because we are about to destroy this place. For the outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that He has sent us to destroy it.”
Parallel translations
- WEB for we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown so great before Yahweh that Yahweh has sent us to destroy it.”
- KJV For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it.
- NKJV For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”
- NASB for we are about to destroy this place, because their outcry has become so great before the Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”
- NLT For we are about to destroy this city completely. The outcry against this place is so great it has reached the Lord, and he has sent us to destroy it.”
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 angels announce they will destroy Sodom because of its great outcry before the LORD.
Overview
The destruction is grounded in the cry of the city's sin reaching God, confirming the earlier verdict (18:20). The angels act as agents of divine justice, not arbitrary force. This sober warning shows that God's patience has limits and his judgment is certain.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Gen 18:20Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great. Because their sin is so grievous,
- Jude 1:7In like manner, Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, who indulged in sexual immorality and pursued strange flesh, are on display as an example of those who sustain the punishment of eternal fire.
- Matt 13:49–50So will it be at the end of the age: The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous,
- Acts 12:23Immediately, because Herod did not give glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.
- Rev 16:1–12Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out on the earth the seven bowls of God’s wrath.”
- Rom 3:8–9Why not say, as some slanderously claim that we say, “Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is deserved!
- Matt 13:41–42The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will weed out of His kingdom every cause of sin and all who practice lawlessness.
- Jas 5:4Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
- Isa 37:36Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!
- Isa 3:11Woe to the wicked; disaster is upon them! For they will be repaid with what their hands have done.
- Ezek 9:5–6And as I listened, He said to the others, “Follow him through the city and start killing; do not show pity or spare anyone!
- 1 Chr 21:15–16Then God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem, but as the angel was doing so, the LORD saw it and relented from the calamity, and He said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!” At that time the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
- Isa 36:10So now, was it apart from the LORD that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The LORD Himself said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”
- Gen 13:13But the men of Sodom were wicked, sinning greatly against the LORD.
- Ps 11:5–6The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked; His soul hates the lover of violence.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 19:13 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.