Then the men got up from their meal and started on toward Sodom.  Abraham went with them part of the way.  “Should I hide My plan from Abraham?” the Lord asked.  “For Abraham will become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him.  I have singled him out so that he will direct his sons and their families to keep the way of the Lord and do what is right and just.  Then I will do for him all that I have promised.  So the Lord told Abraham, “I have heard that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah are extremely evil, and that everything they do is wicked!  I am going down to see whether or not these reports are true.  Then I will know.”

The two other men went on toward Sodom, but the Lord remained with Abraham for a while.  Abraham approached Him and said, “Will You destroy both innocent and guilty alike?  Suppose You find fifty innocent people there within the city - will You still destroy it, and not spare it for their sakes?  Surely You wouldn’t do such a thing, destroying the innocent with the guilty.  Why You would be treating the innocent and the guilty exactly the same!  Surely You wouldn’t do that!  Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”

And the Lord replied, “If I find fifty innocent people in Sodom, I will spare the entire city for their sake.”  Then Abraham spoke again.  “Since I have begun, let me go on and speak further to my Lord, even though I am but dust and ashes.  Suppose there are only forty-five?  Will You destroy the city for lack of five?” And the Lord said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five.”

Then Abraham pressed his request further.  “Suppose there are only forty?”  And the Lord replied, “I will not destroy it if there are forty.”   “Please don’t be angry, my Lord,” Abraham pleaded.  “Let me speak - suppose only thirty are found?”  And the Lord replied, “I will not destroy it if there are thirty.”  Then Abraham said, “Since I have dared to speak to the Lord, let me continue - suppose there are only twenty?”

Finally Abraham said, “Lord please do not get angry; I will speak but once more!  Suppose only ten are found there?”

And the Lord said, “Then for the sake of the ten, I will not destroy it.”  The Lord went on His way when He had finished his conversation with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his tent. Genesis

One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan the Accuser came with them.  “Where have you come from?” the Lord asked Satan.  And Satan answered the Lord, “I have been going back and forth across the earth, watching everything that’s going on.”

Then the Lord asked Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job?  He is the finest man in all the earth - a man of complete integrity.  He fears God and will have nothing to do with evil.” Job

Now the Lord observed the extent of the people’s wickedness, and He saw that all their thoughts were consistently and totally evil.  So the Lord was sorry He had ever made them.  It broke His heart.  And the Lord said, “I will completely wipe out this human race that I have created.  Yes, and I will destroy all the animals and birds, too.  I am sorry I ever made them.”  But Noah found favor with the Lord. Genesis

(When I return) the world will be (as indifferent to the things of God) as the people were in Noah’s day.  They ate and drank and married - everything just as usual right up to the day when Noah went into the Ark and the flood came and destroyed them all.

And the world will be as it was in the days of Lot; people went about their daily business - eating and drinking, buying and selling, farming and building - until the morning Lot left Sodom.  Then fire and brimstone rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.  Yes, it will be “business as usual” right up to the hour of my return. Luke