Chapter 4. Locating the Cities

Where are the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah today? 

They were called the Cities of the Plain (Genesis 13:12, 19:29), because they were on the Plain adjacent to the Valley of Siddim, through which the Jordan flowed. When God judged these Cities, He made the whole region a scene of cataclysmic judgement. 

(1) He sunk the Valley, so that while the waters of the Jordan flowed into it, no waters flowed out. Thus the waters just collected together forming a large Lake (the Dead Sea). 

(2) Also God flooded the whole area with salt, so that nothing could live there. It became the saltiest place on earth. Mt. Sodom is the 
largest salt mountain in the world. Thus the waters were saturated with salt, so that it became the Salt Sea, also called the Dead Sea, because no fish or anything else could possibly live in such waters. 

(3) Finally, God machine-gunned the Cities themselves with balls of burning brimstone (sulphur), which turned the Cities into ash!

Now they were not called ‘the Cities of the Valley’ but ‘the Cities of the Plain’, and so they were not in the Valley that later became the Dead Sea. Therefore, today they are not under the waters of the Dead Sea, but rather on the Plain adjacent to its Shore, between the Sea and the Mountains. So, to locate these Cities we should search this region looking for any city-sized regions with remains consisting of ash-like material with sulphur balls embedded in them. 

Although this might seem too much to hope for, we have seen that there are good grounds for believing that God may have preserved them as an example for us, from 2Peter 2:6, Jude 7 and Josephus: 

2Peter 2:6: “turning the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ASHES, condemned them with an overthrow, making an ENSAMPLE for those who afterwards should live ungodly.” 

Jude 7: “Sodom and Gomorrah, and the Cities about them 
in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, 
and going after strange flesh, are set forth for 
an EXAMPLE, suffering the Vengeance of Eternal FIRE.” 

Peter tells us that these Cities were so completely destroyed by fire that they were turned into ASHES, which preserved the remains as a visual reminder to all that God will surely judge the wicked. 

Both Peter and Jude imply that God left the remains of Sodom and Gomorrah as a visible warning Sign of His coming Judgement of fire and brimstone. 

The first century historian Josephus agrees, stating that the traces (remains) of these Cities could still be seen by the Dead Sea, which was also created in this act of Judgement: 

"there are still the REMAINDERS of that DIVINE FIRE; and the TRACES [shadows] of the 5 CITIES are still to be SEEN." 

5 Areas have indeed been found near the Dead Sea consisting of white ash-like material that have sulphur balls embedded within 
them. These must correspond to the 5 Cities of the Plain. 

These 5 regions alongside the Dead Sea can be identified in satellite photos (see below and page 17), since the white ash-like material stands out clearly against the brown of the natural rock of the region.