Deuteronomy 29:23

Deu 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:

Ver. 23. And beareth not any grass.] As they say no ground doth where the great Turk hath once set his foot; such waste he makes, and such desolation he leaves behind him.

Like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah.] {See Trapp on "Gen 19:24"} {See Trapp on "Gen 19:25"}

Admah and Zeboim.] Which two cities, bordering on Sodom and Gomorrah, were the worse, and fared the worse, for their neighbourhood, as Hamath did for Damascus. {Zec 9:2} God overthrew them, and repented not. {Jer 20:16}

And that the whole land thereof is brimstone and salt.] In the fire that consumed Sodom there was, it seemeth, admixed salt, to make the land barren, and to pickle up the people; brimstone also to keep down with its weight the fire, which of itself was light, and tended upwards.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

29:23 like . . . Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim: In the days of Abraham and Lot, these cities were destroyed because of their gross immorality; their destruction was associated with sulfur and salt (Gen 19:23-28).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(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.—Can this be a description of the same country of which it was written in Deu_8:7-9, “A good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness;” and (Deu_11:12) “a land which the Lord thy God careth for”? Yet every one knows which of these two descriptions has been nearer to the actual fact for many centuries.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

23. brimstone, etc.] The prediction is in terms of the surroundings of the Dead Sea. Beareth, lit. causeth to sprout; grass better herbage.

Sodom … Zeboiim] Amo_4:11, Hos_11:8; Gen_14:2; Gen_19:24 f.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Even all nations shall say,.... For the destruction of this land, and the people of it, would be, as it has been, so very great and awful, and so very remarkable and surprising, that the fame of it would be heard among all the nations of the world, as it has been; who, upon hearing the sad report of it, would ask the following questions:

wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this land? so distinguished from all others for the fruitfulness and pleasantness of it; the people, the inhabitants of which, he chose, above all others, to be a special and peculiar people; and where he had a temple built for him, and where he had his residence, and worship used to be given unto him:

what meaneth the heat of this great anger? what is the reason of his stirring up his fierce wrath, and causing it to burn in so furious a manner? surely it must be something very horrible and provoking indeed!

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Of salt. This salt was of a bituminous or sulphureous nature, which would burn like oil, and was sometimes used in lamps. (Herodotus, ii. 62; Pliny, [Natural History?] ii. 104.) It dried up the moisture of the earth, and rendered it barren. For which reason, it was scattered upon such places as were no longer to be cultivated, or inhabited. Abimelech sowed some on the ruins of Sichem, Judges ix. 45. It seems that Palestine now feels the effects of this curse; as, for the most part, it is uncultivated, and a desert, though once so flourishing. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Is brimstone, and salt, and burning, i.e. is burnt up and made barren, as with brimstone and salt. See Jdg 9:45; Psa 107:34; Jer 17:6; Eze 47:11.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

23. The whole land thereof is brimstone, etc. — The description is taken from the Dead Sea and the destruction of the Cities of the Plain.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, etc.; rather, sulfur and salt, a burning the whole land thereof, it shall not be sown, etc. The words "sulfur," etc., are in apposition to the "plagues and sicknesses" of ver. 22, and thus so far depend on the "see." The description here is taken from the country around the Dead Sea, to which there is an express allusion in the close of the verse. (cf. Gen_19:23, etc.) As this country, which before had been as the garden of the Lord, became, when the wrath of God was poured upon it, utterly desolate and waste; so should it be with the land of Israel when the plagues and sicknesses threatened were laid on it by the Lord.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Salt and burning - Is burnt up and made barren, as with brimstone and salt.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.