Genesis 18:20

And the Lord said to the ministering angels, The cry of Sedom and Amorah, because they oppress the poor, and decree that whosoever giveth a morsel to the needy shall be burned with fire, is therefore great, and their guilt exceedingly weighty.

AND THE ETERNAL SAID, THE CRY OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH. Rashi comments: “And the Eternal said to Abraham, thus doing what He had said, i.e., that He would not conceal the matter from him,”
And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said that the verse, And the men turned from there, was inserted in the middle of the account, actually took place before our present verse for it was after the angels had walked toward Sodom that G-d said to Abraham, The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah… However, Verse 22 was entered later in the account in order to let us know the time of G-d’s word to Abraham — the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah, etc. — was when they came to Sodom. in order to let us know that at the time the angels arrived in Sodom, then G-d said to Abraham: The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great.
The opinion of all commentators is likewise that G-d was speaking with Abraham. Now according to this, the correct interpretation of the verse, And the men turned from there, is that when G-d said to Abraham after the men journeyed from him, The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, Abraham stood in prayer and supplication before Him to forgive them and to give him permission to speak. And he prolonged his prayer until the men came to Sodom, and then Abraham drew near and said, Wilt Thou also sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Or the explanation may be that Scripture itself returns to clarify the expression, Abraham stood yet before the Eternal,. as meaning that Abraham drew near and said, Wilt Thou also sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Thus he prolonged his supplication before Him, saying each time, “Let not the anger of the Eternal blaze,” and directing the intent of his mind each time towards prophecy until he heard an answer to his words direct from the Holy One, blessed be He. They continued in this manner the entire day [until, as the verse says], the Eternal finished speaking with Abraham, and the two angels came to Sodom.

'ויאמר ה, the angel said to Avraham that G’d had said that He dispatched these messengers on account of the outcry in heaven over the sins of Sodom, a reference to what G’d had mentioned in 13,13.

ויאמר ה, at this point the prophetic vision נבואה, commenced, a type of Divine revelation superior to that described as מראה, “vision.”

'ויאמר ה' זעקת סדם ועמורה וגו, G’d means to say that the reason he now appeared to Avraham was to inform him that He had heard the outcry concerning Sodom, etc. The same applied to the five kings who were involved in the war with Kedorleomer in chapter 14 were all killed together with their population when Sodom was overturned. They were what the Torah referred to in 19,28 as the ארץ הככר. Moses also referred to this overturning of Sodom and Amora in Deut. 29,22 mentioning 4 towns, seeing that Tzoar was saved at the request of Lot. Also in Hoseah 11,8 the cities of Adma and Tzvoyim are singled out by the prophet, although the largest of the cities were Sodom and Amora. Sodom was the principal city, and the perversions committed in all of these cities were presumably dreamt up by the citizens of Sodom. The prophet Ezekiel 16,53 specifically refers to the other cities of that valley as Sodom’s satellites.

זעקת, the souls of the people who had been tortured by the inhabitants of these cities reached the heavenly court. The primary complaint was violence committed against these people. There were other, lesser crimes committed by these people also. However, the decision to destroy these cities was sealed on account of the violence perpetrated, just as the deluge was brought about by that crime. This was essentially a repeat of what happened on a global scale at the time of the deluge.

וחטאתם, this refers to the sin of violence, taking the law into one’s own hands. The outcry that had reached the heavenly spheres was extremely severe. As the prophet Ezekiel said: “they did not support the poor and the weak.” The poor cry out to heaven on account of their hunger, and they do not have any one who stretches out their hand to support them.