The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible

Genesis19:24–29

The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

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Genesis 19:24–29 — The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

24“Then the LORD rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah—…”+

24Then the LORD rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

Yah·weh him·ṭîr gā·p̄ə·rîṯ wā·’êš ‘al- sə·ḏōm wə·‘al- ‘ă·mō·rāh mê·’êṯ Yah·weh min- haš·šā·mā·yim

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-Yahweh caused-to-rain on Sodom and-on Gomorrah brimstone and-fire, from Yahweh, out-of the-heavens.

Where the English smooths the original

  • וַֽיהוָ֗ה … מֵאֵ֥ת יְהוָ֖ה The Hebrew names Yahweh twice — "Yahweh caused it to rain… from with Yahweh" — a doubling the BSB preserves but cannot stress. The original repeats the covenant name, not a pronoun ("from Himself").
  • הִמְטִ֧יר himṭîr is a causative (Hifil): God did not merely "rain" but "caused to rain." The agency is the whole point — this is a sent fall, not weather.
  • גָּפְרִ֣ית gāprîṯ ("brimstone/sulfur") — Strong's notes its root sense of "cypress-resin," a combustible pitch; "sulfur" modernizes a word tied to the bituminous soil of the region.
  • הַשָּׁמָֽיִם haššāmayim is plural with the article — literally "the heavens," not a single "sky." English flattens the plural.
Word by word12 · parsed+
וַֽיהוָ֗הYah·wehThen the LORDH3068
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular
Yahweh (H3068), the covenant name, stands first in the clause — the actor named before the act. The verse's notorious feature is that this name appears again at word 9.
הִמְטִ֧ירhim·ṭîrrained downH4305
√ mâṭar — to rainVerbHifilPerfectthird person masculine singular
himṭîr (H4305), Hifil perfect: "he caused to rain." The same root that governs ordinary rain is bent to a causative of judgment; the LXX's ἔβρεξε is the verb Luke reuses for this very event (Luke 17:29).
גָּפְרִ֣יתgā·p̄ə·rîṯsulfurH1614
√ gophrîyth — properly, cypress-resinNounfeminine singular
gāprîṯ (H1614) is a rare word — only seven occurrences in the Hebrew Bible, and several of them look back to this scene. Its scarcity makes it a verbal fingerprint for the Sodom judgment.
וָאֵ֑שׁwā·’êšand fireH784
√ ʼêsh — fire (literally or figuratively)Conjunctive wawNouncommon singular
עַל־‘al-onH5921
√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition
סְדֹ֛םsə·ḏōmSodomH5467
√ Çᵉdôm — Sedom, a place near the Dead SeaNounproperfeminine singular
וְעַל־wə·‘al-. . .H5921
√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsConjunctive wawPreposition
עֲמֹרָ֖ה‘ă·mō·rāhand GomorrahH6017
√ ʻĂmôrâh — Amorah, a place in PalestineNounproperfeminine singular
מֵאֵ֥תmê·’êṯfromH854
√ ʼêth — properly, nearness (used only as a preposition or an adverb), nearPreposition-mDirect object marker
יְהוָ֖הYah·wehthe LORDH3068
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular
The second Yahweh (H3068) is the storm-center of the verse. Across the centuries readers have split here: Calvin and Aben Ezra read it as emphatic repetition ("from Yahweh Himself," not from natural causes); Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and the Geneva annotators heard a distinction of persons — God the Son raining from God the Father. The grammar permits the emphasis; the Trinitarian reading is inference, not assertion.
מִן־min-out ofH4480
√ min — properly, a part ofPreposition
הַשָּׁמָֽיִם׃haš·šā·mā·yimthe heavensH8064
√ shâmayim — the sky (as aloftArticleNounmasculine plural
haššāmayim (H8064), "the heavens" — the source-point set opposite "on Sodom." The fall is vertical and from above, which is why the prophets and apostles take it as the type of judgment that comes down (2 Peter 2:6; Jude 7).
The Voices✦ public domain+
the expression "from Jehovah" is emphatica repetitio, quod non usitato naturae ordine tunc Deus pluerit, sed tanquam exerta manu palam fulminaverit praeter solitum morem: ut satis constaret nullis causis naturalibus conflatam fuisse pluviam illam ex igne et sulphure
Calvin's Latin, quoted within Keil & Delitzsch: "an emphatic repetition, [showing] that God then rained not by the usual order of nature, but as if with outstretched hand openly hurled bolts beyond His wonted manner: that it might be plainly established that no natural causes blended that rain of fire and brimstone."
Many commentators, following the Council of Sirmium, see in this repetition of the name of Jehovah an indication of the Holy Trinity, as though God the Son rained down fire from God the Father. More correctly Calvin takes it as an emphatic reiteration of its being Jehovah’s act.
The Son, who had conversed with Abraham, from the Father, for the Father has committed all judgment to the Son. He that is they Saviour will be the destroyer of those that reject the salvation.
"they Saviour" reproduces a typo in the source text (for "the Saviour").
Whether it was miraculously produced, or the natural operation employed by God, it is not of much consequence to determine: it was a divine judgment, foretold and designed for the punishment of those who were sinners exceedingly.
25“Thus He destroyed these cities and the entire plain, including a…”+

25Thus He destroyed these cities and the entire plain, including all the inhabitants of the cities and everything that grew on the ground.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·ya·hă·p̄ōḵ ’eṯ- hā·’êl wə·’êṯ he·‘ā·rîm kāl- hak·kik·kār wə·’êṯ kāl- yō·šə·ḇê he·‘ā·rîm wə·ṣe·maḥ hā·’ă·ḏā·māh

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-he-overturned these and the-cities, all the-circle, and all the-inhabitants-of the-cities, and-the-sprout of-the-ground.

