Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

James Christian:
 
The word used at Genesis 19: 25 is HPK, which means “overturn”.  Sodom and 
Gomorrah, and possibly Admah and Zeboiim as well, are “overturned”, 
including the fertile fields of the Valley of Fields where they were located. 
 It’
s a fiery destruction, and the smoke from it can be seen as far south as 
that same mountaintop near Bethel where, years earlier, Lot had made the 
eastern Jezreel Valley his choice of location for living the soft life.
 
The historical parallel to Sodom and Gomorrah going up in smoke is Qatna, 
which was burned to the ground by the Hittites in Year 14 and never 
reinhabited.
 
The Hebrew word HPK does not say or imply that nothing ever grew again in 
the “Valley of Fields”.  It simply means “overturn”.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston,  Illinois