Genesis 14:8

14:8 Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out and prepared for battle. In the Valley of Siddim they met ¹ 

Genesis 19:24-25

19:24 Then the Lord rained down ²  sulfur and fire ³  on Sodom and Gomorrah. It was sent down from the sky by the Lord. ⁴  19:25 So he overthrew those cities and all that region, ⁵  including all the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation that grew ⁶  from the ground.

Deuteronomy 29:23

29:23 The whole land will be covered with brimstone, salt, and burning debris; it will not be planted nor will it sprout or produce grass. It will resemble the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed in his intense anger. ⁷ 

Isaiah 1:9-10

1:9 If the Lord who commands armies ⁸  had not left us a few survivors,

we would have quickly become like Sodom, ⁹ 

we would have become like Gomorrah.

1:10 Listen to the Lord’s word,

you leaders of Sodom! ¹⁰ 

Pay attention to our God’s rebuke, ¹¹ 

people of Gomorrah!

Amos 4:11

4:11 “I overthrew some of you the way God ¹²  overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. ¹³ 

You were like a burning stick ¹⁴  snatched from the flames.

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

Zephaniah 2:9

2:9 Therefore, as surely as I live,” says the Lord who commands armies, the God of Israel,

“be certain that Moab will become like Sodom

and the Ammonites like Gomorrah.

They will be overrun by weeds, ¹⁵ 

filled with salt pits, ¹⁶ 

and permanently desolate.

Those of my people who are left ¹⁷  will plunder their belongings; ¹⁸ 

those who are left in Judah ¹⁹  will take possession of their land.”

Zephaniah 2:2

2:2 before God’s decree becomes reality ²⁰  and the day of opportunity disappears like windblown chaff, ²¹ 

before the Lord’s raging anger ²²  overtakes ²³  you –

before the day of the Lord’s angry judgment overtakes you!

Zephaniah 2:6

2:6 The seacoast ²⁴  will be used as pasture lands ²⁵  by the shepherds

and as pens for their flocks.

Jude 1:7

1:7 So also ²⁶  Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns, ²⁷  since they indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire ²⁸  in a way similar to ²⁹  these angels, ³⁰  are now displayed as an example by suffering the punishment of eternal fire.

Revelation 11:8

11:8 Their ³¹  corpses will lie in the street ³²  of the great city that is symbolically ³³  called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was also crucified.

Revelation 18:18

18:18 and began to shout ³⁴  when they saw the smoke from the fire that burned her up, ³⁵  “Who is like the great city?”

[14:8]  ¹ tn Heb “against.”

[19:24]  ² tn The disjunctive clause signals the beginning of the next scene and highlights God’s action.

[19:24]  ³ tn Or “burning sulfur” (the traditional “fire and brimstone”).

[19:24]  ⁴ tn Heb “from the Lord from the heavens.” The words “It was sent down” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[19:25]  ⁵ tn Or “and all the plain”; Heb “and all the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.

[19:25]  ⁶ tn Heb “and the vegetation of the ground.”

[29:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “the anger and the wrath.” This construction is a hendiadys intended to intensify the emotion.

[1:9]  ⁸ tn Traditionally, “the Lord of hosts.” The title pictures God as the sovereign king who has at his disposal a multitude of attendants, messengers, and warriors to do his bidding. In some contexts, like this one, the military dimension of his rulership is highlighted. In this case, the title pictures him as one who leads armies into battle against his enemies.

[1:9]  ⁹ tc The translation assumes that כִּמְעָט (kim’at, “quickly,” literally, “like a little”) goes with what follows, contrary to the MT accents, which take it with what precedes. In this case, one could translate the preceding line, “If the Lord who commands armies had not left us a few survivors.” If כִּמְעָט goes with the preceding line (following the MT accents), this expression highlights the idea that there would only be a few survivors (H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:20; H. Zobel, TDOT 8:456). Israel would not be almost like Sodom but exactly like Sodom.

[1:10]  ¹⁰ sn Building on the simile of v. 9, the prophet sarcastically addresses the leaders and people of Jerusalem as if they were leaders and residents of ancient Sodom and Gomorrah. The sarcasm is appropriate, for if the judgment is comparable to Sodom’s, that must mean that the sin which prompted the judgment is comparable as well.

[1:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to the instruction of our God.” In this context, which is highly accusatory and threatening, תּוֹרָה (torah, “law, instruction”) does not refer to mere teaching, but to corrective teaching and rebuke.

[4:11]  ¹² tn Several English versions substitute the first person pronoun (“I”) here for stylistic reasons (e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[4:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “like God’s overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah.” The divine name may be used in an idiomatic superlative sense here, in which case one might translate, “like the great [or “disastrous”] overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah.”

[4:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “like that which is burning.”

