The LORD says: 'The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous.' The language of 'outcry' (Hebrew: za'aqah) is the same word used for the cry of the oppressed throughout the Old Testament — the blood of Abel crying from the ground (Genesis 4:10), the cry of the Israelites in Egypt (Exodus 3:7). The sin of Sodom is characterized not only by the sexual immorality of Genesis 19 but by the oppression and injustice that Ezekiel 16:49 specifies: pride, excess, and indifference to the poor. The 'outcry' means someone is crying out — the victims of Sodom's wickedness are making a noise that reaches God. Isaiah 5:7 describes God listening for justice and hearing instead the cry of the distressed. The application: the sins of a society that produce 'outcry' — injustice, exploitation, the crushing of the vulnerable — are heard by God even when no human court responds. He hears the cry.

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