And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy [it] for ten's sake.
Ver. 32. Peradventure ten shall be found there.] Lo, all the slavery and misery they had sustained hath not yet made ten good men in those five bad cities. Till God strike the stroke, and work upon the heart, afflictions, God's hammers, do but beat upon cold iron. The wicked are no whit better by them, but much the worse; as water becomes more cold after a heat, and naughty boys more stubborn and stupid after a whipping.