Where the English smooths the original

  • וַֽיַּהֲפֹךְ֙ way-yahăpōk is from hāphak, "to turn over" — the verse's signature verb. "He destroyed" loses the picture of a thing flipped upside-down, the same image behind the noun mahpēkāh ("the overthrow") in v. 29.
  • הַכִּכָּ֑ר hak-kikkār is "the circle/disk" — the round plain of the Jordan (cf. Genesis 13:10), named for its shape. BSB's "plain" drops the geometry the Hebrew keeps.
  • וְצֶ֖מַח wə-ṣemaḥ is a single noun, "the sprout / what springs up," not the phrase "everything that grew." The Hebrew compresses all vegetation into one word for new growth.
  • הָאֲדָמָֽה hā-’ăḏāmāh is "the ground" with its root sense of red soil — the same word as Adam's dust. The land itself, not abstract "ground," is consumed.
Word by word13 · parsed+
וַֽיַּהֲפֹךְ֙way·ya·hă·p̄ōḵThus He destroyedH2015
√ hâphak — to turn about or overConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
way-yahăpōk (H2015, hāphak): the Pulpit Commentary glosses it "turned over, as a cake." Cambridge notes this became the technical term for the catastrophe — and the Qur'an's al-mutafikât, "the overturned," carries the same root-idea. It binds this verse to v. 29's mahpēkāh.
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
הָאֵ֔לhā·’êltheseH411
√ ʼêl — these or thoseArticlePronouncommon plural
hā-’ēl (H411) is the archaic demonstrative "these," used here and at 19:8 — an old form pointing back to the cities just named.
וְאֵ֖תwə·’êṯH853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker
הֶעָרִ֣יםhe·‘ā·rîmcitiesH5892
√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)ArticleNounfeminine plural
כָּל־kāl-and the entireH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
הַכִּכָּ֑רhak·kik·kārplainH3603
√ kikkâr — a circle, iArticleNounfeminine singular
hak-kikkār (H3603): the "disk" of the Jordan, the well-watered round Lot chose in 13:10. The word ties the destruction to the choice — the prize Lot picked is the plain now overturned.
וְאֵת֙wə·’êṯincludingH853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker
כָּל־kāl-allH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
יֹשְׁבֵ֣יyō·šə·ḇêthe inhabitantsH3427
√ yâshab — properly, to sit down (specifically as judgeVerbQalParticiplemasculine plural construct
הֶעָרִ֔יםhe·‘ā·rîmof the citiesH5892
√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)ArticleNounfeminine plural
וְצֶ֖מַחwə·ṣe·maḥand everything that grewH6780
√ tsemach — a sprout (usually concrete), literal or figurativeConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct
ṣemaḥ (H6780), "sprout," later a messianic title ("the Branch," Jeremiah 23:5; Zechariah 6:12). Here it names the green life burned off the ground — total reversal of fruitfulness, what Psalm 107:34 calls turning "a fruitful land into barrenness."
הָאֲדָמָֽה׃hā·’ă·ḏā·māhon the groundH127
√ ʼădâmâh — soil (from its general redness)ArticleNounfeminine singular
The Voices✦ public domain+
And he overthrew - literally, turned over , as a cake'; whence utterly destroyed
this word, “overthrow” ( mahpêkah , “overturning”), used here and in Genesis 19:29 , became the technical term for this catastrophe. It suggests an earthquake. “The Korán frequently refers to Sodom and Gomorrah by the title of al mutafikât ‘the overturned’
This does not mean submerged, and the agent in the destruction was fire and not water. “The plain” (Heb., the Ciccar ) still existed, and when Abraham saw it, was wrapped in smoke.
It was a punishment that answered their sin. Burning lusts against nature were justly punished with this preternatural burning.
26“But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.”+

26But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

’iš·tōw wat·tab·bêṭ mê·’a·ḥă·rāw wat·tə·hî nə·ṣîḇ me·laḥ

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-looked his-wife from-behind-him, and-she-became a-pillar-of salt.

