Judgment on the Nations
34 Come (A)near, you nations, to hear;
And heed, you people!
(B)Let the earth hear, and all that is in it,
The world and all things that come forth from it.
2 For the indignation of the Lord is against all nations,
And His fury against all their armies;
He has utterly destroyed them,
He has given them over to the (C)slaughter.
3 Also their slain shall be thrown out;
(D)Their stench shall rise from their corpses,
And the mountains shall be melted with their blood.
4 (E)All the host of heaven shall be dissolved,
And the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll;
(F)All their host shall fall down
As the leaf falls from the vine,
And as (G)fruit falling from a fig tree.
5 “For (H)My sword shall be bathed in heaven;
Indeed it (I)shall come down on Edom,
And on the people of My curse, for judgment.
6 The (J)sword of the Lord is filled with blood,
It is made [a]overflowing with fatness,
With the blood of lambs and goats,
With the fat of the kidneys of rams.
For (K)the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7 The wild oxen shall come down with them,
And the young bulls with the mighty bulls;
Their land shall be soaked with blood,
And their dust [b]saturated with fatness.”
8 For it is the day of the Lord’s (L)vengeance,
The year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
9 (M)Its streams shall be turned into pitch,
And its dust into brimstone;
Its land shall become burning pitch.
10 It shall not be quenched night or day;
(N)Its smoke shall ascend forever.
(O)From generation to generation it shall lie waste;
No one shall pass through it forever and ever.
11 (P)But the [c]pelican and the [d]porcupine shall possess it,
Also the owl and the raven shall dwell in it.
And (Q)He shall stretch out over it
The line of confusion and the stones of emptiness.
12 They shall call its nobles to the kingdom,
But none shall be there, and all its princes shall be nothing.
13 And (R)thorns shall come up in its palaces,
Nettles and brambles in its fortresses;
(S)It shall be a habitation of jackals,
A courtyard for ostriches.
14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the [e]jackals,
And the wild goat shall bleat to its companion;
Also [f]the night creature shall rest there,
And find for herself a place of rest.
15 There the arrow snake shall make her nest and lay eggs
And hatch, and gather them under her shadow;
There also shall the hawks be gathered,
Every one with her mate.
16 “Search from (T)the book of the Lord, and read:
Not one of these shall fail;
Not one shall lack her mate.
For My mouth has commanded it, and His Spirit has gathered them.
17 He has cast the lot for them,
And His hand has divided it among them with a measuring line.
They shall possess it forever;
From generation to generation they shall dwell in it.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 34:6 Lit. fat
- Isaiah 34:7 Lit. made fat
- Isaiah 34:11 Or owl
- Isaiah 34:11 Or hedgehog
- Isaiah 34:14 Lit. howling creatures
- Isaiah 34:14 Heb. lilith
Cross references
- Isaiah 34:1 : Ps. 49:1; Is. 41:1; 43:9
- Isaiah 34:1 : Deut. 32:1; Is. 1:2
- Isaiah 34:2 : Is. 13:5
- Isaiah 34:3 : Joel 2:20; Amos 4:10
- Isaiah 34:4 : Ps. 102:26; Is. 13:13; Ezek. 32:7, 8; Joel 2:31; Matt. 24:29; 2 Pet. 3:10
- Isaiah 34:4 : Is. 14:12
- Isaiah 34:4 : Rev. 6:12–14
- Isaiah 34:5 : Deut. 32:41, 42; Jer. 46:10; Ezek. 21:3–5
- Isaiah 34:5 : Is. 63:1; Jer. 49:7, 8, 20; Ezek. 25:12–14; 35:1–15; Amos 1:11, 12; Obad. 1–14; Mal. 1:4
- Isaiah 34:6 : Is. 66:16
- Isaiah 34:6 : Zeph. 1:7
- Isaiah 34:8 : Is. 63:4
- Isaiah 34:9 : Deut. 29:23; Ps. 11:6; Is. 30:33
- Isaiah 34:10 : Rev. 14:11; 18:18; 19:3
- Isaiah 34:10 : Is. 13:20–22; 24:1; 34:10–15; Mal. 1:3, 4
- Isaiah 34:11 : Is. 14:23; Zeph. 2:14; Rev. 18:2
- Isaiah 34:11 : 2 Kin. 21:13; Lam. 2:8
- Isaiah 34:13 : Is. 32:13; Hos. 9:6
- Isaiah 34:13 : Is. 13:21
- Isaiah 34:16 : [Mal. 3:16]