Genesis 13:13

13:13 (Now ¹  the people ²  of Sodom were extremely wicked rebels against the Lord.) ³ 

Genesis 13:1

Abram’s Solution to the Strife

13:1 So Abram went up from Egypt into the Negev. ⁴  He took his wife and all his possessions with him, as well as Lot. ⁵ 

Genesis 15:18

15:18 That day the Lord made a covenant ⁶  with Abram: “To your descendants I give ⁷  this land, from the river of Egypt ⁸  to the great river, the Euphrates River –

Luke 15:1

The Parable of the Lost Sheep and Coin

15:1 Now all the tax collectors ⁹  and sinners were coming ¹⁰  to hear him.

Romans 5:8

5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

¹ tn Here is another significant parenthetical clause in the story, signaled by the vav (וו) disjunctive (translated “now”) on the noun at the beginning of the clause.

² tn Heb “men.” However, this is generic in sense; it is unlikely that only the male residents of Sodom were sinners.

³ tn Heb “wicked and sinners against the Lord exceedingly.” The description of the sinfulness of the Sodomites is very emphatic. First, two nouns are used to form a hendiadys: “wicked and sinners” means “wicked sinners,” the first word becoming adjectival. The text is saying these were no ordinary sinners; they were wicked sinners, the type that cause pain for others. Then to this phrase is added “against the Lord,” stressing their violation of the laws of heaven and their culpability. Finally, to this is added מְאֹד (mÿ’od, “exceedingly,” translated here as “extremely”).

⁴ tn Or “the South [country]” (also in v. 3).

⁵ tn Heb “And Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all which was his, and Lot with him, to the Negev.”

⁶ tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

⁷ tn The perfect verbal form is understood as instantaneous (“I here and now give”). Another option is to understand it as rhetorical, indicating certitude (“I have given” meaning it is as good as done, i.e., “I will surely give”).

⁸ sn The river of Egypt is a wadi (a seasonal stream) on the northeastern border of Egypt, not to the River Nile.

⁹ sn See the note on tax collectors in 3:12.

¹⁰ tn Grk “were drawing near.”