Where the English smooths the original

  • אִשְׁתּ֖וֹ ’ištôw opens the clause — "his-wife," with the suffix "his" referring to Lot, who is never named in the verse. BSB supplies "[Lot's]" in brackets; the Hebrew leaves him implied, keeping her the sole subject.
  • וַתַּבֵּ֥ט wat-tabbēṭ (Hifil of nābaṭ) is not a glance but a fixed, regarding gaze — "she looked intently." The LXX ἐπέβλεψεν catches the wistful staring the bare "looked" misses.
  • מֵאַחֲרָ֑יו mē-’aḥărāyw is literally "from behind him" — she was walking behind her husband and turned back. The detail is dropped in some renderings but the Hebrew records exactly where she stood.
  • וַתְּהִ֖י wat-təhî is plain "and she was/became" — the same verb hāyāh as 'to be.' Its very flatness conveys, as the Pulpit Commentary notes, "complete and instantaneous judgment."
Word by word6 · parsed+
אִשְׁתּ֖וֹ’iš·tōwBut [Lot’s] wifeH802
√ ʼishshâh — a womanNounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine singular
’ištôw (H802): "his wife" — anonymous in Hebrew. Christ's "Remember Lot's wife" (Luke 17:32) makes her nameless figure a permanent warning; the Wisdom of Solomon calls her "a monument of an unbelieving soul" (10:7).
וַתַּבֵּ֥טwat·tab·bêṭlookedH5027
√ nâbaṭ — to scan, iConjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person feminine singular
wat-tabbēṭ (H5027): the intensive Hifil of nābaṭ, "to look with attention." The looking back is the act of disobedience (cf. the angel's charge in 19:17); the verb marks it as deliberate regard, not reflex.
מֵאַחֲרָ֑יוmê·’a·ḥă·rāwbackH310
√ ʼachar — properly, the hind partPreposition-mthird person masculine singular
וַתְּהִ֖יwat·tə·hîand she becameH1961
√ hâyâh — to exist, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person feminine singular
נְצִ֥יבnə·ṣîḇa pillarH5333
√ nᵉtsîyb — something stationary, iNounmasculine singular construct
nəṣîḇ (H5333), "a pillar / something set up," from a root for standing fixed — the noun used of garrisons and posts. She is rendered immovable, the antithesis of the flight she was commanded to keep.
מֶֽלַח׃me·laḥof saltH4417
√ melach — properly, powder, iNounmasculine singular
melaḥ (H4417), "salt." The commentators divide: a literal transformation (Josephus, Calvin) or, more cautiously, suffocation by sulphurous vapour and subsequent encrustation in the salt that pervades the Dead Sea region (Aben Ezra, Keil). Either way, salt — the sign of barrenness and of perpetual covenant alike — becomes her monument.
The Voices✦ public domain+
Christ intimates this to be her sin, Luke 17:31-32 ; she too much regarded her stuff. And her looking back spoke an inclination to go back; and therefore our Saviour uses it as a warning against apostacy from our Christian profession.
We are not to suppose that she was actually turned into one, but having been killed by the fiery and sulphureous vapour with which the air was filled, and afterwards encrusted with salt, she resembled an actual statue of salt
Entombed in this salt pillar, she became a “monument of an unbelieving soul” ( Wisdom Of Solomon 10:7 ).
His wife looked back, through curiosity, or unbelief, or desire of what she left, or from all these causes; from behind her husband, whom she followed.
27“Early the next morning, Abraham got up and returned to the place…”+

27Early the next morning, Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

bab·bō·qer ’aḇ·rā·hām way·yaš·kêm ’el- ham·mā·qō·wm ’ă·šer- ‘ā·maḏ šām ’eṯ- pə·nê Yah·weh

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-rose-early Abraham in-the-morning, to the-place where he-had-stood there, before-the-face-of Yahweh.

Where the English smooths the original

  • בַּבֹּ֑קֶר bab-bōqer is "in the morning"; BSB's "Early the next morning" adds emphasis the Hebrew underplays. Cambridge notes the idiom "amounts to saying 'in the morning Abraham arose.'"
  • וַיַּשְׁכֵּ֥ם way-yaškēm (Hifil of šākam) carries the old sense of loading up a beast at dawn — "to start early." The English splits this single rising-verb across "got up" and the time-phrase.
  • פְּנֵ֥י יְהוָֽה pənê Yahweh is literally "the face of Yahweh," with the marker ’eṯ before it. "Before the LORD" smooths an idiom that says he stood facing God's presence — the same posture as his intercession in 18:22.
Word by word11 · parsed+
בַּבֹּ֑קֶרbab·bō·qerEarly the next morningH1242
√ bôqer — properly, dawn (as the break of day)Preposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular
אַבְרָהָ֖ם’aḇ·rā·hāmAbrahamH85
√ ʼAbrâhâm — Abraham, the later name of AbramNounpropermasculine singular
וַיַּשְׁכֵּ֥םway·yaš·kêmgot upH7925
√ shâkam — literally, to load up (on the back of man or beast), iConjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
way-yaškēm (H7925), "to rise early." Benson reads the haste devotionally: Abraham went "to see what was become of his prayers." The morning rising is the body of a man waiting for an answer.
אֶל־’el-and returned toH413
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition
הַ֨מָּק֔וֹםham·mā·qō·wmthe placeH4725
√ mâqôwm — properly, a standing, iArticleNounmasculine singular
ham-māqôm (H4725), "the place" — literally "a standing"; the very spot where he had stood pleading the day before (18:22). The narrative deliberately returns him to the scene of his intercession.
אֲשֶׁר־’ă·šer-whereH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
עָ֥מַד‘ā·maḏhe had stoodH5975
√ ʻâmad — to stand, in various relations (literal and figurative, intransitive and transitive)VerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
‘āmaḏ (H5975), "he stood." The Targum of Jonathan renders this "where he ministered in prayer before the Lord" — reading the standing as the standing of intercession.
שָׁ֖םšām. . .H8033
√ shâm — there (transferring to time) thenAdverb
אֶת־’eṯ-. . .H854
√ ʼêth — properly, nearness (used only as a preposition or an adverb), nearDirect object marker
פְּנֵ֥יpə·nêbeforeH6440
√ pânîym — the face (as the part that turns)Nouncommon plural construct
pənê (H6440), "face of" — the construct that makes "before the LORD" into "facing the face of Yahweh." The same word governs his looking out over the plain in the next verse ("toward the face of Sodom").
יְהוָֽה׃Yah·wehthe LORDH3068
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular
The Voices✦ public domain+
And Abraham gat up early — To see what was become of his prayers, he went to the very place where he had stood before the Lord.
to the very spot of ground where he had stood the day before in the presence of the Lord, and had conversed with him, and prayed unto him; and so the Targum of Jonathan,"to the place where he ministered in prayer before the Lord;
Excerpt ends mid-source at the Targum quotation; the original's trailing close-quote is omitted.
Naturally his anxiety to know the result of his intercession, and the fate of his brother’s son, would urge him to be on foot at the early dawn.
No emphasis is here laid in the Hebrew upon the earliness of the rise. The idiom amounts to saying “in the morning Abraham arose and went to the place.”
28“He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the…”+

28He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw the smoke rising from the land like smoke from a furnace.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·yaš·qêp̄ ‘al- pə·nê sə·ḏōm wa·‘ă·mō·rāh wə·‘al- kāl- pə·nê ’e·reṣ hak·kik·kār way·yar wə·hin·nêh qî·ṭōr ‘ā·lāh hā·’ā·reṣ kə·qî·ṭōr hak·kiḇ·šān

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-he-looked-down on the-face-of Sodom and-Gomorrah, and-on all the-face-of the-land-of the-circle; and-he-saw, and-behold! the-smoke of-the-land went-up like-the-smoke-of the-kiln.

