The LORD appeared to Avraham and to Cruz near the great trees of Mamre while they were sitting in the shade during the heat of the day. They looked up and saw three men standing nearby….

The men turned away and went toward Syria, but Avraham and Cruz remained standing before the LORD. Avraham approached and said, “Will you kill the righteous along with the wicked? What if there are fifty innocent people in the country? Will you really level it and not spare the lives of the fifty innocent people? Far be it from you to do such a thing – to kill the decent along with the wicked, harming the innocent and the guilty indiscriminately. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

The LORD said, If I find fifty innocent people in the country of Syria, I will not level the place, for their sake.

And Avraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the LORD, although I am nothing but dust and ashes, what if the number of the innocent is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole country for lack of five innocent lives?”

If I find forty-five there, He said, I will not level it.

Once again he spoke to Him. “What if only forty innocents are found there?”

He said, For the sake of forty, I will not level it.

Then he said, “May the LORD not be angry, but let me speak a little more. What if only thirty can be found there?”

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

Avraham said, “Now that I have been so bold – what if only twenty innocents can be found there?”

He said, For the sake of twenty, I will not level it.

Then Avraham said, “May the LORD not be angry at me dragging this out, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?”

He answered, For the sake of ten, I will not level it.

When the LORD finished speaking with Avraham, He left, and Avraham returned home.

But Cruz spat at both of them. “What a feeble foreign policy that is,” he said. “What a couple of weak-willed pansy libtards those guys are. Avraham would be a terrible leader, and so would the LORD. I say, carpet-bomb the place until we find out whether sand can glow.”