Genesis 18:20

Summary

The verse reports Yehovah's statement that the outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and that their sin is exceedingly heavy. The sentence gives two parallel reasons, each introduced by the particle ki ("for/that", H3588A), explaining the severity of the situation being addressed.

Key words

• za'aKat ("outcry of", H2201) — feminine singular noun in construct state, linking directly to "Sodom," meaning it is not a generic outcry but specifically the outcry belonging to or coming from Sodom and Gomorrah.
• Rabah ("it is great", H7231) — qal perfect, third person feminine, agreeing with za'aKat; the perfect aspect presents this greatness as a completed, established fact rather than an ongoing process.
• chaTaTam ("their sin", H2403B + H9028) — feminine singular noun in construct with the third person masculine plural suffix "their," parallel in structure to za'aKat... Sedom, forming the second half of the two-part statement.
• khaveDah ("it is heavy", H3513H) — qal perfect, third person feminine, agreeing with chaTaTam; like Rabah, it presents the heaviness as an accomplished state.
• ki ("for/that", H3588A) — appears twice (positions 8 and 13), each time introducing one of the two parallel clauses; its repetition creates a balanced two-part structure.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as two parallel clauses, each following the same pattern: a construct noun phrase (subject) + ki + a qal perfect verb (predicate). The first clause states that za'aKat Sedom va'amoRah ("the outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah", H2201/H5467/H6017) ki Rabah ("for it is great", H7231). The second clause states that chaTaTam ("their sin", H2403B) ki khaveDah me'od ("for it is heavy, exceedingly", H3513H/H3966). Both predicate verbs are third-person feminine qal perfects, matching the grammatical gender of their feminine subject nouns (za'aKat and chaTaTam), which produces a tightly parallel structure not fully visible in translation. The repeated ki particle (H3588A) functions here as a causal or explanatory marker attached to each clause rather than as a single overarching conjunction, giving the statement a rhythmic, twofold justification rather than one continuous reason.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders za'aKat ("outcry of", H2201) as Kraugē ("cry") and uses the verb peplēthyntai ("has been multiplied"), which shifts the perfect Rabah ("it is great") toward an idea of increase rather than simple greatness. The Vulgate similarly uses multiplicatus est ("has been multiplied") for the first clause and aggravatum est nimis ("has been made heavy exceedingly") for the second, aligning more closely with a sense of intensification over time, whereas the Hebrew perfect forms (Rabah, khaveDah) present the conditions as already-completed states without specifying an increasing process.