Where the English smooths the original

  • וַיַּשְׁקֵ֗ף way-yašqēp (Hifil of šāqaph) means "to lean out and look down," as from a window. BSB's "looked down" is right, but the Hebrew pictures a man bending over a height to peer at the ruin.
  • פְּנֵ֤י סְדֹם֙ pənê səḏōm is "the face of Sodom" — the visible surface/expanse. "Toward Sodom" loses the recurring pānîm ("face") that the verse uses three times for the lay of the land.
  • קִיטֹ֣ר qîṭōr is a rare word for dense vapour/reek — Cambridge ties it to the smoke of incense and sacrifice. "Smoke" is plain; the Hebrew word occurs only three times in the whole Bible.
  • הַכִּבְשָֽׁן hak-kiḇšān is not a generic "furnace" but a smelting-kiln or lime-kiln. Ellicott stresses it means a kiln "for melting ores of metal" — the fiercest fire the language had.
Word by word17 · parsed+
וַיַּשְׁקֵ֗ףway·yaš·qêp̄He lookedH8259
√ shâqaph — properly, to lean out (of a window), iConjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
way-yašqēp (H8259): "to look down from above." The verb sets Abraham at a height — the same vantage from which, JFB notes, smoke from the plain is still visible from the heights above Hebron.
עַל־‘al-downH5921
√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPreposition
פְּנֵ֤יpə·nêtowardH6440
√ pânîym — the face (as the part that turns)Nouncommon plural construct
סְדֹם֙sə·ḏōmSodomH5467
√ Çᵉdôm — Sedom, a place near the Dead SeaNounproperfeminine singular
וַעֲמֹרָ֔הwa·‘ă·mō·rāhand GomorrahH6017
√ ʻĂmôrâh — Amorah, a place in PalestineConjunctive wawNounproperfeminine singular
וְעַֽל־wə·‘al-. . .H5921
√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsConjunctive wawPreposition
כָּל־kāl-and allH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
פְּנֵ֖יpə·nê. . .H6440
√ pânîym — the face (as the part that turns)Nouncommon plural construct
אֶ֣רֶץ’e·reṣthe landH776
√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)Nounfeminine singular construct
הַכִּכָּ֑רhak·kik·kārof the plainH3603
√ kikkâr — a circle, iArticleNounfeminine singular
וַיַּ֗רְאway·yarand he sawH7200
√ râʼâh — to see, literally or figuratively (in numerous applications, direct and implied, transitive, intransitive and causative)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
וְהִנֵּ֤הwə·hin·nêh. . .H2009
√ hinnêh — lo!Conjunctive wawInterjection
wə-hinnēh (H2009), "and behold!" — the interjection that hands the reader Abraham's own startled eye. We see the catastrophe as he saw it: not the burning, but the aftermath-column of smoke.
קִיטֹ֣רqî·ṭōrthe smokeH7008
√ qîyṭôwr — a fume, iNounmasculine singular construct
qîṭōr (H7008) is a verbal rarity — only three occurrences (here, Psalm 119:83, Psalm 148:8). Its scarcity makes the smoke of Sodom a distinctive image; Psalm 148:8 lists this same "smoke/vapour" among the elements that "fulfil His word."
עָלָה֙‘ā·lāhrisingH5927
√ ʻâlâh — to ascend, intransitively (be high) or actively (mount)VerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
הָאָ֔רֶץhā·’ā·reṣfrom the landH776
√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)ArticleNounfeminine singular
כְּקִיטֹ֖רkə·qî·ṭōrlike smokeH7008
√ qîyṭôwr — a fume, iPreposition-kNounmasculine singular construct
הַכִּבְשָֽׁן׃hak·kiḇ·šānfrom a furnaceH3536
√ kibshân — a smelting furnace (as reducing metals)ArticleNounmasculine singular
hak-kiḇšān (H3536), "the kiln" — only four occurrences, three of them at Sinai (Exodus 9:8, 9:10; 19:18). The same word that paints God descending on Sinai "like the smoke of a kiln" paints the smoke rising from Sodom: the furnace-image of God's nearness in fire.
The Voices✦ public domain+
The violence of the fire is indicated by the last word, which is not the ordinary word for a furnace, but means a kiln, such as that used for burning chalk into lime, or for melting ores of metal.
The word is one used especially in connexion with incense and sacrifice. It is not the usual word for smoke, but rather corresponds to our “reek” or, as Driver, “steam.”
A cloud of smoke rising from the plain would be visible to a person at Hebron now, and could have been, therefore, to Abraham as he looked toward Sodom on the morning of its destruction by God
Bracketed source-tag [Hackett] omitted from this excerpt.
the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace; after the fiery shower was over, and the cities burnt down, the smoke ascended toward heaven, as the smoke of mystical Babylon will do, Revelation 19:3
29“So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abr…”+

29So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham, and He brought Lot out of the catastrophe that destroyed the cities where he had lived.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

way·hî ’ĕ·lō·hîm ’eṯ- bə·ša·ḥêṯ ‘ā·rê hak·kik·kār ’ĕ·lō·hîm ’eṯ- way·yiz·kōr ’aḇ·rā·hām way·šal·laḥ ’eṯ- lō·wṭ mit·tō·wḵ ha·hă·p̄ê·ḵāh ba·hă·p̄ōḵ ’eṯ- he·‘ā·rîm ’ă·šer- lō·wṭ yā·šaḇ bā·hên

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-it-came-to-pass, in-God's-destroying the-cities-of the-circle, that-God remembered Abraham, and-he-sent-out Lot from-the-midst-of the-overthrow, in-the-overturning-of the-cities in-which Lot had-dwelt.

