Isaiah 34-35
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
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)
2 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)
3 Their slain shall be cast out,
and the stench of their corpses shall rise;
the mountains shall flow with their blood.(C)
4 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)
5 When my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens,
upon Edom it will fall,
upon the people I have doomed to judgment.(E)
6 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)
7 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)
8 For the Lord has a day of vengeance,
a year of vindication for Zion’s cause.[a](H)
9 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)
The Return of the Redeemed to Zion
35 The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;
the desert shall rejoice and blossom;
like the crocus(Q) 2 it shall blossom abundantly
and rejoice with joy and shouting.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the Lord,
the majesty of our God.]][e](R)
3 Strengthen the weak hands
and make firm the feeble knees.(S)
4 Say to those who are of a fearful heart,
“Be strong, do not fear!
Here is your God.
He will come with vengeance,
with terrible recompense.
He will come and save you.”(T)
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf shall be opened;(U)
6 then the lame shall leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.
For waters shall break forth in the wilderness
and streams in the desert;(V)
7 the burning sand shall become a pool
and the thirsty ground springs of water;
the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp;[f]
the grass shall become reeds and rushes.(W)
8 A highway shall be there,[g]
and it shall be called the Holy Way;
the unclean shall not travel on it,[h]
but it shall be for God’s people;[i]
no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.(X)
9 No lion shall be there,
nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there.(Y)
10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.(Z)
Footnotes
- 34.8 Or of recompense by Zion’s defender
- 34.9 Heb her streams
- 34.11 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 34.11 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 34.17–35.2 Q ms lacks 34.17–35.2
- 35.7 Cn: Heb in the haunt of jackals is her resting place
- 35.8 Q ms Gk Syr: MT A highway and a way shall be there
- 35.8 Or pass it by
- 35.8 Cn: Heb for them
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.