Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed for doing comparisons of different translations. Click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible. Please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.
Key: khaki:verbs, green:YHWH.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the OET-RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).
BrLXXΚαὶ Κύριος ἔβρεξεν ἐπὶ Σόδομα καὶ Γόμοῤῥα θεῖον καὶ πῦρ παρὰ Κυρίου ἐξ οὐρανοῦ. (Kai Kurios ebrexen epi Sodoma kai Gomoɽɽa theion kai pur para Kuriou ex ouranou. )
BrTrAnd the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven.
ULTThen Yahweh rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yahweh out of the heavens,
USTThen Yahweh caused fire and burning rocks to fall like heavy rain from the sky on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
BSB § Then the LORD rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens.
OEBThen the Lord caused brimstone and fire from heaven to rain upon Sodom and Gomorrah,
WEBBEThen the LORD rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah sulphur and fire from the LORD out of the sky.
JPSThen the LORD caused to rain upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;
ASVThen Jehovah rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven;
DRAAnd the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven.
YLTand Jehovah hath rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah, from the heavens;
DrbyAnd Jehovah rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven,
RVThen the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;
WbstrThen the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;
KJB-1769Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;
KJB-1611[fn]Then the LORD rained vpon Sodome & vpon Gomorrah, brimstone and fire, from the LORD out of heauen. (Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from punctuation and footnotes)
BshpsThen the Lorde rayned vpon Sodome and Gomorrhe brymstone and fire, from the Lorde out of heauen: (Then the Lord rayned upon Sodom and Gomorrhe brymstone and fire, from the Lord out of heaven:)
GnvaThen the Lord rained vpon Sodom and vpon Gomorah brimstone, and fire from the Lord out of heauen, (Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorah brimstone, and fire from the Lord out of heaven, )
CvdlThen the LORDE caused brymstone and fyre to rayne downe from the LORDE out of heauen vpon Sodoma and Gomorra, (Then the LORD caused brymstone and fire to rain down from the LORD out of heaven upon Sodoma and Gomorra,)
WyclTherfor the Lord reynede on Sodom and Gomorre brynston and fier, fro the Lord fro heuene, (Therefore the Lord reynede on Sodom and Gomorre brynston and fire, from the Lord from heaven,)
LuthDa ließ der HErr Schwefel und Feuer regnen von dem HErr’s vom Himmel herab auf Sodom und Gomorrha. (So let the/of_the LORD Schwefel and fire regnen from to_him LORD’s from_the heaven down on Sodom and Gomorrha.)
ClVgIgitur Dominus pluit super Sodomam et Gomorrham sulphur et ignem a Domino de cælo:[fn] (Igitur Master pluit over Sodomam and Gomorrham sulphur and ignem from Master about cælo: )
19.24Igitur Dominus pluit super Sodomam, etc. GREG. Sulphur, fetor carnis, ignis, ardor carnalis desiderii; cum Dominus carnis scelera punire decrevisset, qualitate ultionis innotuit macula criminis. Sulphur enim fetet, ignis ardet; qui ergo ad perversa desideria carnis fetore arserant, jure sulphure et igne perierunt, ut ex justa pœna discerent quod injusto desiderio fecissent. STRAB. Notandum quia primos peccatores aqua diluvii exterminavit, qui similiter offenderant Deum concupiscentia carnis. Sodomitæ vero graviori supplicio, ignis scilicet et sulphuris diluvio, perierunt. Licet enim illi mensuram excederent, quasi naturaliter peccabant; isti vero contra naturam: ideo gravissimi supplicii exemplo damnati sunt.
19.24Igitur Master pluit over Sodomam, etc. GREG. Sulphur, fetor carnis, ignis, ardor carnalis desiderii; when/with Master carnis scelera punire decrevisset, qualitate ultionis innotuit macula criminis. Sulphur because fetet, ignis ardet; who therefore to perversa desideria carnis fetore arserant, yure sulphure and igne they_perished, as from justa pœna discerent that injusto desiderio fecissent. STRAB. Notandum because primos peccatores water diluvii exterminavit, who likewise offenderant God concupiscentia carnis. Sodomitæ vero graviori supplicio, ignis scilicet and sulphuris diluvio, they_perished. It’s_possible because illi mensuram excederent, as_if naturaliter peccabant; isti vero on_the_contrary naturam: ideo gravissimi supplicii exemplo damnati are.
