Hear the word of the Lord, You rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the law of our God, You people of Gomorrah:
Parallel translations
- WEB Hear Yahweh’s word, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
- KJV Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.
- BSB Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
- NASB ¶Hear the word of the Lord, You rulers of Sodom; Listen to the instruction of our God, You people of Gomorrah!
- NLT Listen to the Lord, you leaders of “Sodom.” Listen to the law of our God, people of “Gomorrah.”
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
Isaiah addresses Judah's leaders and people as 'Sodom' and 'Gomorrah,' calling them to hear God's word. The shocking comparison underscores how far they have fallen.
Overview
Naming them after the proverbial cities of wickedness signals that their guilt rivals the worst. Yet God still summons them to listen to His law, leaving room for repentance. The call to hear the LORD's word remains the gracious means by which sinners are turned back to Him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- 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.
- Rev 11:8Their dead bodies will be in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.
- Deut 32:32For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, of the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poison grapes. Their clusters are bitter.
- Ezek 16:49“‘“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.
- Jer 23:14In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one returns from his wickedness. They have all become to me as Sodom, and its inhabitants as Gomorrah.”
- Jer 9:26Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that have the corners of their hair cut off, who dwell in the wilderness; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.”
- Gen 13:13Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against Yahweh.
- Isa 28:14Therefore hear Yahweh’s word, you scoffers, that rule this people in Jerusalem:
- 1 Kgs 22:19–23Micaiah said, “Therefore hear Yahweh’s word. I saw Yahweh sitting on his throne, and all the army of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.
- Isa 8:20Turn to the law and to the testimony! If they don’t speak according to this word, surely there is no morning for them.
- Ezek 16:46Your elder sister is Samaria, who dwells at your left hand, she and her daughters; and your younger sister, who dwells at your right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.
- Amos 9:7Are you not like the children of the Ethiopians to me, children of Israel?” says Yahweh. “Haven’t I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?
- Mic 3:8–12But as for me, I am full of power by Yahweh’s Spirit, and of judgment, and of might, to declare to Jacob his disobedience, and to Israel his sin.
- Amos 3:1Hear this word that Yahweh has spoken against you, children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying:
- Amos 3:8The lion has roared. Who will not fear? The Lord Yahweh has spoken. Who can but prophesy?
- Rom 9:29As Isaiah has said before, “Unless the Lord of Armies had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and would have been made like Gomorrah.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 1:10 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.