Lamentations 4:6
For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her. For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her.
The punishment for the iniquity of the daughter of the people, Jerusalem, was greater than the punishment for the sin of Sodom. Sodom was overthrown as in a moment, meaning its punishment was sudden and brief. That no hands stayed on her means no hands intervened to help, save, or stop her overthrow or to prolong it, emphasizing that the work was completed without human intervention.
The chapter describes suffering under the Babylonians that was comparable to, as great as or greater than, the suffering of Jerusalem in its later fall, so that later suffering was not unprecedented and cannot be called the greatest tribulation ever experienced. Sodom's punishment was finished in its destruction, which shows its judgment took place then and does not continue as torment after death, so the Sodomites are not now being punished. Sodom's swift destruction is set forth as an example of the sudden, complete destruction awaiting the wicked, not of unending conscious torment.
The destruction connected with Sodom's eternal fire happened quickly and left the cities in ruins as ashes instead of keeping the people alive in flames, showing that eternal describes the lasting result and that a consuming fire can complete its work without burning forever. Sodom's overthrow exemplifies what will happen to all the ungodly after the resurrection to damnation, when fire comes down from heaven and the whole earth becomes a lake of fire.