sod'-um (cedhom; Sodoma) One of the 5 CITIES OF THE PLAIN (which see), destroyed by fire from heaven in the time of Abraham and Lot (Genesis 19:24). The wickedness of the city became proverbial. The sin of sodomy was an offense against nature frequently connected with idolatrous practices (see Rawlinson, History of Phoenicia). See SODOMITE. The fate of Sodom and Gomorrah is used as a warning to those who reject the gospel (Matthew 10:15; Matthew 11:24 2 Peter 2:6 Jude 1:7). The word is used in a typical sense in Revelation 11:8. Sodom was probably located in plain South of the Dead Sea, now covered with water. The name is still preserved in Jebel Usdum (Mt. Sodom).

See ARABAH; CITIES OF THE PLAIN; DEAD SEA.

LITERATURE.

Dillmann. Genesis, 111 f; Robinson, BR, II, 187;; G. A. Smith, HGHL, 505;; Blanckenhorn, ZDPV, XIX, 1896, 53;; Baedeker-Socin, Palestine, 143; Buhl, GAP, 117, 271, 274.

George Frederick Wright

GOMORRAH

go-mor'-a (`amorah; Septuagint and New Testament Gomorra, or Gomorra; Arabic Ghamara, "to overwhelm with water"): One of the CITIES OF THE PLAIN (which see) destroyed by fire from heaven in the time of Abraham and Lot (Genesis 19:23-29). It was located probably in the plain South of the Dead Sea, now covered with water. See ARABAH; CITIES OF THE PLAIN; DEAD SEA. De Saulcy, however, with others who place the Cities of the Plain at the North end of the Dead Sea, fixes upon Khumran (or Gumran), marked on the Survey Map of Palestine North of Ras Feshkeh, where there are ruins about a mile from the Dead Sea. But there is nothing to support this view except the faint resemblance of the name and the inconclusive arguments placing the Cities of the Plain at that end of the sea.

George Frederick Wright