Gen 18:20 “The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah, yea it is great; and their sin, yea it is very grievous.” The cry is the appeal for vengeance or punishment, which ascends to heaven (Gen 4:10). The כּי serves to give emphasis to the assertion, and is placed in the middle of the sentence to give the greater prominence to the leading thought (cf. Ewald, §330).