📖 Biblical Definition
Gomorrah was the companion city of Sodom on the Jordan plain — destroyed alongside Sodom by fire and brimstone from the LORD out of heaven (Genesis 19:24-28). The cities had become so wicked that "the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous" (Genesis 18:20); not ten righteous souls could be found in either. Their destruction was so total that the plain became a wasteland of salt and ashes. In Scripture the two names function thereafter as a single, permanent benchmark of cities under divine wrath: the prophets invoke them (Isaiah 1:9-10; Jeremiah 49:18; Ezekiel 16:48-50); Christ Himself does (Matthew 10:15; 11:23-24); Peter and Jude both apply them to apostate communities. God ends what He has long warned.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
GOMOR'RAH, n.
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A city of ancient Palestine, situated near Sodom in the vale of Siddim, and destroyed at the same time by fire and brimstone from heaven, on account of the wickedness of its inhabitants.
📖 Key Scripture
Genesis 19:28 — "The smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace."
Isaiah 1:9 — "Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah."
Romans 9:29 — "Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha."
2 Peter 2:6 — "Turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes... making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Gomorrah did not survive Genesis 19; its imitators will not survive their own.
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Isaiah's most chilling line about Israel was: except the Lord had left us a remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and like unto Gomorrah. The remnant is what kept Jerusalem from joining the dust of Gomorrah. The same is true of any nation. The remnant of praying saints, faithful pulpits, holy households is the only thing that stands between the modern city and the Genesis 19 furnace.
2 Peter 2:6 says the cities themselves are an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly. The lesson is permanent. God is patient; His judgment is sometimes slow; but it is also unfailing. Pray for the remnant. Be the remnant. The smoke from Gomorrah is still teaching nations how to escape it.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew Amorah (H6017); Greek Gomorrha (G1116).
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H6017 — Amorah — Gomorrah; ruin
G1116 — Gomorrha — Gomorrah (Greek form)
Usage
"Without the remnant, every city becomes Gomorrah eventually."
"God's patience does not expire because He is sentimental; it expires because He is just."
"Be the praying remnant of your city before the city is the smoke of Gomorrah."