Isaiah 1:10
in Isaiah 1Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Hear the word of Jehovah, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.
KJV
Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.
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This verse in Isaiah 1
Commentary
7 notes on this verseYe rulers of Sodom “Ye princes of Sodom” - The incidental mention of Sodom and Gomorrah in the preceding verse suggested to the prophet this spirited address to the rulers and inhabitants of Jerusalem, under the character of princes of Sodom and people of Gomorrah. Two examples of a sort of elegant turn of the like kind may be observed in St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, Rom 15:4, Rom 15:5, Rom 15:12, Rom 15:13. See Locke on the place; and see Isa 1:29, Isa 1:30, of this chapter, which gives another example of the same.
This site's exposition
Hear the word of the LORD
on Isaiah 1:10-12
The comparison with Sodom becomes direct address in verse 10, "you rulers of Sodom," a name no listener could take as praise. The question "who has required this of you" turns indictment into interrogation. A full round of sacrifice is named a burden God never laid on them.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 10) Hear the word of the Lord, rulers of Sodom: listen with your ears to the law of our God, people of Gomorrah. After preserving the remnants of the people of Israel through the Apostles, the Scribes and Pharisees, and the people who cried out: Crucify, crucify him (John 19, 6), the prophetic word turns; and it calls them rulers of Sodom and people of Gomorrah, according to what we read in the following: They have declared and shown their iniquity like Sodom.
The Medieval Church1 voice
42. Hear the word of the Lord. Here he gives the medicine for the punishment. And first, he calls them together to hear; second, he removes the useless remedy, where it says, to what purpose?; third, salutary counsel is applied, where it says, wash yourselves, …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The title he gives them is very strange; You rulers of Sodom, and people of Gomorrah. This intimates what a righteous thing it would have been with God to make them like Sodom and Gomorrah in respect of ruin (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Hear the word of the Lord - The message of God. Having stated the calamities under which the nation was groaning, the prophet proceeds to address the rulers, and to state the cause of all these woes. Ye rulers of Sodom - The incidental mention Sodom in the previous verse gives occasion for this beautiful transition, and abrupt and spirited address. Their character and destiny were almost like those of Sodom, and the prophet therefore openly addresses the rulers as being called to preside over a people like those in Sodom. There could have been no more severe or cutting reproof of their wickedness than to address them as resembling the people whom God overthrew for their enormous crimes.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
rulers of Sodom Princes whose deeds are like those of Sodom. From here, [the Rabbis] deduced that a person should not open his mouth to Satan.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
I am sated with the burnt-offerings of rams This is similar to: “Lest he have too much of you and hate you,” (Proverbs:18).
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שִׁמְע֥וּ | shimu | hear | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| דְבַר־ | devar- | [the] word of | H1697 → | 1440 times |
| יְהוָ֖ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| קְצִינֵ֣י | ketzinei | O rulers of | H7101 → | 12 times |
| סְדֹ֑ם | sedom | Sodom | H5467 → | 39 times |
| הַאֲזִ֛ינוּ | haazinu | give ear to | H238 → | 41 times |
| תּוֹרַ֥ת | torat | [the] instruction of | H8451 → | 219 times |
| אֱלֹהֵ֖ינוּ | ʾeloheinu | God our | H430 → | 2601 times |
| עַ֥ם | ʾam | O people of | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| עֲמֹרָֽה׃ | ʾamorah | Gomorrah | H6017 → | 19 times |
שִׁמְע֥וּhear
shimuH8085 →1159 times
דְבַר־[the] word of
devar-H1697 →1440 times
יְהוָ֖הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
קְצִינֵ֣יO rulers of
ketzineiH7101 →12 times
סְדֹ֑םSodom
sedomH5467 →39 times
הַאֲזִ֛ינוּgive ear to
haazinuH238 →41 times
תּוֹרַ֥ת[the] instruction of
toratH8451 →219 times
אֱלֹהֵ֖ינוּGod our
ʾeloheinuH430 →2601 times
עַ֥םO people of
ʾamH5971 →1873 times
עֲמֹרָֽה׃Gomorrah
ʾamorahH6017 →19 times
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 11:8Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city—figuratively called Sodom and Egypt—where their Lord was also crucified.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 23:14
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.…
- Revelation 18:10
In fear of her torment, they will stand at a distance and cry out: “Woe, woe to the great city, the mighty city of Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.”
- Ezekiel 16:53–55
But I will restore Sodom and her daughters from captivity, as well as Samaria and her daughters. And I will restore you along with them.
- Jeremiah 23:14
Through
Isaiah 3:9The expression on their faces testifies against them, and like Sodom they flaunt their sin; they do not conceal it. Woe to them, for they have brought disaster upon themselves.
it leads to
- Genesis 13:13
But the men of Sodom were wicked, sinning greatly against the LORD.
- Genesis 13:13
Through
Ezekiel 16:49Now this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed, and complacent; they did not help the poor and needy.
it leads to
- Genesis 13:10
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…
- Psalms 138:6
Though the LORD is on high, He attends to the lowly; but the proud He knows from afar.
- Ezekiel 28:2
“Son of man, tell the ruler of Tyre that this is what the Lord GOD says: Your heart is proud, and you have said, ‘I am a god; I sit in the seat of…
- Genesis 13:10
Through
Deuteronomy 32:32But their vine is from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poisonous; their clusters are bitter.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 29:18
Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Make sure…
- Deuteronomy 29:18
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies10
On this verse
About Isaiah
Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.