“The Lord said: If I find in Sodom fifty righteous people within the city, I will forgive the entire place for their sake” (Genesis 18:26). “The Lord said: If I find in Sodom” – Rabbi Yudan and Rabbi Yehuda ben Rabbi Simon said in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi: “For [I speak] of God who said: I have forgiven; I will not bring harm” (Job 34:31). This refers to what is written: “I will forgive [venasati] the entire place for their sake.”
“I will not bring harm [eḥbol]” – [God said:] ‘I will not take collateral from them,57To secure payment for their sins. as it is written: “If you take…as collateral [taḥbol]” (Exodus 22:25). Yet they pile up [ḥovelim] allegations against Me, saying: He does not judge properly.’ “What I do not see [biladai eḥeze]” (Job 34:32) – if something is beyond Me,58This is the interpretation of biladai. If there is something that I have not seen, leading me to false judgment… go and examine My judgment.59This is the interpretation of eḥeze.
If I am mistaken, “you teach me” (Job 34:32). “If I have performed injustice” (Job 34:32) with the former generations, “I will not continue” (Job 34:32) with the latter ones. “I am silent for him with his claims [badav]” (Job 41:4) – [God said to Abraham:] ‘For you and for the branches [badim] that emerge from you,60For your descendants. I will be silent.’61Despite the harsh words that you and they speak before Me, I will remain silent.
For Abraham, who said: “Far be it from You to do something like this”; for Moses, who said: “Why, Lord, will Your wrath be enflamed against your people?” (Exodus 32:11); for Joshua, who said: “Why did You take this people across…?” (Joshua 7:7); and for David, who said: “Why do You stand far off, Lord? Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble?” (Psalms 10:1). “And his strident speech, and the elegance [ḥin] of his presentation” (Job 41:4) – grace [ḥen] was granted [to him] for the presentation of his lips, when he asked for mercy for the Sodomites.