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Wars of Scripture

Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

1898 BC Plain of Jordan Status: ended Casualties: Five cities and all their inhabitants; Lot's wife as a pillar of salt

After Abraham's bargaining failed to find ten righteous, fire and brimstone fell from heaven and overthrew the cities of the plain. Genesis 19. The first divine annihilation by direct fire from the sky.

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Belligerents

  • The Lord
  • Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim

Casualties

Five cities and all their inhabitants; Lot's wife as a pillar of salt

Key events

  • Abraham bargains the Lord down from fifty righteous to ten
  • The angels are received by Lot; the men of the city beat at the door
  • Lot, his wife, and his two daughters flee at dawn
  • Lot's wife looks back and becomes a pillar of salt

Aftermath

Sodom became scripture's permanent shorthand for judgment from above. The geography itself — the Dead Sea basin, lowest point on earth — is read as the scar.

Weapons & matériel

  • Fire and brimstone from heaven

Sources

  • Genesis 18–19
  • Luke 17:28–32
  • 2 Peter 2:6
  • Jude 1:7
From World at War, an interactive atlas by Jairus Pereira. Figures are approximate, drawn from Wikipedia, UCDP, ACLED and academic sources — a design artefact, not an authoritative register. Contact.