Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom: pride, fulness of bread, and careless ease was in her and in her daughters neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. Jeremiah 23:14, 49:17–18, 50:39–40 and Lamentations 4:6 associate Sodom and Gomorrah with adultery and lies, prophesy the fate of Edom (south of the Dead Sea), predict the fate of Babylon and use Sodom as a comparison.Įzekiel 16:48–50 compares Jerusalem to Sodom, saying 'As I live, saith the Lord G OD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. Isaiah 1:9–10, 3:9 and 13:19–22 address people as from Sodom and Gomorrah, associates Sodom with shameless sinning and tells Babylon that it will end like those two cities. Deuteronomy 29:21–23 refers to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah:Īnd the generation to come, your children that shall rise up after you, and the foreigner that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses wherewith the L ORD hath made it sick and that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and a burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the L ORD overthrew in His anger, and in His wrath even all the nations shall say 'Wherefore hath the L ORD done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger?' 'Sodom and Gomorrah' becomes a byword for destruction and desolation. Additionally, the sins which triggered the destruction are reminiscent of the Book of Judges' account of the Levite's concubine. Later deuterocanonical texts attempt to glean additional insights about these cities of the Jordan Plain and their residents.

The New Testament also contains passages of parallels to the destruction and surrounding events that pertained to these cities and those who were involved. The Hebrew Bible contains several other references to Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot and his two daughters are saved, but his wife disregards the angels' warning, looks back, and is turned into a pillar of salt. Then God rains sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground (Genesis 19:24–25). Lot says that the hills are too far away and asks to go to Zoar instead. The next morning, because Lot had lingered, the angels take Lot, Lot's wife, and his two daughters by the hand and out of the city, and tell him to flee to the hills and not look back. The angels tell Lot '.the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it' (Genesis 19:13). Lot offers the mob his virgin daughters to 'do to them as you please', but they refuse and threaten to do worse to Lot. Lot welcomes them into his home, but all the men of the town surround the house and demand that he surrender the visitors that they may ' know' them. Starting at 50 people, Abraham negotiates with God to spare Sodom if 10 righteous people could be found. Abraham asks God 'Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?' (Genesis 18:23). Later, God gives advance notice to Abraham that Sodom had a reputation for wickedness. Abraham gathers his men, rescues Lot, and frees the cities. At the Battle of Siddim, Chedorlaomer defeats them and takes many captives, including Lot, the nephew of the Hebrew patriarch Abraham. Sodom and Gomorrah are two of the five 'cities of the plain' referred in Genesis 13:12 and Genesis 19:29 subject to Chedorlaomer of Elam, which rebel against him. Sodom and Gomorrah's destruction in the background of Lucas van Leyden's Lot and his Daughters (1520) According to Burton MacDonald, the Hebrew term for Gomorrah was based on the Semitic root ʿ-m-r, which means 'be deep', 'copious (water)'. In the Septuagint, these became Σόδομα, Sódoma and Γόμορρᾰ, Gómorrha the Hebrew ghayn was absorbed by ayin sometime after the Septuagint was transcribed. The etymology of the names Sodom and Gomorrah is uncertain, and scholars disagree about them. The narrative of their destruction may have a relation to the remains of third-millennium Bronze Age cities in the region, and subsequent Late Bronze Age collapse. They are mentioned frequently in the prophets and the New Testament as symbols of human wickedness and divine retribution, and the Quran also contains a version of the story about the two cities. Their story parallels the Genesis flood narrative in its theme of God's anger provoked by man's sin (see Genesis 19:1–28). ɡ ə ˈ m ɒr ə/) were two legendary biblical cities destroyed by God for their wickedness. Sodom and Gomorrah afire by Jacob de Wet II, 1680

Sodom of gylt