19:1-38 The Canaanites were an evil, corrupting people. God judged their morally bankrupt civilization and warned others against becoming like them. It was difficult to get Lot and his family out of Sodom; it was more difficult to get Sodom out of Lot and his family. This chapter helped later Israelites to understand the moral and spiritual threat of the peoples living in and around the Promised Land, such as the Canaanites and Lot’s descendants, the Moabites and the Ammonites (see Num 22–25; Deut 23:3-6; Josh 24:9; Judg 10:7-9; 11:4-5; 1 Sam 10:27; 1 Kgs 11:1-3; 2 Kgs 24:2).
The word brimstone refers to sulfur, which is a type of rock that is highly flammable. When it burns, it produces smoke, intense heat, and a bad smell like rotten eggs. Alternate translation: “Then Yahweh poured down burning sulfur and fire on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah” or “Then Yahweh caused fire and burning sulfur to pour down on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah”
Some translations omit the phrase from Yahweh since Yahweh is already mentioned earlier as the one doing this. Also, for some languages it may be better to change the order of phrases in this verse and say, “Then Yahweh caused fire and burning sulfur/rocks to fall/pour like heavy rain from the heavens/sky on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.” Do what is best in your language. Alternate translation: “from himself in heaven,” or “from out of the sky,”
Author’s note: This article assumes that Sodom, Gomorrah, and Bela (Zoar) were located at Bab edh-Dhra, Numeira, and Khirbat ash-Sheikh `Isa, respectively. The exact locations of the cities of the plain are widely debated, with the primary dispute centering around whether the cities are to be found in the northern area of the Dead Sea (since Lot headed east from Bethel [Genesis 13]) or the southern area (as the Medeba Map shows). It is beyond the scope of this article to present all the evidence to support a southern location, but many of them are well summarized here: “The Discovery of the Sin Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.” In addition, Eusebius in his Onomasticon describes the Dead Sea as lying between Jericho and Zoar. This author has also recently found that Eusebius notes that Nebereim (Nimrim; see Isaiah 15:6 and Jeremiah 48:34) is located at a village called Bennamareim (likely the site of Gomorrah on this map), which he also says is north of Zoar. Thus, if Eusebius is correct, Zoar is clearly located in the southern area of the Dead Sea, which fits very well with the location shown on this map. Also, Lot’s relocation to Sodom after moving east to the plain of the Jordan suggests that Sodom was located on the east side of the Dead Sea.
The famous cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are first mentioned in Genesis 10:19 in a description of the territory of the Canaanites. The cities are mentioned again in chapter 13, which notes that while Abraham (then called Abram) was living near Bethel (also called Luz), tension began to grow between Abraham’s herders and the herders working for Abraham’s nephew Lot. To resolve the problem, Abraham suggested that he and Lot permanently part ways, and he offered Lot first choice of where to live. Lot chose to move east to the plain of the Jordan, because the land was well watered, and he eventually settled in the city of Sodom. Genesis 14 then describes how Lot was captured by four Mesopotamian kings as they attacked the cities of the plain, but Abraham rescued Lot. Sometime after this Abraham moved to the oaks of Mamre, near Hebron, and three visitors (one of whom is later called “the Lord,” and the other two “angels”) approached his tent. Abraham invited them to share a meal with him and then later accompanied them for the first part of their journey. Along the way the visitors revealed to Abraham that they were going to Sodom to destroy it for its wickedness. Abraham appealed to the Lord to spare the city if even a few righteous lived there, and the Lord agreed and went his way. The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening (Genesis 19:1), presumably the same day they left, although perhaps they actually took more than one day to travel to Sodom, because the distance from Mamre to Sodom is over 35 miles (56 km), and Scripture does not specifically note that it was the same day. The events that followed that evening are well known, and in the morning the angels compelled Lot and his family to flee the city before it was destroyed. The angels instructed them to flee to the hills, but Lot convinced them to allow him to take refuge in a small village on the plain and not destroy it. Genesis 19:23 seems to suggest that it took Lot’s family a full day and night to reach Zoar, which fits well with the 16 mile (25 km) distance from Sodom to Zoar. As they were reaching Zoar, the Lord rained down fire and burning sulfur on Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, completely destroying them. As Lot’s family was still fleeing, Lot’s wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt. That same morning Abraham got up and went to where he had last spoken with the visitors, and when he looked out across the plain he saw columns of smoke rising from the destroyed cities. Later Lot and his daughters moved into the hills and lived in a cave, because they were afraid to remain in Zoar. Fearing they would never marry, Lot’s daughters both got their father drunk and conceived children by him, though he was unaware of it. These children became ancestors of the Moabites and the Ammonites.