Where the English smooths the original

  • אֱלֹהִים֙ … אֱלֹהִ֖ים Twice the verse says ’Elōhîm ("God"), not Yahweh — a deliberate shift from the covenant name used throughout the chapter. The English "God / He" hides that the divine title has changed.
  • וַיִּזְכֹּ֥ר way-yizkōr, "and He remembered," is the same verb used of Noah in the ark (8:1). "Remembered" in Hebrew is not recollection but covenant action — God acts on what He has bound Himself to.
  • הַהֲפֵכָ֔ה hahăpēkāh ("the overthrow") is the noun of the verb hāphak from v. 25 — "the overturning." BSB's "catastrophe" is accurate in sense but loses the deliberate echo of the turning-over verb.
Word by word22 · parsed+
וַיְהִ֗יway·hîSoH1961
√ hâyâh — to exist, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
אֱלֹהִים֙’ĕ·lō·hîmwhen GodH430
√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural
’Elōhîm (H430): the verse pointedly drops Yahweh for the general name "God." Keil reads Lot's rescue as the act "of the Judge of the whole earth" (18:25), Lot being outside the covenant guidance Abraham enjoyed; Barnes hears in Elohim the "Everlasting" whose eternal potencies were displayed.
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
בְּשַׁחֵ֤תbə·ša·ḥêṯdestroyedH7843
√ shâchath — to decay, iPreposition-bVerbPielInfinitive construct
עָרֵ֣י‘ā·rêthe citiesH5892
√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)Nounfeminine plural construct
הַכִּכָּ֔רhak·kik·kārof the plainH3603
√ kikkâr — a circle, iArticleNounfeminine singular
אֱלֹהִ֖ים’ĕ·lō·hîmHeH430
√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
וַיִּזְכֹּ֥רway·yiz·kōrrememberedH2142
√ zâkar — properly, to mark (so as to be recognized), iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
way-yizkōr (H2142), "and He remembered." This is the theological hinge of the whole unit: Lot is saved not for his own merit but because "God remembered Abraham." JFB draws the line forward — the confidence that God will "remember the intercessions of a greater than Abraham in our behalf."
אַבְרָהָ֑ם’aḇ·rā·hāmAbrahamH85
√ ʼAbrâhâm — Abraham, the later name of AbramNounpropermasculine singular
’Aḇrāhām (H85): Abraham is named, but never told of the rescue. The narrative grants the reader what the intercessor never learns — that his prayer for the righteous in the city reached its mark in Lot.
וַיְשַׁלַּ֤חway·šal·laḥand He broughtH7971
√ shâlach — to send away, for, or out (in a great variety of applications)Conjunctive wawVerbPielConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
לוֹט֙lō·wṭLotH3876
√ Lôwṭ — Lot, Abraham's nephewNounpropermasculine singular
מִתּ֣וֹךְmit·tō·wḵout of theH8432
√ tâvek — a bisection, iPreposition-mNounmasculine singular construct
הַהֲפֵכָ֔הha·hă·p̄ê·ḵāhcatastropheH2018
√ hăphêkâh — destructionArticleNounfeminine singular
hahăpēkāh (H2018), "the overthrow," sealing the unit with the same root (hāphak) that opened the destruction in v. 25. The catastrophe is framed end to end by the verb of turning-over.
בַּהֲפֹךְ֙ba·hă·p̄ōḵthat destroyedH2015
√ hâphak — to turn about or overPreposition-bVerbQalInfinitive construct
אֶת־’eṯ-H853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker
הֶ֣עָרִ֔יםhe·‘ā·rîmthe citiesH5892
√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)ArticleNounfeminine plural
אֲשֶׁר־’ă·šer-whereH834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
לֽוֹט׃lō·wṭ[he]H3876
√ Lôwṭ — Lot, Abraham's nephewNounpropermasculine singular
יָשַׁ֥בyā·šaḇhad livedH3427
√ yâshab — properly, to sit down (specifically as judgeVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
בָּהֵ֖ןbā·hên. . .
Preposition-bPronounthird person feminine plural
The Voices✦ public domain+
It shows if God is a "consuming fire" to the wicked [De 4:24; Heb 12:29], He is the friend of the righteous. He "remembered" the intercessions of Abraham, and what confidence should not this give us that He will remember the intercessions of a greater than Abraham in our behalf.
who doubtless in his prayers for Sodom would not forget Lot, though his prayer for him be not there mentioned. And hereby it is insinuated, that Lot, though he was a righteous man, and should be saved eternally, yet deserved to perish temporarily with those wicked people
This rescue is attributed to Elohim, as being the work of the Judge of the whole earth ( Genesis 18:25 ), and not to Jehovah the covenant God, because Lot was severed from His guidance and care on his separation from Abraham.
The Eternal is here designated by the name Elohim, the Everlasting, because in the war of elements in which the cities were overwhelmed, the eternal potencies of his nature were signally displayed.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

Grand Commentary — the unit, read wholesynthesis · verify+

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The double Name and the fire from heaven — 24

