Jeremiah 49:18

Jer 49:18 As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour [cities] thereof, saith the LORD, no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it.

Ver. 18. As in the overthrow of Sodom.] See Gen 19:24-25.

And the neighbour cities.] Whereof see Deu 29:23.

No man shall abide there.] As little as in the Dead Sea, where no creature can live.

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.

49:18 As had occurred with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Edom would become uninhabited.

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

(Jer 50:40; Deu 29:23; Amo 4:11).

no man shall abide there--that is, of the Idumeans. The Romans had a garrison there.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 18. As in the overthrow of Sodom] The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbouring cities was so terrible, that, when God denounces judgments against incorrigible sinners, he tells them they shall be like Sodom and Gomorrah.

No man shall abide there] It shall be so desolate as not to be habitable. Travellers may lodge on the ground for a night; but it cannot become a permanent dwelling.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

He expresses more at large what he had briefly included in one word: he had said, that Edom would become a waste; but he now shews what sort of waste it would be, even such as that of Sodom and Gomorrah, and other cities; for God, as it is well known, destroyed the five cities against which he fulminated.

And hence again we learn, that there was no hope left for the Idumeans; as though the Prophet had said, that their final overthrow was inevitable, because God would have them wholly destroyed, and their memory obliterated. It is yet probable that there were some remnant of the nation; but this was not inconsistent with this prophecy, because they who remained alive became so scattered, that they never formed one people, nor had any name. And though God might have chosen some from that nation, yet this favor remained hid, and, as it was unknown to men, it can hardly be taken to the account. However this may have been, we must bear in mind what I have before briefly referred to, — that the Idumeans were so accursed, that their calamity was much severer than that of other nations; and this they had deserved by their unnatural cruelty and many contumelies towards the miserable Israelites, their own relatives. This, then, was the reason why Jeremiah compared the land to, Sodom and Gomorrah, and the other cities; no man shall dwell there, that is, the country shall be desolate.

And yet it appears, from history, that that country was afterwards inhabited, for even the Romans placed there a garrison. But the Prophet, as I have already said, meant that none of the Idumeans would survive to possess the land, so as to become a nation. Though, then, other inhabitants might have afterwards possessed the land, this was nothing to the Idumeans; for that people had perished, and from that time no restoration followed: this was sufficient as a fulfillment of this prophecy. Nay, it was a harder thing, that their land should receive aliens and strangers, than if it had been left desolate.

But we must also bear in mind the common mode of speaking adopted by the Prophets; for when they adduce Sodom and Gomorrah as examples, they speak hyperbolically; and there is no need here to accumulate passages to prove this; for they who are in any tolerable measure acquainted with Scripture, must know that whenever mention is made of Sodom and Gomorrah, all pardon and alleviation of punishment are excluded. Isaiah, extolling God’s mercy towards his chosen people, says,

“Had not God left us a very small seed, we must have been as Sodom and like to Gomorrah.” (Isaiah 1:9)

And this mode of speaking, as I have said, often occurs in Scripture; yea, even our Prophet threatened the Israelites with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, (Jeremiah 23:14.) The words, no doubt, are used hyperbolically; for God had not fulminated against other lands or nations and sunk them in the deep, as he had done to Sodom and Gomorrah. But in comparisons all parts do not correspond.

Now, some one may ask, Why does God thus exceed due limits in speaking? To this I answer, that it is not done without just reason and necessity. We indeed see that men are indifferent to God’s judgments; for such is their sloth and insensibility, that they disregard as a light thing, or deem as nothing, what God threatens. As then men are so brutish, being unmoved by God’s threatenings, it is necessary that such indifference should be roused and awakened. He therefore sets Sodom and Gomorrah before their eyes; and as Jude also says, there an example of all the punishments which await the reprobate has been exhibited. (Jude 7.) God therefore designed to represent once for all, as in a mirror, how dreadful will be his vengeance on all the wicked. Since it is so, to the same end is this threatening, that God would destroy the Idumeans and all like them, as he did Sodom and Gomorrah, so that none would survive, though aliens might come and succeed the Idumeans and occupy their inheritance. I cannot now finish; we shall leave the other comparison.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(18) Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof.—The destruction of the two cities named had become proverbial, as in Isa_1:9; Jer_13:19; Amo_4:11. What is noticeable here is the mention of the “neighbour cities.” We may connect it with the fact that they are named as Admah and Zeboim in Deu_29:23.

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

18. Sodom and Gomorrah] The comparison appears to be taken from Deu_29:23, where the neighbour cities are mentioned by name (Admah and Zeboiim). See Gen_10:19; Gen_14:2; Gen_14:8; Deu_29:23. The v. recurs in Jer_50:40.

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.

As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah,.... Which was so sudden and general, that nothing was left, or any spared; so should it be with Edom:

and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the Lord; the cities that were in the plain, Admah and Zeboim:

no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it; that is, of the race of Edom; no Idumean should inhabit it; otherwise those who conquered it should, and doubtless did. There seems to be some allusion to the Dead sea, these cities became, to which Edom is compared, and so were quite uninhabitable.

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

Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities were utterly destroyed, and therefore are set down, both here and Jer 50:40, as patterns of an utter ruin and desolation.

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

18. As… Sodom and Gomorrah — Not the manner, but the fact, and the utterness of the overthrow is the point of comparison. As Edom was in the immediate neighborhood of Sodom, the comparison was natural.

No man… son of man — This language is universal, and not limited to the Idumeans, as Fausset claims without any warrant.

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

As in the overthrow, etc.; comp. Deu_29:2, which explains the reference in "the neighbour cities" (Admah and Zeboim). The verse is repeated in Jer_50:40; It does not, of course, mean that rite and brimstone should be the agents of destruction, (nor is even Isa_34:9 to be understood literally) but that the desolate appearance of Edom should remind of that of the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea. (comp. Isa_13:19 Amo_4:11)

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