Divine retribution

Divine retribution is supernatural punishment of a person, a group of people, or everyone by a deity in response to some action. Many cultures have a story about how a deity exacted punishment on previous inhabitants of their land, causing their doom.

An example of divine retribution is the story found in many cultures about a great flood destroying all of humanity, as described in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Hindu Vedas, or Book of Genesis (6:9-8:22), leaving one principal 'chosen' survivor. In the first example, it is Utnapishtim, and in the last example Noah. References in the Qur'an to a man named Nuh (Noah) who was commanded by God to build an ark also suggest that one man and his followers were saved in a great flood.

Other examples in Hebrew religious literature include the dispersion of the builders of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9), the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:20-21, 19:23-28)(Quran 7:80-84), and the Ten Plagues visited upon the ancient Egyptians for persecuting the children of Israel (Exodus, Chapters 7-12). Similarly, in Greek mythology, the goddess Hera often became enraged when her husband, Zeus, would impregnate mortal women, and would exact divine retribution on the children born of such affairs. In some versions of the myth, Medusa was turned into her monstrous form as divine retribution for her vanity; in others it was as punishment for being raped by Poseidon.

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