The unit opens on its hardest grammatical knot and its plainest theological claim at once: "And Yahweh caused it to rain… brimstone and fire, from Yahweh, out of the heavens." The covenant name stands twice in one sentence. The Council of Sirmium and a long line after it — Justin Martyr, Tertullian, the Geneva annotators, Benson ("The Son… from the Father, for the Father has committed all judgment to the Son") — heard here a distinction of persons in the Godhead. Calvin, quoted verbatim in Keil & Delitzsch, read it instead as emphatica repetitio: the doubled name is there "quod non usitato naturae ordine tunc Deus pluerit" — because God rained not by the usual order of nature, but "as if with outstretched hand" hurled fire "beyond His wonted manner." Ellicott sides with Calvin as "more correct," while honestly recording the Trinitarian reading. This synthesis follows the verifiable grammar — the repetition is emphatic and excludes natural causation — and leaves the Trinitarian inference marked as inference. Either way the apparatus is fixed: the rare word gāprîṯ (only seven occurrences in all of Scripture) makes this the verbal template every later prophet reaches for when he wants to name the worst that God can send down.

ii. The overturning and the salt — 25–26

Two verbs do the work of these verses. The cities are turned over (way-yahăpōk, from hāphak) — "literally, turned over, as a cake," says the Pulpit Commentary; the noun of the same root, Cambridge notes, "became the technical term for this catastrophe," surviving even in the Arabic al-mutafikât, "the overturned." The round, well-watered kikkār Lot once chose for its likeness to "the garden of the LORD" (13:10) is inverted into a smoking waste. Then, mid-flight, Lot's wife lookedwat-tabbēṭ, the intensive gaze of regard, "from behind him." Benson reads her sin through Christ's own lens: "her looking back spoke an inclination to go back; and therefore our Saviour uses it as a warning against apostacy." Whether she was literally transmuted or, as Keil cautiously holds, "killed by the fiery and sulphureous vapour… and afterwards encrusted with salt," the result is one frozen monument — Ellicott's "monument of an unbelieving soul." The fleeing woman who turns back becomes the one immovable thing in a landscape of overturning.

iii. The intercessor at the height — 27–28

The camera cuts from the plain to a man on a ridge. Abraham "rose early" and returned to the very māqôm "where he had stood before Yahweh" — the spot of his pleading in 18:22. Benson catches the devotional point: he went "to see what was become of his prayers," and Gill, following the Targum of Jonathan, calls it "the place where he ministered in prayer before the Lord." From that height he "looked down" (way-yašqēp, the leaning-out look) and saw the qîṭōr — a rare word for dense reek, found only three times in Scripture — going up "like the smoke of the kiln." Ellicott presses the last word: not a common furnace but a kiln "for melting ores of metal," the fiercest fire the language owned. The same word, kiḇšān, paints Sinai (Exodus 19:18). The intercessor is given no scene of burning — only the column of smoke, the receipt that the judgment fell.

iv. The reason the righteous was spared — 29

The unit's last verse is its theological key, and it changes the divine name to say it. Not Yahweh now but ’Elōhîm — "the Judge of the whole earth" (Keil) — "remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow." The verb is way-yizkōr, the same covenant-remembering that lifted Noah above the flood (8:1). Lot is not saved for Lot's sake. Poole says it without flinching: Lot "deserved to perish temporarily with those wicked people, to whom he associated himself merely for worldly advantages, and should have done so, if Abraham had not hindered it by his prayers." The intercessor never learns his prayer was answered; the reader is told for him. JFB draws the line the whole unit was bending toward: God "remembered the intercessions of Abraham," and so will He "remember the intercessions of a greater than Abraham in our behalf."

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

Set against the rule that Scripture is its own best interpreter, this unit reads — offered to be tested, not trusted — as the Bible's first great picture of judgment and mercy bound in a single act. Three things stand out. First, the judgment is moral, not merely natural. The doubled Name and the emphatic "from Yahweh" exist precisely to forbid the reading that this was only weather over a naphtha field. Later Scripture treats it exactly so: it becomes the fixed type of God's wrath on the ungodly (Deuteronomy 29:23; Isaiah 1:9–10; Amos 4:11; 2 Peter 2:6; Jude 7), and the rare words of the scene — gāprîṯ, qîṭōr — are the very vocabulary the prophets reuse. Second, the warning is personal. Christ Himself lifts one figure out of the rubble — "Remember Lot's wife" (Luke 17:32) — and makes the backward look the emblem of the heart that, having put hand to the plough, longs for what it left. Third, salvation here is by intercession and grace, never by merit. Lot is righteous (2 Peter 2:7) yet would have perished; he lives because "God remembered Abraham." The text refuses to let the rescued man earn his rescue. Read whole, the chapter says what the gospel will say: the fire that the guilty deserve falls, the warning to flee and not look back stands, and the only ground of any escape is that God remembers the one who intercedes.

The fire fell where it was earned; the one man pulled from it was pulled by a prayer he never knew was answered.

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripturecross-refs · verify+

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The fixed type of judgment: Sodom → the Law's covenant-curse verbal / quotation — confirmed

Deuteronomy 29:23 reaches back to this exact scene to threaten covenant-breaking Israel — "brimstone and salt, a burning waste… like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah." The link is not thematic only: it shares the rare word gophrîyth ("brimstone," only 7 occurrences) together with both place-names, which is why the Verifier rates it a verbal quotation. The destruction becomes Israel's standing measuring-rod for what apostasy invites.

Genesis 19:24 · Deuteronomy 29:23

basis: shared lexemes H1614 gophrîyth (rare, 7 vv), H5467 Çᵉdôm (38 vv), H6017 ʻĂmôrâh (19 vv) — the rare 'brimstone' term plus both city-names makes this a verbal echo, not mere theme

"Fire and brimstone rained down" — the prophets quote the storm verbal / quotation — confirmed

Psalm 11:6 ("upon the wicked He will rain snares, fire and brimstone") and Ezekiel 38:22 ("I will rain… fire and brimstone") both reuse the precise verbal cluster of Genesis 19:24: the verb mâṭar ("to rain," 14 vv) with gophrîyth ("brimstone," 7 vv) and ʼêsh ("fire"). Keil notes these very passages allude back to this event. The Sodom-storm becomes the standard prophetic figure for eschatological judgment on the wicked.

