Charles Ellicott Commentary Deuteronomy 29:23

"[and that] the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, [and] a burning, [that] it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which Jehovah overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:" — Deuteronomy 29:23 (ASV)

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 Deuteronomy 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 (Deuteronomy 11:12) a land which the Lord thy God careth for? Yet everyone knows which of these two descriptions has been nearer to the actual fact for many centuries.