ways. Either he will find merit for the sinners and pray that I spare them, or he will find none and then he too will desire that justice be done.

And God said, the cry of Sodom and Gomora is great. Rabbi Hanina said, increasingly great. Rabbi Berachya said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan, we heard that the generation of the flood was sentenced by water and the Sodomites by fire. How do we know they were sentenced for the same thing? The Torah teaches "great" [in both cases], to create equivalence.

I will go down. Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai taught, this is one of 10 descents mentioned in the Torah. Rabbi Aba bar Kahana said, it shows that God gave them an opening for repentance, as it says: I will go down and see if like the cry that has come to me, then I will destroy [them]. They merit destruction, and if not I will know, I will show through them the attribute of justice in the world. Rabbi Levi said even if I wanted to remain silent, the judgment of its fight would not allow me to. There was a story of two girls who went down to drink and fill up water. One asked the other why she looked sick. She said, my food is finished and she was about to die. What did [the first] do? She filled her pitcher with flour and switched it with the other's. When they found out, they burned her. God said, even if I wanted to remain silent, the judgment of the girl does not allow me to. As it is written: like her cry, not like their cry but rather hers, this is the sentence of the girl.

Rabbi Yirmiya ben Elazar said, Sodom was only peaceful for 52 years, and of those for 25 years God made their mountains tremble and brought upon them horrors to make them repent, but they didn't. That is why it is written: One who makes mountains quake and they do not know, who overturns them in His fury.

And Avraham approached and said.

Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Nehemia disagree. Rabbi Yehuda said, approaching for war: "And Yoav approached Aram with the nation for war." Rabbi Nehemiah said, approaching for appeasement, as it says: And Bnei Yehuda approached Yehoshua. The rabbis say, approaching for prayer, as it says: And at the time of the minha offering, Eliyahu the prophet approached and said, God of Avraham Yizhak and Yisrael, today it will be known that you are the God of Israel.

Rabbi Elazar interpreted, I am ready for war, for appeasement, or for prayer.

9) "Far be it from You." R' Yudan said, "It is far from You"; "It is outside for You." R' Aha said, "Halila" "Halila" twice. There is a desecration of the name of Heaven in the matter. R' Aba said, It does not say "to do this thing"; rather, it says "to do a thing like this." Not it, nor anything like it, nor anything less than it. R' Levi said, Two individuals said the same thing, Avraham and Iyov. Avraham: "Far be it from You to do such a thing, to bring death upon the innocent as well as the guilty" Iyov: "It is all one; therefore I say, 'He destroys the blameless and the guilty.'" Avraham received a reward for it, and Iyov was punished for it. Avraham spoke well-ripened thoughts; Iyov spoke hastily and angrily: "It is all one; therefore I say, 'He destroys the blameless and the guilty.'" R' Hiyya bar Aba said, There is a confusion of questions here. Avraham said,"Far be it from You to do such a thing, to bring death upon the innocent as well as the guilty," and the Holy One Blessed be He says, "so that innocent and guilty fare alike." Would He suspend [judgment] against the wicked for the sake of the righteous? Oh that they were righteous, but they are only righteous men of an inferior quality, as R' Yohanan said, All tzaddikim mentioned in connection with S'dom are written "tzaddikam." This is the opinion of R' Yohanan, as R' Yohanan said, "So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country instructed us" -- it is written "z'kananu" -- uncultured old men, i.e., shameful old men. R' Yehoshua ben Levi said, Annex my deeds and they will increase the total to 50. R' Yehuda ben R' Simon said, Aren't You the Righteous One of the world? Annex Your deeds and they will increase the total to 50. R' Yehuda ben R' Simon said, This is what Avraham said to Him: With a flesh-and-blood king, one can take an appeal from a duke's decision to a provincial governor, and from a provincial governor to a military governor. But with You, because there is no one to take an appeal to, won't You do justice? R' Yehuda ben R' Simon said, When You sought to judge Your world, You gave it over to two, Remus and Romulus, so that if one of them wanted to do something, the other could stay the first one's hand. But You, with respect to Whom there is no one to stay Your hand, won't You do justice? R' Ada said, You swore that You would not bring a flood to the world, and now You are weaseling out of the oath -- a flood of water You are not bringing, but a flood of fire You are bringing. If so, You have not fulfilled Your oath. R' Levi said, "The judge of the earth will not do justice?" If you want a world, there cannot be justice. If you want justice, there cannot be a world.