Genesis 19:24 · Psalm 11:6 · Ezekiel 38:22

basis: shared lexemes H4305 mâṭar (14 vv) + H1614 gophrîyth (rare, 7 vv) + H784 ʼêsh — the rain-of-brimstone verb-cluster is reproduced; the rare 'brimstone' term confirms the verbal dependence

"Like the smoke of the kiln" — Sodom and Sinai verbal / quotation — confirmed

When Sinai is wrapped in fire, its smoke goes up "like the smoke of the kiln" (Exodus 19:18) — the identical rare noun kibshân ("smelting-kiln," only 4 occurrences, three at Sinai) shared with Genesis 19:28, alongside ʻâlâh ("went up") and pânîym ("face"). The same furnace-image serves two opposite scenes: the smoke of a city under wrath and the smoke of the mountain where God draws near to covenant. The verbal overlap invites the comparison the prophets later make explicit.

Genesis 19:28 · Exodus 19:18

basis: shared lexemes H3536 kibshân (rare, 4 vv) + H5927 ʻâlâh + H6440 pânîym — the rare 'smelting-kiln' noun (3 of its 4 uses are at Sinai) makes the smoke-of-the-kiln a verbal link

"The smoke that fulfils His word" — Sodom's rare reek verbal / quotation — confirmed

The word for the rising smoke, qîyṭôwr, occurs only three times in the whole Hebrew Bible — here, in Psalm 119:83 (the psalmist "like a wineskin in the smoke"), and in Psalm 148:8, where "fire and hail, snow and smoke/vapour" are summoned as "stormy wind fulfilling His word." The shared rarity ties Abraham's view of Sodom's reek to the psalmist's vision of all the elements as obedient agents of God's command.

Genesis 19:28 · Psalm 148:8 · Psalm 119:83

basis: shared lexeme H7008 qîyṭôwr — a very rare noun (only 3 occurrences in all of Scripture), so the verbal echo is distinctive rather than incidental

"The overthrow" — Sodom as the recurring word for ruin structural / thematic — confirmed

Amos 4:11 ("I overthrew you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah") reuses the signature verb of this unit, hâphak ("to overturn"), which surfaces in Genesis 19:25 (the verb) and 19:29 (the noun mahpēkāh). This is a shared motif and pattern — the "overturning" of the cities — rather than a rare-word quotation: hâphak is common (92 vv), so the link is the structural reuse of Sodom-as-paradigm, confirmed by the place-names traveling with it.

Genesis 19:25 · Amos 4:11

basis: shared lexeme H2015 hâphak (common, 92 vv) + city-names — the verb is too frequent to count as a rare quotation; the recorded link is the structural Sodom-as-overthrow motif, downgraded to thematic accordingly

Edom under the Sodom-storm — Isaiah turns the brimstone east verbal / quotation — confirmed

When Isaiah pronounces doom on Edom he reaches for the Sodom apparatus: "its streams shall be turned into pitch… its land shall become burning pitch" (Isaiah 34:9), reusing the rare gophrîyth ("brimstone," only 7 occurrences) of Genesis 19:24 alongside the very verb hâphak ("turned") that names the overthrow. Keil's observation — that the Sodom storm is the fixed template later writers borrow — holds here: the prophet does not describe a new catastrophe but paints Edom's end in the colors of the old one. The rare word carries the dependence; the common hâphak only reinforces the borrowed scene.

Genesis 19:24 · Isaiah 34:9

basis: shared lexeme H1614 gophrîyth (rare, 7 vv) + H2015 hâphak (common, 92 vv) — the rare 'brimstone' term is the load-bearing link (the Verifier confirms it); hâphak is too frequent to count alone but echoes the overthrow-verb

"A waste of salt" — Sodom's salt becomes the prophets' figure for ruin structural / thematic — confirmed

The salt that monumented Lot's wife (Genesis 19:26) returns as the standing emblem of a Sodom-judgment: Zephaniah 2:9 dooms Moab and Ammon to be "like Sodom… a possession of salt-pits and a perpetual desolation," carrying both city-names together with melach ("salt"). The link is structural, not a rare-word quotation — melach is common (26 vv) — but its co-occurrence with Sodom and Gomorrah binds the salt-waste of the plain to the prophetic vocabulary of barrenness. The Verifier rates the pairing structural/thematic on the shared melach; the traveling place-names confirm it is the Sodom paradigm, not salt-imagery in general.

Genesis 19:26 · Zephaniah 2:9

basis: shared lexeme H4417 melach (common, 26 vv) + city-names H5467 Çᵉdôm, H6017 ʻĂmôrâh — salt is too frequent to be a rare quotation; the recorded link is the Sodom-salt-waste motif, kept structural accordingly

The circle Lot chose is the circle overturned structural / thematic — confirmed

The word for the plain in this unit, kikkār ("circle, disk"), is the same Lot used when he "lifted up his eyes and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered… like the garden of the LORD" (Genesis 13:10). The destruction echoes the decision: the round, fertile kikkār Lot picked for its lushness is the kikkār God now overturns (Genesis 19:25). This is a structural/narrative tie — kikkār is common (55 vv) — but here the shared word reaches across the Lot-cycle to bind choice to consequence, which is why both verses name Sodom and Gomorrah with it.

