Gomorrah
Gomorrah is an ancient city mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments, located in the region of Judea in modern-day Israel. Known today as south of the Lisan. It appears across 24 verses in Scripture.
Biblical History
Gomorrah stands alongside Sodom as one of the most notorious cities in biblical history, serving as a paradigmatic example of divine judgment upon radical wickedness. First appearing in the Table of Nations context of Genesis 10, Gomorrah becomes central to the narrative in Genesis 13-19. Lot chose the well-watered plain of the Jordan where Gomorrah was located (Genesis 13:10-11), and the city was subjected to Chedorlaomer's conquest in Genesis 14. The wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah reached such an extreme that God determined to destroy them despite Abraham's intercession on behalf of any righteous inhabitants (Genesis 18:16-33). The divine judgment fell as fire and sulfur rained from heaven, utterly obliterating both cities along with Admah and Zeboiim (Genesis 19:24-25). The destruction of Gomorrah became a recurring prophetic touchstone: Isaiah (1:9-10; 13:19), Jeremiah (49:18; 50:40), Amos (4:11), Zephaniah (2:9), and the New Testament writers (Matthew 10:15; 2 Peter 2:6; Jude 7) all invoke Gomorrah as the ultimate symbol of divine wrath against unrepentant sin.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
The location of Gomorrah south of the Lisan peninsula in the Dead Sea region has been proposed based on Genesis 13:10-12 and 19:24-28 and the geographic clues in the narrative. The southeastern plain of the Dead Sea, now largely submerged, has been investigated by archaeologists including Walter Rast and Thomas Schaub in the 1970s and 1980s. Their surveys identified several Early Bronze Age sites including Bab edh-Dhra and Numeira, which show catastrophic destruction layers from approximately 2350-2300 BCE. Some scholars propose these sites as candidates for the cities of the plain. The presence of bitumen and sulfur deposits in the Dead Sea region is consistent with the Genesis account. However, definitively identifying Gomorrah archaeologically remains contested, and the sites' dating predates the traditionally proposed Abrahamic period.
Verse Appearances (24)
Sources: ISBE Encyclopedia · OpenBible Geocoding (CC BY) · Pleiades Gazetteer View all →