Hebrew word · H6017
עֲמֹרָה
'amorah
Gomorrah
Appears 19 times in 19 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
Gomorrah = "submersion"
the twin-city in evil with Sodom, both destroyed in judgment by God with fire from heaven
Also named: Gomorra (Γόμορρα "Gomorrah" G1116)
Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
Where it appears
Genesis · 9
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Genesis 10:19 וַעֲמֹרָ֛ה and Gomorrah
and the borders of Canaan extended from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.
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Genesis 13:10 עֲמֹרָ֔ה Gomorrah
And Lot looked out and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan, all the way to Zoar, was well watered like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)
Here: Sodom's twin city. By the time this was written, 'Sodom and Gomorrah' was already a byword for total destruction (Deut 29:23; Isa 1:9).
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Genesis 14:2 עֲמֹרָ֑ה Gomorrah
went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).
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Genesis 14:8 עֲמֹרָ֗ה Gomorrah
Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out and arrayed themselves for battle in the Valley of Siddim
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Genesis 14:10 וַעֲמֹרָ֖ה and Gomorrah
Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some men fell into the pits, but the survivors fled to the hill country.
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Genesis 14:11 וַעֲמֹרָ֛ה and Gomorrah
The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food, and they went on their way.
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Genesis 18:20 וַעֲמֹרָ֖ה and Gomorrah
Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great. Because their sin is so grievous,
Here: Gomorrah was Sodom's twin city. The pair work as one byword for a whole region gone bad (compare Deut 29:23, where Admah and Zeboiim are added).
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Genesis 19:24 עֲמֹרָ֖ה Gomorrah
Then the LORD rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens.
Here: Sodom's partner city in the plain (14:2). Its location and the meaning of its name are uncertain. The pair 'Sodom and Gomorrah' became a fixed phrase for the paradigm of judgment.
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Genesis 19:28 וַעֲמֹרָ֔ה and Gomorrah
He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw the smoke rising from the land like smoke from a furnace.
Here: Sodom's partner city. The pair stands for the whole doomed group of cities (see 14:2; Deut 29:23).
Deuteronomy · 2
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Deuteronomy 29:23 וַעֲמֹרָה֙ and Gomorrah
All its soil will be a burning waste of sulfur and salt, unsown and unproductive, with no plant growing on it, just like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His fierce anger.
Here: Sodom's partner city, almost always named alongside it (Gen 19:24, 28).
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Deuteronomy 32:32 עֲמֹרָ֑ה Gomorrah
But their vine is from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poisonous; their clusters are bitter.
Here: Sodom's twin city. The pair together stood for a whole society ripe for fire from heaven.
Isaiah · 3
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Isaiah 1:9 לַעֲמֹרָ֖ה <to> Gomorrah
Unless the LORD of Hosts had left us a few survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.
Here: Gomorrah, Sodom's twin city in the same catastrophe. The preposition 'to' goes with the verb that follows: 'resemble (to) Gomorrah'. The pair 'Sodom and Gomorrah' together stand for complete destruction.
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Isaiah 1:10 עֲמֹרָֽה׃ Gomorrah
Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
Here: Sodom's twin city, destroyed with it. The paired names are the standard biblical example of total corruption and total destruction (Deut 29:23; Amos 4:11; Jer 49:18).
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Isaiah 13:19 עֲמֹרָֽה׃ Gomorrah
And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.
Here: Sodom's twin city. The pair always appears together as a byword for annihilation.
Jeremiah · 3
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Jeremiah 23:14 כַּעֲמֹרָֽה׃ ס like Gomorrah
And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns his back on wickedness. They are all like Sodom to Me; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.”
Here: Sodom's twin city. The pair always stands together for total corruption followed by total destruction. Jerusalem's fate is implied.
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Jeremiah 49:18 וַעֲמֹרָ֛ה and Gomorrah
As Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown along with their neighbors,” says the LORD, “no one will dwell there; no man will abide there.
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Jeremiah 50:40 עֲמֹרָ֛ה Gomorrah
As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah along with their neighbors,” declares the LORD, “no one will dwell there; no man will abide there.
Here: Sodom's twin city. The two are almost always named together as a pair.
Amos · 1
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Amos 4:11 עֲמֹרָ֔ה Gomorrah
“Some of you I overthrew as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.
Here: Sodom's twin city. The two names together were a fixed pair, the standard picture of a place wiped out by fire from heaven.
Zephaniah · 1
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Zephaniah 2:9 כַּֽעֲמֹרָ֔ה like Gomorrah
Therefore, as surely as I live,” declares the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, “surely Moab will be like Sodom and the Ammonites like Gomorrah—a place of weeds and salt pits, a perpetual wasteland. The remnant of My people will plunder them; the remainder of My nation will dispossess them.”
Here: Sodom's twin city in the destruction. The pairing Moab–Sodom and Ammon–Gomorrah mirrors the two sister-born nations.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.