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Isaiah 34:7-15
The Message
Isaiah 34:7-15
The Message
5-7 “Once I’ve finished with earth and sky,
I’ll start in on Edom.
I’ll come down hard on Edom,
a people I’ve slated for total termination.”
God has a sword, thirsty for blood and more blood,
a sword hungry for well-fed flesh,
Lamb and goat blood,
the suet-rich kidneys of rams.
Yes, God has scheduled a sacrifice in Bozrah, the capital,
the whole country of Edom a slaughterhouse.
A wholesale slaughter, wild animals
and farm animals alike slaughtered.
The whole country soaked with blood,
all the ground greasy with fat.
8-15 It’s God’s scheduled time for vengeance,
the year all Zion’s accounts are settled.
Edom’s streams will flow sluggish, thick with pollution,
the soil sterile, poisoned with waste,
The whole country
a smoking, stinking garbage dump—
The fires burning day and night,
the skies black with endless smoke.
Generation after generation of wasteland—
no more travelers through this country!
Vultures and skunks will police the streets;
owls and crows will feel at home there.
God will reverse creation. Chaos!
He will cancel fertility. Emptiness!
Leaders will have no one to lead.
They’ll name it No Kingdom There,
A country where all kings
and princes are unemployed.
Thistles will take over, covering the castles,
fortresses conquered by weeds and thornbushes.
Wild dogs will prowl the ruins,
ostriches have the run of the place.
Wildcats and hyenas will hunt together,
demons and devils dance through the night.
The night-demon Lilith, evil and rapacious,
will establish permanent quarters.
Scavenging carrion birds will breed and brood,
infestations of ominous evil.
Isaiah 34:7-15
New International Version
Isaiah 34:7-15
New International Version
7 And the wild oxen(A) will fall with them,
the bull calves and the great bulls.(B)
Their land will be drenched with blood,(C)
and the dust will be soaked with fat.
8 For the Lord has a day(D) of vengeance,(E)
a year of retribution,(F) to uphold Zion’s cause.
9 Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch,
her dust into burning sulfur;(G)
her land will become blazing pitch!
10 It will not be quenched(H) night or day;
its smoke will rise forever.(I)
From generation to generation(J) it will lie desolate;(K)
no one will ever pass through it again.
11 The desert owl[a](L) and screech owl[b] will possess it;
the great owl[c] and the raven(M) will nest there.
God will stretch out over Edom(N)
the measuring line of chaos(O)
and the plumb line(P) of desolation.
12 Her nobles will have nothing there to be called a kingdom,
all her princes(Q) will vanish(R) away.
13 Thorns(S) will overrun her citadels,
nettles and brambles her strongholds.(T)
She will become a haunt for jackals,(U)
a home for owls.(V)
14 Desert creatures(W) will meet with hyenas,(X)
and wild goats will bleat to each other;
there the night creatures(Y) will also lie down
and find for themselves places of rest.
15 The owl will nest there and lay eggs,
she will hatch them, and care for her young
under the shadow of her wings;(Z)
there also the falcons(AA) will gather,
each with its mate.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 34:11 The precise identification of these birds is uncertain.
- Isaiah 34:11 The precise identification of these birds is uncertain.
- Isaiah 34:11 The precise identification of these birds is uncertain.
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.