[2:9]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew text reads מִמְשַׁק חָרוּל (mimshaq kharul, “[?] of weeds”). The meaning of the first word is unknown. The present translation (“They will be overrun by weeds”) is speculative, based on the general sense of the context. For a defense of “overrun” on linguistic grounds, see R. D. Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (WEC), 347. Cf. NEB “a pile of weeds”; NIV “a place of weeds”; NRSV “a land possessed by nettles.”

[2:9]  ¹⁶ tn The Hebrew text reads וּמִכְרֵה־מֶלַח (umikhreh-melakh, “and a [?] of salt”). The meaning of the first word is unclear, though “pit” (NASB, NIV, NRSV; NKJV “saltpit”), “mine,” and “heap” (cf. NEB “a rotting heap of saltwort”) are all options. The words “filled with” are supplied for clarification.

[2:9]  ¹⁷ tn Or “The remnant of my people.”

[2:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “them.” The actual object of the plundering, “their belongings,” has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “[the] nation.” For clarity the “nation” has been specified as “Judah” in the translation.

[2:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “before the giving birth of a decree.” For various alternative readings, see J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 187-88.

[2:2]  ²¹ tn The second half of the line reads literally, “like chaff it passes by a day.” The translation above assumes the “day” is the brief time God is giving the nation to repent. The comparison of this quickly passing opportunity to chaff is consistent with the straw imagery of v. 1.

[2:2]  ²² tn Heb “the fury of the anger of the Lord.” The synonyms are combined to emphasize the extreme degree of the Lord’s anger.

[2:2]  ²³ tn Heb “comes upon.” This phrase occurs twice in this verse.

[2:6]  ²⁴ tn The NIV here supplies the phrase “where the Kerethites dwell” (“Kerethites” is translated in v. 5 as “the people who came from Crete”) as an interpretive gloss, but this phrase is not in the MT. The NAB likewise reads “the coastland of the Cretans,” supplying “Cretans” here.

[2:6]  ²⁵ tn The Hebrew phrase here is נְוֹת כְּרֹת (nÿvot kÿrot). The first word is probably a plural form of נָוָה (navah, “pasture”). The meaning of the second word is unclear. It may be a synonym of the preceding word (cf. NRSV “pastures, meadows for shepherds”); there is a word כַּר (kar, “pasture”) in biblical Hebrew, but elsewhere it forms its plural with a masculine ending. Some have suggested the meaning “wells” or “caves” used as shelters (cf. NEB “shepherds’ huts”); in this case, one might translate, “The seacoast will be used for pasturelands; for shepherds’ wells/caves.”

[1:7]  ²⁶ tn Grk “as.”

[1:7]  ²⁷ tn Grk “the towns [or cities] surrounding them.”

[1:7]  ²⁸ tn Grk “strange flesh.” This phrase has been variously interpreted. It could refer to flesh of another species (such as angels lusting after human flesh). This would aptly describe the sin of the angels, but not easily explain the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. It could refer to the homosexual practices of the Sodomites, but a difficulty arises from the use of ἕτερος ({etero"; “strange,” “other”). When this is to be distinguished from ἄλλος (allos, “another”) it suggests “another of a different kind.” If so, would that properly describe homosexual behavior? In response, the language could easily be compact: “pursued flesh other than what was normally pursued.” However, would this find an analogy in the lust of angels (such would imply that angels normally had sexual relations of some sort, but cf. Matt 22:30)? Another alternative is that the focus of the parallel is on the activity of the surrounding cities and the activity of the angels. This is especially plausible since the participles ἐκπορνεύσασαι (ekporneusasai, “having indulged in sexual immorality”) and ἀπελθοῦσαι (apelqousai, “having pursued”) have concord with “cities” (πόλεις, poleis), a feminine plural noun, rather than with Sodom and Gomorrah (both masculine nouns). If so, then their sin would not necessarily have to be homosexuality. However, most likely the feminine participles are used because of constructio ad sensum (construction according to sense). That is, since both Sodom and Gomorrah are cities, the feminine is used to imply that all the cities are involved. The connection with angels thus seems to be somewhat loose: Both angels and Sodom and Gomorrah indulged in heinous sexual immorality. Thus, whether the false teachers indulge in homosexual activity is not the point; mere sexual immorality is enough to condemn them.

[1:7]  ²⁹ tn Or “in the same way as.”

[1:7]  ³⁰ tn “Angels” is not in the Greek text; but the masculine demonstrative pronoun most likely refers back to the angels of v. 6.

[11:8]  ³¹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[11:8]  ³² tn The Greek word πλατεῖα (plateia) refers to a major (broad) street (L&N 1.103).

[11:8]  ³³ tn Grk “spiritually.”

[18:18]  ³⁴ tn Here the imperfect ἔκραζον (ekrazon) has been translated ingressively.

[18:18]  ³⁵ tn Grk “from the burning of her, saying.” For the translation “the smoke from the fire that burned her up,” see L&N 14.63. Here the participle λέγοντες (legontes, “saying”) has not been translated because it is redundant in contemporary English.