The infamous city of the Jordan plain whose catastrophic overthrow by fire and sulfur (Gen 19:24-25) became Israel's supreme paradigm of divine judgment against sin. In the patriarchal narratives, Sodom is a real place — prosperous, well-watered 'like the garden of YHWH' (Gen 13:10) — yet synonymous with brazen wickedness (Gen 13:13). The prophets later invoke it as a measuring rod: Isaiah compares Jerusalem's leaders to 'rulers of Sodom' (Isa 1:10), Jeremiah likens false prophets to Sodom's inhabitants (Jer 23:14), and Lamentations declares Judah's punishment worse than Sodom's (Lam 4:6).