Bible Strands
Jeremiah 50:40
As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah along with their neighbors,” declares the LORD, “no one will dwell there; no man will abide there.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD speaks through Jeremiah to pronounce permanent desolation on a target nation, positioning this oracle between a description of wild animals inhabiting the ruins and a warning of an advancing northern army. The declaration functions as a judicial decree delivered at a moment of impending conquest.
The words — The Hebrew כְּמַהְפֶּכֶת (kemahpeket) literally translates to "like the overthrow" or "as the overturning," establishing a direct structural comparison to a past event. It anchors the prophecy in the concrete historical reality of God’s destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah along with their surrounding settlements.
The thread — This comparative judgment pattern appears in Genesis 19:24 detailing the original destruction, in Isaiah 13:19 applying the same standard to Babylon, and in Jeremiah 49:18 using it for Edom. The motif consistently links total, irreversible abandonment to divine intervention.
Why it lands — The text states that no human will inhabit the land again, matching the absolute ruin of the referenced cities. It requires the reader to accept the inevitability of the coming military conquest and the permanent cessation of human settlement in the region.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the Lord; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.
Cross-references
- Genesis 19:24 Then the LORD rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens.
- Isaiah 13:19 And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.
- Jeremiah 49:18 As Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown along with their neighbors,” says the LORD, “no one will dwell there; no man will abide there.
- Luke 17:28 It was the same in the days of Lot: People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.
- 2 Peter 2:6 if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes as an example of what is coming on the ungodly;
- Jude 1:7 In 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.
- Deuteronomy 29:23 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.
- Isaiah 1:9 Unless the LORD of Hosts had left us a few survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.
- Jeremiah 51:26 No one shall retrieve from you a cornerstone or a foundation stone, because you will become desolate forever,” declares the LORD.
- Hosea 11:8 How 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!