Kedorlaomer had oppressed these five kings for twelve years until they rebelled against him in the thirteenth year. They all became regional allies in the valley of Siddim, which is now the Dead Sea.
Lot lifted his eyes and carefully surveyed the land around him all the way to Zoar. He noticed that the Jordan Valley was fertile and well-watered (this was before Yahweh had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah). It looked beautiful, like the garden of Yahweh, or like Egypt.
And don’t forget that he reduced to ashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, condemning them to ruin and destruction. God appointed them to be examples as to what is coming to the ungodly.
Let that man be like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah that Yahweh destroyed without pity. Let him hear shouts of alarm in the morning and battle cries at noon.
I, Yahweh, say to you: As Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns were destroyed and no one will live there again, not one person will ever settle in Edom again.
As Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns were destroyed and left uninhabited, not one person will ever settle in Babylon again, for I, Yahweh, have spoken.
And I have seen the prophets of Jerusalem do horrible acts: adultery, persistent lying, and promoting the cause of the wicked, so that no one renounces his evil ways. To me, they are all depraved like Sodom, and the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.