Genesis 19:25 · Genesis 13:10

basis: shared lexeme H3603 kikkâr (common, 55 vv) + city-names — the geographic noun is too frequent to be a quotation; the recorded link is the narrative inclusio (the plain Lot chose = the plain overturned) within the Lot-cycle

"Remember Lot's wife" — Christ takes up the warning structural / thematic — confirmed

The Lord makes Lot's wife (Genesis 19:26) a permanent caution against the backward-looking heart: "On that day… let him not turn back. Remember Lot's wife" (Luke 17:31–32). Benson and Cambridge both note the New Testament dependence explicitly. Held honestly: this is a Greek-NT pointer back to a Hebrew narrative, so it cannot rest on shared Strong's numbers; it is a thematic/allusive link in which Christ cites the scene by name, not a Hebrew-to-Hebrew verbal match.

Genesis 19:26 · Luke 17:31-32

basis: cross-Testament (Greek↔Hebrew): no shared Strong's lexemes possible; the basis is Christ's explicit naming of the scene ('Remember Lot's wife') — a thematic/allusive citation, never a verbal one

Christ in the Unittypology · verify+

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The Judge of all the earth — and the fire to come ancient-but-contested

Sodom's fire is the Bible's first full picture of righteous wrath, and the New Testament hands it straight to Christ. Peter sets the city "to ashes" as "an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly" (2 Peter 2:6), and Jude calls it "an example of the punishment of eternal fire" (Jude 7). The One who "rained from Yahweh out of the heavens" is the same Lord who "on the day the Son of Man is revealed" comes as Sodom's day came (Luke 17:29–30) — the judgment-typology is the unanimous reading of the apostles. A second, narrower inference attaches to the doubled Name of v. 24: Benson, Poole, and the Pulpit Commentary (with Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Athanasius behind them) hear in "the LORD rained… from the LORD" the Son raining fire from the Father, the Christ through whom the Father judges (John 5:22). That Trinitarian reading is ancient and rich but expressly contested — Calvin and Ellicott take the repetition as mere emphasis — so it is offered here as inference, not as the demonstrable sense of the syntax.

Genesis 19:24 · Luke 17:29-30 · 2 Peter 2:6 · Jude 1:7 · John 5:22

Saved because the intercessor was remembered widely-held

The hinge of the unit — "God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow" (19:29) — is the gospel pattern in seed: the unworthy righteous man is delivered not by his merit but because God honors the intercessor. JFB names the trajectory directly: God remembered Abraham's intercessions, and "how much more" will He "remember the intercessions of a greater than Abraham in our behalf." That greater Intercessor is Christ, who "always lives to make intercession" for those He saves (Hebrews 7:25), and through whom Lot — and every rescued sinner — is plucked from the fire (Jude 23).

Genesis 19:29 · Hebrews 7:25 · Jude 1:23

Flee and do not look back — the call of the kingdom widely-held

The command that governs the whole escape — flee, and do not look back (19:17, 26) — is taken up by Christ as the posture of discipleship under judgment: "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62), sealed with "Remember Lot's wife" (Luke 17:32). The pillar of salt becomes, on this widely-held reading, the warning standing at the edge of the narrow way: the heart half-turned toward what it was told to leave does not enter. Lot's deliverance and his wife's ruin together preach the single gospel summons — come out, and come all the way out.

Genesis 19:26 · Luke 9:62 · Luke 17:32

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). The named voices surfaced in this unit are verbatim public-domain excerpts (Ellicott, Benson, Barnes, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Poole, Gill, Cambridge, Pulpit Commentary, Keil & Delitzsch), each attributed in place with its source URL and quoted as a contiguous substring of the source; Calvin is quoted as he stands embedded in Keil & Delitzsch's Latin. Matthew Henry's Concise and the Geneva marginal notes are present in the source pool but offer only the generic chapter-summary block (Henry) or the bare verse text (Geneva), so no pointed excerpt from them is shown here. Transliterations, parses, literal renderings, and the "where the English smooths the Hebrew" notes follow Berean/Strong's and are this tool's own work (⚙) — careful but fallible; check them against BDB or HALOT.

On the doubled divine Name in v. 24: two ancient readings stand side by side and this unit keeps both visible. The grammatical reading (Calvin, Aben Ezra, Rosenmüller) takes "from Yahweh" as emphatic repetition excluding natural causes; the Trinitarian reading (Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Benson, Geneva, Pulpit Commentary citing Delitzsch/Wordsworth) hears the Son raining from the Father. The synthesis leans on the verifiable grammar and marks the Trinitarian sense as inference — rich and ancient, but not demonstrable from the syntax alone.

On the cross-references: the verbal threads (Deuteronomy 29:23; Psalm 11:6; Ezekiel 38:22; Exodus 19:18; Psalm 148:8; Isaiah 34:9) rest on shared Strong's lexemes computed by the Verifier, with the rare words — gophrîyth (7 vv), kibshân (4 vv), qîyṭôwr (3 vv) — carrying the weight. Three links are deliberately kept structural/thematic rather than verbal because their shared word is common and cannot be claimed as a rare quotation: Amos 4:11 (the verb hâphak, 92 vv), Zephaniah 2:9 (the noun melach, 26 vv), and Genesis 13:10 (the noun kikkâr, 55 vv) — in each case the co-occurring place-names, not the frequent word, confirm it is the Sodom paradigm. Keil expressly warns that Psalm 11:6 and Ezekiel 38:22 "cannot be adduced as proofs that lightning is ever called fire and brimstone in the Scriptures, for in both passages there is an allusion to the event recorded here" — i.e., the dependence runs Genesis→prophets, which is exactly why those verses count as echoes of the scene and not independent witnesses to it. The two New-Testament links (Luke 17; 2 Peter 2; Jude 7) are cross-Testament (Greek↔Hebrew) and therefore can carry no shared Strong's numbers; they are tiered thematic/typological, never verbal, with their basis stated as Christ's and the apostles' explicit naming of the scene. "Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so." (Acts 17:11)

= human, public-domain source, quoted and named. = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)