Kommentar zu Bereschit 18:29
וַיֹּ֨סֶף ע֜וֹד לְדַבֵּ֤ר אֵלָיו֙ וַיֹּאמַ֔ר אוּלַ֛י יִמָּצְא֥וּן שָׁ֖ם אַרְבָּעִ֑ים וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ לֹ֣א אֶֽעֱשֶׂ֔ה בַּעֲב֖וּר הָאַרְבָּעִֽים׃
Und er fuhr fort zu ihm zu reden und sprach: Vielleicht finden sich dort vierzig. Und er antwortete: So werde ich es nicht tun um der vierzig willen.
Rashi on Genesis
. אולי ימצאון שם ארבעים PERADVENTURE THERE SHALL BE FORTY FOUND THERE — then let four cities be saved; so, too, let thirty save three of them and twenty save two of them or ten save one of them.
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Or HaChaim on Genesis
ויוסף עוד לדבר אליו. Abraham continued to speak to Him (G'd). This is a continuation of the prayer that G'd Himself should act as the one making up the requisite quorum. The expression ויוסף…אליו means that Abraham continued in the same vein adding that G'd's making up the quorum would apply even if not all the towns would could be saved by that method.
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Radak on Genesis
ויוסף עוד..לא אעשה, I will not utterly destroy the whole region, as G’d had already said in verse 28 when He worded this as לא אשחית. Basically, the same considerations prevail in respect of all these numbers, G’d varying His reply by sometimes phrasing it as לא אשחית and other times as לא אעשה, “I will not do.”
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