The Judgment of the Nations

34 You nations, come here and listen;
you peoples, pay attention!(A)
Let the earth and all that fills it hear,
the world and all that comes from it.(B)
The Lord is angry with all the nations,
furious with all their armies.(C)
He will set them apart for destruction,(D)
giving them over to slaughter.
Their slain will be thrown out,
and the stench of their corpses will rise;(E)
the mountains will flow[a] with their blood.(F)
All[b] the stars in the sky(G) will dissolve.
The sky will roll up like a scroll,(H)
and its stars will all wither
as leaves wither on the vine,
and foliage on the fig tree.(I)

The Judgment of Edom

When my sword has drunk its fill[c](J) in the heavens,
it will then come down on Edom(K)
and on the people I have set apart for destruction.
The Lord’s sword is covered with blood.
It drips with fat,
with the blood of lambs and goats,
with the fat of the kidneys of rams.(L)
For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,(M)
a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
The wild oxen will be struck[d] down with them,
and young bulls with the mighty bulls.
Their land will be soaked with[e] blood,
and their soil will be saturated with fat.
For the Lord has a day of vengeance,(N)
a time of paying back Edom
for its hostility against Zion.
Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch,
her soil into sulfur;(O)
her land will become burning pitch.
10 It will never go out—day or night.
Its smoke will go up forever.(P)
It will be desolate, from generation to generation;
no one will pass through it forever and ever.(Q)
11 Eagle owls[f] and herons[g] will possess it,
and long-eared owls and ravens will dwell there.(R)
The Lord will stretch out a measuring line
and a plumb line(S) over her
for her destruction and chaos.(T)
12 No nobles will be left to proclaim a king,
and all her princes will come to nothing.
13 Her palaces will be overgrown with thorns;
her fortified cities, with thistles and briers.(U)
She will become a dwelling for jackals,
an abode[h] for ostriches.(V)
14 The desert creatures will meet hyenas,
and one wild goat will call to another.
Indeed, the night birds will stay there
and will find a resting place.
15 Sand partridges[i] will make their nests there;
they will lay and hatch their eggs
and will gather their broods under their shadows.
Indeed, the birds of prey will gather there,
each with its mate.(W)
16 Search and read the scroll of the Lord:(X)
Not one of them will be missing,
none will be lacking its mate,
because he has ordered it by my[j] mouth,
and he will gather them by his Spirit.
17 He has cast the lot for them;
his hand allotted their portion with a measuring line.
They will possess it forever;(Y)
they will dwell in it from generation to generation.

Footnotes

  1. 34:3 Or melt, or dissolve
  2. 34:4 DSS read And the valleys will be split, and all
  3. 34:5 DSS read sword will appear
  4. 34:7 Or will go
  5. 34:7 Or will drink its fill of
  6. 34:11 Or Pelicans
  7. 34:11 Or hedgehogs
  8. 34:13 DSS, LXX, Syr, Tg; MT reads jackals, grass
  9. 34:15 Or Arrow snakes, or Owls
  10. 34:16 Some Hb mss; other Hb mss, DSS, Syr, Tg read his

Judgment on the Nations

34 Draw near, (A)O nations, to hear,
    and give attention, O peoples!
Let the earth hear, and all that fills it;
    the world, and all that comes from it.
For the Lord is enraged against all the nations,
    and furious against all their host;
    he has (B)devoted them to destruction,[a] has given them over for slaughter.
Their slain shall be cast out,
    and (C)the stench of their corpses shall rise;
    (D)the mountains shall flow with their blood.
(E)All the host of heaven shall rot away,
    and the skies roll up like a scroll.
All their host shall fall,
    as leaves fall from the vine,
    like leaves falling from the fig tree.

For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens;
    behold, it descends for judgment upon (F)Edom,
    upon the people (G)I have devoted to destruction.
The Lord has a sword; it is sated with blood;
    it is gorged with fat,
    with the blood of lambs and goats,
    with the fat of the kidneys of rams.
(H)For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
    a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
(I)Wild oxen shall (J)fall with them,
    and (K)young steers with (L)the mighty bulls.
Their land shall drink its fill of blood,
    and their soil shall be gorged with fat.

(M)For the Lord has a day of vengeance,
    a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
(N)And the streams of Edom[b] shall be turned into pitch,
    and her soil into sulfur;
    her land shall become burning pitch.
10 Night and day (O)it shall not be quenched;
    (P)its smoke shall go up forever.
(Q)From generation to generation it shall lie waste;
    none shall pass through it forever and ever.
11 (R)But the hawk and the porcupine[c] shall possess it,
    the owl and the raven shall dwell in it.
(S)He shall stretch the line of (T)confusion[d] over it,
    and the plumb line of emptiness.
12 Its nobles—there is no one there to call it a kingdom,
    and all its princes shall be nothing.

13 (U)Thorns shall grow over its strongholds,
    nettles and thistles in its fortresses.
It shall be the haunt of (V)jackals,
    an abode for ostriches.[e]
14 (W)And wild animals shall meet with hyenas;
    the wild goat shall cry to his fellow;
indeed, there the night bird[f] settles
    and finds for herself a resting place.

15 There the owl nests and lays
    and hatches and gathers her young in her shadow;
indeed, there (X)the hawks are gathered,
    each one with her mate.
16 Seek and read from the book of the Lord:
    Not one of these shall be missing;
    none shall be without her mate.
For the mouth of the Lord has commanded,
    and his Spirit has gathered them.
17 (Y)He has cast the lot for them;
    his hand has portioned it out to them with the line;
they shall possess it forever;
    from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 34:2 That is, set apart (devoted) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction); also verse 5
  2. Isaiah 34:9 Hebrew her streams
  3. Isaiah 34:11 The identity of the animals rendered hawk and porcupine is uncertain
  4. Isaiah 34:11 Hebrew formlessness
  5. Isaiah 34:13 Or owls
  6. Isaiah 34:14 Identity uncertain