Genesis 19:28
in Genesis 19He 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.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
and he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the Plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace.
KJV
And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.
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This verse in Genesis 19
Commentary
8 notes on this verse(Verse 28.) And behold, a flame was rising from the earth like the vapor of a furnace. Regarding this, we read in Hebrew: Behold, a rising (ἀναθυμίασις) of the furnace, which we can call vapor, smoke, or ashes.
This site's exposition
the place where he had stood before the LORD
on Genesis 19:27-28
Abraham went back early the next morning to the spot where he had stood before the LORD. From there he looked out over Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole plain, and saw smoke going up from the land like a furnace. Exodus 19:18 uses the same figure of Sinai. Genesis gives him the sight and no word with it.
This site's exposition
like smoke from a furnace
Matthew Henry sets the smoke of Sodom and Gomorrah beside the smoke of Babylon in Revelation 19. He holds that those who pleaded hardest for sinners will glorify God when the judgment falls. Abraham had pleaded for these cities.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
And he looked toward Sodom - Not as Lot's wife did, tacitly reflecting upon the divine severity, but humbly adoring it, and acquiescing in it. Here is God's favourable regard to Abraham, ver. 29.
Thus the saints, when they see the smoke of Babylon's torment rising up for ever (like Sodom's here), will say again and again, Alleluia, Rev. xix. Those that have, in the day of grace, most earnestly interceded for sinners, will, in the day of judgment, be content to see them perish, and will glorify God in their destruction.
And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
EARLY in the morning Abraham sought that favored spot where but yesterday God had been pleased to manifest Himself and where he had been favored with a season of extraordinary communion. Where should the Believer go, but to that choice place, dear to his heart, where he has communed with the Lord?— It is a high privilege, the highest which mortals can enjoy, to talk with God, to plead with Him, to use arguments and to prevail. Such Divine Grace had Abraham found. No marvel that he goes back to the place where God had thus drawn near to him.
EARLY in the morning Abraham sought that favored spot where but yesterday God had been pleased to manifest Himself and where he had been favored with a season of extraordinary communion. Where should the Believer go, but to that choice place, dear to his heart, where he has communed with the Lord?— It is a high privilege, the highest which mortals can enjoy, to talk with God, to plead with Him, to use arguments and to prevail. Such Divine Grace had Abraham found. No marvel that he goes back to the place where God had thus drawn near to him. Doubtless one reason why he rose early and went to the place and looked towards Sodom was an anxious desire to know how his prayers had speeded. You remember he put a last "perhaps" to the Lord—"Perhaps ten shall be found there, And He said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake." He hopes, perhaps, that he need not go any further. He stops, for he feels sure in his heart that there must be ten righteous there! He turns his eyes to the quarter of the horizon where Sodom and Gomorrah should stand. So, when you have prayed, look out for answers. Elijah said to his servant, "Go and look towards the sea"—so say to your hopes—"Go and look towards the sea." If you have asked for rain, expect a cloud. If you have sought mercy, expect that God will stretch out His hand and bestow it upon you. But God does not always answer His children's prayers just as they would desire. Besides, His children are sometimes slack in asking and therefore they do not get what they desire. So Abraham, as he looked towards Sodom—instead of seeing the verdant well-watered plain and the roofs and spires of the city, saw nothing but black smoke and a lurid glare going up to Heaven like the smoke of a furnace.
The words behind it
17 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיַּשְׁקֵ֗ף | vaiyashkef | and he looked down | H8259 → | 22 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| פְּנֵ֤י | penei | [the] face of | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| סְדֹם֙ | sedom | Sodom | H5467 → | 39 times |
| וַעֲמֹרָ֔ה | vaamorah | and Gomorrah | H6017 → | 19 times |
| וְעַֽל־ | veal- | and on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| פְּנֵ֖י | penei | [the] face of | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| אֶ֣רֶץ | ʾeretz | [the] land of | H776 → | 2504 times |
| הַכִּכָּ֑ר | hakikar | the valley | H3603 → | 68 times |
| וַיַּ֗רְא | vaiyar' | and he saw | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| וְהִנֵּ֤ה | vehineh | and there! | H2009 → | 843 times |
| עָלָה֙ | ʾalah | it went up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| קִיטֹ֣ר | kitor | [the] smoke of | H7008 → | |
| הָאָ֔רֶץ | haaretz | the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| כְּקִיטֹ֖ר | kekitor | like [the] smoke of | H7008 → | |
| הַכִּבְשָֽׁן׃ | hakivshan | <the> furnace | H3536 → |
וַיַּשְׁקֵ֗ףand he looked down
vaiyashkefH8259 →22 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
פְּנֵ֤י[the] face of
peneiH6440 →2123 times
סְדֹם֙Sodom
sedomH5467 →39 times
וַעֲמֹרָ֔הand Gomorrah
vaamorahH6017 →19 times
וְעַֽל־and on
veal-H5921 →5755 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
פְּנֵ֖י[the] face of
peneiH6440 →2123 times
אֶ֣רֶץ[the] land of
ʾeretzH776 →2504 times
הַכִּכָּ֑רthe valley
hakikarH3603 →68 times
וַיַּ֗רְאand he saw
vaiyar'H7200 →1300 times
וְהִנֵּ֤הand there!
vehinehH2009 →843 times
עָלָה֙it went up
ʾalahH5927 →890 times
קִיטֹ֣ר[the] smoke of
kitorH7008 →
הָאָ֔רֶץthe land
haaretzH776 →2504 times
כְּקִיטֹ֖רlike [the] smoke of
kekitorH7008 →
הַכִּבְשָֽׁן׃<the> furnace
hakivshanH3536 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Revelation 21:8But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This…
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 6:9–10
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual…
- Revelation 2:11
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who overcomes will not be harmed by the second death.
- Ephesians 5:5–6
For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure, or greedy person (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
- Revelation 22:15
But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
- Revelation 20:14–15
Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the lake of fire.
- 1 Corinthians 6:9–10
Through
Jude 1:7In like manner, Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, who indulged in sexual immorality and pursued strange flesh, are on display as an example of those who sustain the punishment of eternal…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 29:23
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…
- 2 Peter 2:6
if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes as an example of what is coming on the ungodly;
- Romans 1:26–27
For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
- Deuteronomy 29:23
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Genesis
Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 602: “The Smoke Of Their Torments” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jerome, Hebrew Questions on Genesis; John Calvin, Commentary on Genesis; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.