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34 Come near, you nations, to hear!
    Listen, you peoples.
    Let the earth and all it contains hear,
    the world, and everything that comes from it.
For Yahweh is enraged against all the nations,
    and angry with all their armies.
He has utterly destroyed them.
    He has given them over for slaughter.
Their slain will also be cast out,
    and the stench of their dead bodies will come up.
    The mountains will melt in their blood.
All of the army of the sky will be dissolved.
    The sky will be rolled up like a scroll,
    and all its armies will fade away,
    as a leaf fades from off a vine or a fig tree.
For my sword has drunk its fill in the sky.
    Behold, it will come down on Edom,
    and on the people of my curse, for judgment.
Yahweh’s sword is filled with blood.
    It is covered with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats,
    with the fat of the kidneys of rams;
    for Yahweh has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
    And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
The wild oxen will come down with them,
    and the young bulls with the mighty bulls;
    and their land will be drunken with blood,
    and their dust made greasy with fat.

For Yahweh has a day of vengeance,
    a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
Its streams will be turned into pitch,
    its dust into sulfur,
    And its land will become burning pitch.
10 It won’t be quenched night or day.
    Its smoke will go up forever.
    From generation to generation, it will lie waste.
    No one will pass through it forever and ever.
11 But the pelican and the porcupine will possess it.
    The owl and the raven will dwell in it.
He will stretch the line of confusion over it,
    and the plumb line of emptiness.
12 They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, but none shall be there;
    and all its princes shall be nothing.
13 Thorns will come up in its palaces,
    nettles and thistles in its fortresses;
    and it will be a habitation of jackals,
    a court for ostriches.
14 The wild animals of the desert will meet with the wolves,
    and the wild goat will cry to his fellow.
Yes, the night creature[a] shall settle there,
    and shall find herself a place of rest.
15 The arrow snake will make her nest there,
    and lay, hatch, and gather under her shade.
    Yes, the kites will be gathered there, every one with her mate.

16 Search in the book of Yahweh, and read:
    not one of these will be missing.
    None will lack her mate.
    For my mouth has commanded,
    and his Spirit has gathered them.
17 He has cast the lot for them,
    and his hand has divided it to them with a measuring line.
    They shall possess it forever.
    From generation to generation they will dwell in it.

Footnotes

  1. 34:14 literally, lilith, which could also be a night demon or night monster

Judgment on the Nations

34 Draw near, O nations, to hear;
    O peoples, give heed!
Let the earth hear and all that fills it,
    the world and all that comes from it.(A)
For the Lord is enraged against all the nations
    and furious against all their hordes;
    he has doomed them, has given them over for slaughter.(B)
Their slain shall be cast out,
    and the stench of their corpses shall rise;
    the mountains shall flow with their blood.(C)
All the host of heaven shall rot away,
    and the skies roll up like a scroll.
All their host shall wither
    like a leaf withering on a vine
    or fruit withering on a fig tree.(D)

When my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens,
    upon Edom it will fall,
    upon the people I have doomed to judgment.(E)
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.
For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
    a great slaughter in the land of Edom.(F)
Wild oxen shall fall with them
    and young steers with the mighty bulls.
Their land shall be soaked with blood,
    and their soil made rich with fat.(G)

For the Lord has a day of vengeance,
    a year of vindication for Zion’s cause.[a](H)
And the streams of Edom[b] shall be turned into pitch
    and her soil into sulfur;
    her land shall become burning pitch.(I)
10 Night and day it shall not be quenched;
    its smoke shall go up forever.
From generation to generation it shall lie waste;
    no one shall pass through it forever and ever.(J)
11 But the desert owl[c] and the screech owl[d] shall possess it;
    the great owl and the raven shall live in it.
He shall stretch the line of confusion
    and the plummet of chaos over it.(K)
12 They shall call its nobles No Kingdom There,
    and all its princes shall be nothing.
13 Thorns shall grow over its strongholds,
    nettles and thistles in its fortresses.
It shall be the haunt of jackals,
    an abode for ostriches.(L)
14 Wildcats shall meet with hyenas;
    goat-demons shall call to each other;
there also Lilith shall repose
    and find a place to rest.(M)
15 There shall the owl nest
    and lay and hatch and brood in its shadow;
there also the buzzards shall gather,
    each one with its mate.(N)
16 Seek and read from the book of the Lord:
    Not one of these shall be missing;
    none shall be without its mate.
For his mouth, it has commanded,
    and his spirit, it has gathered them.(O)
17 He has cast the lot for them;
    his hand has portioned it out to them with the line.
[[They shall possess it;
    from generation to generation they shall live in it.(P)

Footnotes

  1. 34.8 Or of recompense by Zion’s defender
  2. 34.9 Heb her streams
  3. 34.11 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  4. 34.11 Meaning of Heb uncertain