Genesis 18:20-21
What is written? (ESV)
Then the Lord said, Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.
What does it say?
Then God said that because of Sodom and Gomorrah’s great and grave sin and the outcry against it, He would go and see if the outcry is justified.
What is its immediate context?
God appears to Abraham (vs 1) along with three men (vs 2), possibly angels (see 19:1-2). After delivering news that his wife Sarah would bear a child in the next year (vs 10), the topic turns to the cities in the Valley of Siddim (see Gen 14:2-3) – Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar.
How Genesis 18:20-21 is applied across Bible answers
Can repentance become impossible (Hebrews 6:4-6)?
An entire city/society was beyond the point of redemption11. Their culture of sin made repentance impossible, and the merciful thing to do was to destroy them.
In the rest of the story, we know that only Lot's family was saved.
