Map 039 · The Patriarchs & the Exodus · Genesis 19:1–29

Sodom & Gomorrah — The Destruction

The Salt Sea of Genesis — where the Cities of the Plain stood before God rained fire and brimstone from heaven

"Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground."

— Genesis 19:24–25 (KJV)

Sketch Map of the Dead Sea from the Observations of the U.S. Expedition under the Command of Lt. W.F. Lynch U.S.N. 1848 — showing the full Dead Sea from north to south with depth soundings throughout, the Lisan Peninsula dividing the northern deep basin from the shallow southern basin where scholars locate the Cities of the Plain, and the surrounding terrain including wadis and cliffs on both the Judean and Moabite shores

"Sketch Map of the Dead Sea from the Observations of the U.S. Expedition under the Command of Lt. W.F. Lynch U.S.N. 1848." The most detailed scientific survey of the Dead Sea conducted up to that date — showing the full extent of the Salt Sea of Genesis, its depths, its peninsula, and the surrounding terrain where the Cities of the Plain once stood.

Source: Lt. W.F. Lynch, U.S. Navy Dead Sea Expedition (1848). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Historical commentary by Michael Knighton · Christians Standing With Israel

🗺 How to Read This Map — The Dead Sea and the Cities of the Plain

① The Northern Basin — Deep Water — The upper two-thirds of this map shows the deep northern basin of the Dead Sea. The numbers scattered across the water are depth soundings recorded by Lynch's expedition — many reading over 1,000 feet deep. This is the main body of the sea. Note how the Jordan River enters from the top of the map at the north — this is where the Jordan flows south into the Dead Sea today.

② The Lisan Peninsula — Look for the large land mass jutting into the sea from the right (east) side in the lower-center of the map. This is the Lisan Peninsula — Arabic for "tongue." It nearly divides the sea in two. South of this peninsula the sea becomes very shallow — only a few feet deep in places — and this shallow southern basin is where many scholars locate the Vale of Siddim and the Cities of the Plain.

③ The Southern Shallow Basin — Look at the bottom portion of the map below the Lisan Peninsula. The depth soundings here are single digits — 1, 2, 3, 4 feet — compared to hundreds of feet in the north. This dramatically shallow area corresponds to the southern Dead Sea region where archaeological sites Bab edh-Dhra and Numeira have been found — strong candidates for Sodom and Gomorrah.

④ The Western Shore — Judea — The left (west) shore of the Dead Sea is the Judean wilderness — the cliffs and wadis descending from Hebron and Jerusalem down to the sea. Abraham stood somewhere in these highlands when he "looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace" (Genesis 19:28).

What This Map Shows

✦ The full Dead Sea — the Salt Sea of Genesis

✦ The Lisan Peninsula — dividing north and south basins

✦ The shallow southern basin — Vale of Siddim area

✦ Depth soundings throughout the sea

✦ The Jordan River entry at the north

✦ The Judean western shore — Abraham's viewpoint

✦ The Moabite eastern shore and wadis

✦ The terrain surrounding the destroyed cities

Fire and Brimstone — What the Dead Sea Tells Us

The map before you is not a biblical illustration. It is a scientific survey — the first systematic measurement of the Dead Sea ever conducted, carried out in 1848 by Lt. William Francis Lynch of the United States Navy at the direction of the Secretary of the Navy. Lynch's expedition launched two metal boats on the Jordan River, floated them down to the Dead Sea, and spent weeks sounding its depths, mapping its shores, and recording its extraordinary geographical features. What they found confirmed what biblical geography had always suggested: this is one of the most unusual bodies of water on the face of the earth, and its southern reaches bear the unmistakable character of catastrophic destruction.

Look at the depth soundings on this map. In the northern basin — the upper two-thirds of the map — the numbers run deep: 100, 150, 180, even over 200 fathoms in places. This is one of the deepest lakes in the world. But now look at the southern basin below the Lisan Peninsula. The depth soundings drop to single digits — 1, 2, 3, 4 feet. The southern end of the Dead Sea is extraordinarily shallow, in some places barely navigable. This dramatic difference between north and south has fascinated biblical geographers for centuries, because it corresponds precisely to where Genesis locates the Vale of Siddim and the Cities of the Plain.

Genesis 14:3 explicitly identifies the Vale of Siddim with "the salt sea." The five cities — Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar — were located in this valley. When Abraham looked from his camp near Hebron toward Sodom after the destruction, he saw "the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace" (Genesis 19:28). The Judean highlands west of this map — to the left — are the heights from which Abraham watched. The distance from Hebron to the southern Dead Sea is approximately 30 miles. On a clear morning, smoke rising from a burning plain would have been visible from those heights.

Archaeological excavations at Bab edh-Dhra and Numeira on the southeastern shore of the Dead Sea — in the shallow southern basin region shown at the bottom of this map — have found Bronze Age cities that were abruptly and violently destroyed around 2300–2000 BC. Both sites show evidence of intense burning. The excavators found thick ash layers, burned mudbrick, and charred wood. Both cities were abandoned immediately after the destruction and never rebuilt. These are not conclusive identifications with Sodom and Gomorrah, but they fit the biblical description with remarkable precision in time, location, and the nature of the destruction.

The Dead Sea itself is part of the story. The Jordan Rift Valley — the deepest land depression on earth — runs through this map from north to south. The region is geologically active, sitting on a major fault line. The bitumen pits mentioned in Genesis 14:10 — which proved fatal to the fleeing kings of Sodom and Gomorrah — correspond to actual petroleum seeps documented throughout the Dead Sea area. Sulphur deposits are found on its shores. The entire geological character of the region is consistent with the kind of catastrophic event Genesis describes: fire and brimstone falling from the sky, the entire plain overthrown. Whether through volcanic activity, earthquake-triggered gas explosions, a meteor strike, or direct divine intervention — or all of the above — the landscape you are looking at on this map bears the marks of something that happened here that the earth has never forgotten.

Key Scripture References

Genesis 14:3 — The Vale of Siddim is the Salt Sea

Genesis 19:1–29 — The full destruction account

Genesis 19:24–25 — Fire and brimstone from heaven

Genesis 19:28 — Abraham sees the smoke like a furnace

Isaiah 13:19 — Babylon will be as Sodom and Gomorrah

Jude 1:7 — Sodom set forth as an example of eternal fire

Map: Lt. W.F. Lynch, U.S. Navy — "Sketch Map of the Dead Sea from the Observations of the U.S. Expedition" (1848). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. · Historical commentary: © 2026 Michael Wayne Knighton | Christians Standing With Israel™ | All Rights Reserved.

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MAP 038

Hagar's Flight into the Wilderness

MAP 040

Isaac — His Life & Journeys →