Skip to content
mannafest.faith
Read

Deuteronomy 29:23

in Deuteronomy 29

All its soil will be a burning waste of sulfur and salt, unsown and unproductive, with no plant growing on it, just like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His fierce anger.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

and that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and a burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which Jehovah overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:

KJV

And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:

⋯

This verse in Deuteronomy 29

Commentary

6 notes on this verse
The description is borrowed from the local features of the Dead Sea and its vicinity. The towns of the vale of Siddim were fertile and well watered (compare Gen 13:10) until devastated by the wrath of God Gen 19:24-25. The ruin of Israel and its land should be of the like sort (compare Lev 26:31-32; Psa 107:34; Zep 2:9). The desolate state of Palestine at present, and the traces of former fertility and prosperity, are attested by every traveler.

This site's exposition

the generation to come of your children

on Deuteronomy 29:22-24

The scene jumps forward to a ruined land and to two sets of onlookers, the children of the generation to come and a stranger out of a far country. Sodom and Gomorrah are named with Admah and Zeboim, the two other cities of the plain that Genesis 14:2 lists and that Genesis 19 leaves unnamed at the overthrow. Hosea 11:8 reaches for the same two cities when God asks how he shall give Ephraim up. The question of verse 24, wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this land, is asked in the same words at 1 Kings 9:8 and Jeremiah 22:8, both times over the temple and the city.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Origen of Alexandria

HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 18.6.7 · Written before 253.

proposed

He pretends then that he does not see your future so that he may preserve your self-determination by not foretelling or foreknowing whether you will repent or not. So he says to the prophet, "Speak, perhaps they will repent." You will find numerous other passages where Scripture talks about God "taking on the manners of" man. If you hear of the anger of God and his wrath, do not suppose that anger and wrath are passions of God.

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

And that the whole land thereof is brimstone and salt, and burning,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

As that valley, which had been like the garden of the Lord for fruitfulness, was turned into a lake of salt and sulphur, so should the land of Canaan be made desolate and barren, as it has been ever since the last destruction of it by the Romans.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

It was of the greatest consequence to impress all with the strong and abiding conviction, that while the covenant of grace had special blessings belonging to it, it at the same time had curses in reserve for transgressors, the infliction of which would be as certain, as lasting and severe. This was the advantage contemplated in the law being rehearsed a second time.

The words behind it

24 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • גָּפְרִ֣ית[is] sulfur

    gaferitH1614 →

  • וָמֶלַח֮and salt

    vamelachH4417 →

  • שְׂרֵפָ֣הa burning waste

    serefahH8316 →

  • כָל־all

    khol-H3605 →5413 times

  • אַרְצָהּ֒land its

    ʾartzahH776 →2504 times

  • לֹ֤אnot

    lo'H3808 →5168 times

  • תִזָּרַע֙it is sown

    tizara'H2232 →56 times

  • וְלֹ֣אand not

    velo'H3808 →5168 times

  • תַצְמִ֔חַit causes to grow

    tatzmiachH6779 →

  • וְלֹֽא־and not

    velo'-H3808 →5168 times

  • יַעֲלֶ֥הit comes up

    yaalehH5927 →890 times

  • בָ֖הּin <the> it

    vah

  • כָּל־any

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • עֵ֑שֶׂבvegetation

    ʾesevH6212 →33 times

  • כְּֽמַהְפֵּכַ֞תlike [the] overthrow of

    kemahpekhatH4114 →

  • סְדֹ֤םSodom

    sedomH5467 →

  • וַעֲמֹרָה֙and Gomorrah

    vaamorahH6017 →

  • אַדְמָ֣הAdmah

    ʾadmahH126 →

  • וּצְבוֹיִ֔םand Zeboiim

    utzevyimH6636 →

  • אֲשֶׁר֙which

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • הָפַ֣ךְhe overthrew

    hafakhH2015 →

  • יְהוָ֔הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • בְּאַפּ֖וֹin anger his

    beapoH639 →276 times

  • וּבַחֲמָתֽוֹ׃and in rage his

    uvachamatoH2534 →125 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

18 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Jude 1:7In like manner, Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, who indulged in sexual immorality and pursued strange flesh, are on display as an example of those who sustain the punishment of eternal fire.16 worksGenesis 19:24Then the LORD rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens.12 works2 Peter 2:6if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes as an example of what is coming on the ungodly;8 worksZephaniah 2:9Therefore, as surely as I live,” declares the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, “surely Moab will be like Sodom and the Ammonites like Gomorrah—a place of weeds and salt pits, a perpetual wasteland. The remnant of My people will plunder them; the remainder of My nation will dispossess them.”6 worksGenesis 14:2went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).6 worksJeremiah 17:6He will be like a shrub in the desert; he will not see when prosperity comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.5 works
The other 12 cross-references, with their words ▾
Isaiah 13:19And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.5 worksRevelation 14:10he too will drink the wine of God’s anger, poured undiluted into the cup of His wrath. And he will be tormented in fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.5 worksHosea 11:8How could I give you up, O Ephraim? How could I surrender you, O Israel? How could I make you like Admah? How could I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within Me; My compassion is stirred!5 worksEzekiel 47:11But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt.5 worksJeremiah 49:18As Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown along with their neighbors,” says the LORD, “no one will dwell there; no man will abide there.5 worksRevelation 19:20But the beast was captured along with the false prophet, who on its behalf had performed signs deceiving those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. Both the beast and the false prophet were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.5 worksJudges 9:45And all that day Abimelech fought against the city until he had captured it and killed its people. Then he demolished the city and sowed it with salt.5 worksIsaiah 34:9Edom’s streams will be turned to tar, and her soil to sulfur; her land will become a blazing pitch.4 worksRomans 9:29It is just as Isaiah foretold: “Unless the Lord of Hosts had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.”4 worksLuke 17:29But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.3 worksAmos 4:11“Some of you I overthrew as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.3 worksJeremiah 20:16May that man be like the cities that the LORD overthrew without compassion. May he hear an outcry in the morning and a battle cry at noon,3 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Zephaniah 2:9

    Therefore, as surely as I live,” declares the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, “surely Moab will be like Sodom and the Ammonites like Gomorrah—a place of weeds and salt pits, a perpetual…

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 15:1–9

      This is the burden against Moab: Ar in Moab is ruined, destroyed in a night! Kir in Moab is devastated, destroyed in a night!

    • Isaiah 11:14

      They will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines to the west; together they will plunder the sons of the east. They will lay their hands on Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites…

    • Isaiah 25:10

      For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain. But Moab will be trampled in his place as straw is trodden into the dung pile.

  • Through

    Genesis 14:2

    went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).

    it leads to

    • Genesis 13:10

      And Lot looked out and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan, all the way to Zoar, was well watered like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was…

    • Genesis 10:19

      and the borders of Canaan extended from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.

  • Through

    Jeremiah 17:6

    He will be like a shrub in the desert; he will not see when prosperity comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.

    it leads to

    • Job 20:17

      He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream.

    • Psalms 1:4

      Not so the wicked! For they are like chaff driven off by the wind.

    • Job 8:11–13

      Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Do reeds flourish without water?

Where this verse is studied

About Deuteronomy

Moses Comes Down from Mount Sinai, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Moses Comes Down from Mount Sinai, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Deuteronomy: the study guide →Read Deuteronomy 29 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 18.6.7.

Read on in Deuteronomy 29 →