Deuteronomy 29:23

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:

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
land	אַרְצָהּ֒ 'ar.Tzah	H776	the earth (at large · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
brimstone	גָּפְרִ֣ית ga.fe.Rit	H1614	properly · noun, common feminine singular absolute
salt	וָמֶלַח֮ va.me.Lach	H4417	properly · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
burning	שְׂרֵפָ֣ה se.re.Fah	H8316	cremation · noun, common feminine singular absolute
sown	תִזָּרַע֙ ti.za.Ra'	H2232	to sow · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
beareth	תַצְמִ֔חַ tatz.Mi.ach	H6779	to sprout (transitive or intransitive · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Jeremiah 17:6 For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in…
Zephaniah 2:9 Therefore as I live, saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even…
Genesis 19:24-25 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;
Genesis 14:2 That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the k…
Isaiah 34:9 And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.
Jeremiah 20:16 And let that man be as the cities which the LORD overthrew, and repented not: and let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at n…
Judges 9:45 And Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city, and slew the people that was therein, and beat down the city, and…
Ezekiel 47:11 But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 29:10–end

It appears by the length of the sentences here, and by the copiousness and pungency of the expressions, that Moses, now that he was drawing near to the close of his discourse, was very warm and zealous, and very desirous to impress what he said upon the minds of this unthinking people. To bind them the faster to God and duty, he here, with great solemnity of expression (to make up the want of the external ceremony that was used Exo 24:4 etc.), concludes a bargain (as it were) between them and God, an everlasting covenant, which God would not forget and they must not. He requires not their explicit consent, but lays the matter plainly before them, and then leaves it between God and their own…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Deuteronomy 29:10

Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your God--The whole congregation of Israel, of all ages and conditions, all--young as well as old; menials as well as masters; native Israelites as well as naturalized strangers--all were assembled before the tabernacle to renew the Sinaitic covenant. None of them were allowed to consider themselves as exempt from the terms of that national compact, lest any lapsing into idolatry might prove a root of bitterness, spreading its noxious seed and corrupt influence all around (compare Heb 12:15). It was of the greatest consequence thus to reach the heart and conscience of everyone, for some might delude themselves with the vain idea that by taking the…

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John Gill on Deuteronomy 29:23

And that the whole land thereof is brimstone and salt, and burning,.... That is, is become exceeding barren, as all such land is where there are sulphureous mines, or salt pits, or burning mountains; not that this would be, or has been the case of the land of Judea in a strict literal sense; only these are expressions made use of to show the barrenness of it, which is its case at this day, not through the nature of its soil being changed, but through the slothfulness of the inhabitants of it; to which time it better agrees than to the time of its falling into the hands of the Chaldeans, who left men in it for husbandmen and vinedressers. Aben Ezra understands this as a prayer to God, that t…

The Church Fathers

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 purposes of using this way of speaking are for converting and educating the infant, since we also use a fearful expression with children, not from an actual state of mind but because of a purpose to cause fear.
— Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 18.6.7

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Admah — Earth, one of the five cities of the vale of Siddim (Gen. 10:19). It was destroyed along with Sodom and Gomorrah (19:24; Deut. 29:23). It is supposed by some to be the same as the Adam of Josh. 3:16,…
Covenant — A contract or agreement between two parties. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word berith is always thus translated. Berith is derived from a root which means “to cut,” and hence a covenant is a…
Sodom — Burning; the walled, a city in the vale of Siddim (Gen. 13:10; 14:1-16). The wickedness of its inhabitants brought down upon it fire from heaven, by which it was destroyed (18:16-33; 19:1-29; Deut.…
Zeboim — Gazelles or roes. (1.) One of the “five cities of the plain” of Sodom, generally coupled with Admah (Gen. 10:19; 14:2; Deut. 29:23; Hos. 11:8). It had a king of its own (Shemeber), and was therefore…
Admah · A city in the vale of Siddim — A city in the vale of Siddim
Backsliders · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Brimstone · In Palestine — In Palestine
Gomorrah · General references — General references
Sodom · General references — General references
Zeboim · .One of the cities in the Valley of Siddim — .One of the cities in the Valley of Siddim

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Deuteronomy 29:23

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 29:10–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Deuteronomy 29:10

John Gill on Deuteronomy 29:23

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Deuteronomy 29:23

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 29:10–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Deuteronomy 29:10

John Gill on Deuteronomy 29:23

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Deuteronomy 29:10-28

Keil & Delitzsch on Deuteronomy 29:22-23

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Deuteronomy 29:23

Rashi on Deuteronomy 29:20