Genesis 18:20-21

18:20 So the Lord said, “The outcry against ¹  Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so blatant ²  18:21 that I must go down ³  and see if they are as wicked as the outcry suggests. ⁴  If not, ⁵  I want to know.”

Ezra 9:6

9:6 I prayed, ⁶ 

“O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift my face to you, my God! For our iniquities have climbed higher than our heads, and our guilt extends to the heavens.

James 5:4

5:4 Look, the pay you have held back from the workers who mowed your fields cries out against you, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.

Revelation 18:5

18:5 because her sins have piled ⁷  up all the way to heaven ⁸  and God has remembered ⁹  her crimes. ¹⁰ 

¹ tn Heb “the outcry of Sodom,” which apparently refers to the outcry for divine justice from those (unidentified persons) who observe its sinful ways.

² tn Heb “heavy.”

³ tn The cohortative indicates the Lord’s resolve.

⁴ tn Heb “[if] according to the outcry that has come to me they have done completely.” Even the Lord, who is well aware of the human capacity to sin, finds it hard to believe that anyone could be as bad as the “outcry” against Sodom and Gomorrah suggests.

⁵ sn The short phrase if not provides a ray of hope and inspires Abraham’s intercession.

⁶ tn Heb “I said.”

⁷ tn On ἐκολλήθησαν (ekollhqhsan) BDAG 556 s.v. κολλάω 2.a.β states, “fig. cling to = come in close contact with (cp. Ps 21:16; 43:26 ἐκολλήθη εἰς γῆν ἡ γαστὴρ ἡμῶν. The act.=‘bring into contact’ PGM 5, 457 κολλήσας τ. λίθον τῷ ὠτίῳ) ἐκολλήθησαν αἱ ἁμαρτίαι ἄχρι τ. οὐρανοῦ the sins have touched the heaven = reached the sky (two exprs. are telescoped) Rv 18:5.”

⁸ tn Or “up to the sky” (the same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky”).

⁹ tn That is, remembered her sins to execute judgment on them.

¹⁰ tn Or “her sins.”