ContradictionsReading order 518Bible context 1 min read
Who destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah?
The destruction is attributed both to commissioned messengers and to the Lord, but the first passage expressly connects their action to his authority.
- Textual conflict
- Weak contradiction
- The supplied passages do not establish incompatible claims. Different events, meanings, or conditions may account for the difference.
- Importance
- Major
- A major event or claim with wider implications.
The messengers expressly say God commissioned their destruction, so attributing the action to them and to God describes compatible levels of agency.
An editorial assessment of the quoted passages. Importance describes the stakes; it does not increase certainty. Reading order weighs both.
The messengers say God sent them to destroy the place
For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it.
Genesis 19:13
Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)
Read the full chapter:Genesis 19
The Lord rains fire and brimstone on the cities
Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven;
Genesis 19:24
Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)
Read the full chapter:Genesis 19