So the Lord told Abraham, “I have heard a great outcry from Sodom and Gomorrah, because their sin is so flagrant.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh said, “Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous,
- KJV And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
- BSB Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great. Because their sin is so grievous,
- NKJV And the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave,
- NASB And the Lord said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The LORD declares that the outcry over Sodom and Gomorrah's grievous sin is great.
Overview
The 'cry' suggests the appeal of victims and the scandal of the cities' wickedness rising before God. Their sin is described as exceedingly serious, warranting divine investigation and judgment. The passage affirms that God takes human evil seriously and will hold it to account.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Gen 19:13for we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown so great before Yahweh that Yahweh has sent us to destroy it.”
- Ezek 16:49–50“‘“Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
- Isa 3:9The look of their faces testify against them. They parade their sin like Sodom. They don’t hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought disaster upon themselves.
- Gen 4:10Yahweh said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries to me from the ground.
- Gen 13:13Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against Yahweh.
- Jas 5:4Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Armies.
- Jer 14:7Though our iniquities testify against us, work for your name’s sake, Yahweh; for our rebellions are many. We have sinned against you.
- Isa 5:7For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 18:20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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