וָאֲבַקֵּ֣שׁ מֵהֶ֡ם אִ֣ישׁ גֹּֽדֵר־גָּדֵר֩ וְעֹמֵ֨ד בַּפֶּ֧רֶץ לְפָנַ֛י בְּעַ֥ד הָאָ֖רֶץ לְבִלְתִּ֣י שַׁחֲתָ֑הּ וְלֹ֖א מָצָֽאתִי׃
און איך האָב געזוכט צװישן זײ אַ מאַןװאָס זאָל אַרומצאַמען אַ צאַם, און זיך שטעלן פֿאַר מיר אין דעם בראָך פֿאַרן לאַנד, אַז איך זאָל עס ניט אומברענגען;אָבער איך האָב ניט געפֿונען.
Radak
האף תספה ולא תשא למקום, he did not mention the people in the place but referred to the place itself. Avraham could not reasonably expect G’d to forgive the sinners, but he felt that the place could be saved. If the guilty would be wiped out the righteous would at least be able to continue living in that town, and would not have to migrate to a new location. Avraham concentrated on the word כלה, “total destruction,” of which G’d had spoken. The prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 22,30 and already in chapter 21, elaborates further on how the impending destruction which overtook Jerusalem in his time could have been stopped. Not only would there have to have been interlocutors such as Avraham, but the sins of the city would have had to be in the main minor sins, i.e. not violence, the sin which provokes G’d’s wrath the most, as we know from the generation of the deluge already. Not only that, but in order for the righteous to be able to save their townsfolk from disaster they must be absolutely righteous, not only barely have more merits than debits in G’d’s ledger of their conduct. In Jeremiah’s time there were righteous people. These were withdrawn, did not mix with the wicked, and did not dare go out into the streets to admonish their countrymen, as they were afraid for their own lives and were not prepared to risk their lives in order to urge their fellow Jews to do penitence. Our author quotes Jeremiah 5,1, Psalms 94,15, 69,12, as well as Ezekiel 14,14 and 14,16 to support his case.