‘All its land is brimstone and salt, burned debris, unsown and unproductive, and no grass grows on it, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and in His wrath.’
Parallel translations
- WEB and that all of its land is sulfur, salt, and burning, that it is not sown, doesn’t produce, nor does any grass grow in it, like the overthrow of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which Yahweh 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:
- BSB 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.
- NKJV ‘The whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and His wrath.’
- NLT They will exclaim, ‘The whole land is devastated by sulfur and salt. It is a wasteland with nothing planted and nothing growing, not even a blade of grass. It is like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed in his intense anger.’
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The land will lie ruined like Sodom and Gomorrah, barren and burned. Covenant judgment can make a fruitful land a wasteland.
Overview
The devastation is compared to the overthrow of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, total and irreversible ruin. Salt and sulfur picture a land made permanently unfruitful by divine wrath. This stark image links Israel's potential judgment to the archetypal judgment on the cities of the plain, warning that no people is exempt from God's righteous justice.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Zeph 2:9Therefore as I live, says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, surely Moab will be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, a possession of nettles, and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation. The remnant of my people will plunder them, and the survivors of my nation will inherit them.
- Jer 17:6For he shall be like a bush in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land and not inhabited.
- Isa 34:9Its streams will be turned into pitch, its dust into sulfur, And its land will become burning pitch.
- Gen 14:2they made war with Bera, king of Sodom, and with Birsha, king of Gomorrah, Shinab, king of Admah, and Shemeber, king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (also called Zoar).
- Gen 19:24–25Then Yahweh rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah sulfur and fire from Yahweh out of the sky.
- Luke 17:29but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from the sky, and destroyed them all.
- Jer 20:16Let that man be as the cities which Yahweh overthrew, and didn’t repent. Let him hear a cry in the morning, and shouting at noontime;
- Judg 9:45Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city, and killed the people in it. He beat down the city, and sowed it with salt.
- Amos 4:11“I have overthrown some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a burning stick plucked out of the fire; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
- Hos 11:8–9“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within me, my compassion is aroused.
- Ezek 47:11But the miry places of it, and its marshes, shall not be healed; they shall be given up to salt.
- Luke 14:34–35Salt is good, but if the salt becomes flat and tasteless, with what do you season it?
- Job 18:15There shall dwell in his tent that which is none of his. Sulfur shall be scattered on his habitation.
- Ps 107:34and a fruitful land into a salt waste, for the wickedness of those who dwell in it.
- Rev 19:20The beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who worked the signs in his sight, with which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.
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Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 29:23 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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