אוּלַ֥י יֵ֛שׁ חֲמִשִּׁ֥ים צַדִּיקִ֖ם בְּת֣וֹךְ הָעִ֑יר הַאַ֤ף תִּסְפֶּה֙ וְלֹא־תִשָּׂ֣א לַמָּק֔וֹם לְמַ֛עַן חֲמִשִּׁ֥ים הַצַּדִּיקִ֖ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר בְּקִרְבָּֽהּ׃
假如城裡有五十個義人，你真的還要剿滅嗎？難道不為城中這五十個義人的緣故，饒恕那地方嗎？
On the Migration of Abraham
And it is by reason of this that Abraham, the wise, when he had made trial of God’s unvarying loving-kindness, believed that, even if all else be done away, but some small relic of virtue be preserved as a live coal to kindle with, for the sake of this little piece He looks with pity on the rest also, so as to raise up fallen things and to quicken dead things (Gen. 18:24 ff.).
On the Birth of Abel and the Sacrifices Offered by him and by his Brother Cain
[122] It was such overpowering evil that destroyed Sodom, when no good could balance the vast sum of evil that weighed down the scale. If there had been found in Sodom the number fifty, the number which brings the message of redemption from slavery and full liberty to the soul (Lev. 25:10 ), or any of the numbers which wise Abraham named in succession from fifty downwards till he reached the lower limit of ten, the number sacred to education, the mind would not have perished in such shameful downfall (Gen. 18:24 ff.).
On the Change of Names
[228] It was such a feeling that made Abraham, in the case of the destruction of Sodom, begin with fifty and end with ten (Gen. 18:24 f.) when he besought and supplicated that if the means of complete release to liberty (Lev. 25:10), which is symbolized by fifty, be not forthcoming in created beings, the lower training, which is numerically reckoned as ten, may be accepted to respite the soul which stands on the verge of condemnation.