Isaiah 34
English Standard Version
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.
2 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.
3 Their slain shall be cast out,
and (C)the stench of their corpses shall rise;
(D)the mountains shall flow with their blood.
4 (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.
5 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.
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.
(H)For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7 (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.
8 (M)For the Lord has a day of vengeance,
a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
9 (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
- Isaiah 34:2 That is, set apart (devoted) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction); also verse 5
- Isaiah 34:9 Hebrew her streams
- Isaiah 34:11 The identity of the animals rendered hawk and porcupine is uncertain
- Isaiah 34:11 Hebrew formlessness
- Isaiah 34:13 Or owls
- Isaiah 34:14 Identity uncertain
Isaiah 34
1599 Geneva Bible
34 1 He showeth that God punisheth the wicked for the love that he beareth toward his Church.
1 Come near, ye [a]nations and hear, and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear and all that is therein, the world and all that proceedeth thereof.
2 For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and his wrath upon all their armies: he hath [b]destroyed them and delivered them to the slaughter.
3 And their slain shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their bodies, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.
4 And all the host of heaven [c]shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be folded like a book: and all their hosts shall fall as the leaf falleth from the vine, and as it falleth from the fig tree.
5 For my sword shall be [d]drunken in the heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Edom, even upon the people of [e]my curse to judgment.
6 The sword of the Lord is filled with blood: it is made fat with the fat and with the blood of the [f]lambs and the goats, with the fat of the kidneys of the rams: for the Lord hath a sacrifice in [g]Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7 And the [h]unicorn shall come down with them, and the heifers with the bulls, and their land shall be drunken with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.
8 For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompense for the judgment of Zion.
9 And the rivers thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into [i]brimstone, and the land thereof shall be burning pitch.
10 It shall not be quenched night nor day: the smoke thereof shall go up evermore: it shall be desolate from generation to generation; none shall pass through it forever.
11 But the pelican [j]and the hedgehog shall possess it, and the great owl, and the raven shall dwell in it, and he shall stretch out upon it the line of [k]vanity, and the stones of emptiness.
12 [l]The nobles thereof shall call to the kingdom, and there shall be none, and all the princes thereof shall be as nothing.
13 And it shall bring forth thorns in the palaces thereof, nettles, and thistles in the strongholds thereof, and it shall be an habitation for dragons, and a court for ostriches.
14 There shall [m]meet also Ziim and Iim, and the Satyr shall cry to his fellow, and the screech owl shall rest there, and shall find for herself a quiet dwelling.
15 There [n]shall the owl make her nest, and lay and hatch, and gather them under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her make.
16 Seek in the [o]book of the Lord, and read: none of [p]these shall fail, none shall want her make: for [q]his mouth hath commanded, and his very spirit hath gathered them.
17 And he hath cast the [r]lot for them, and his hand hath divided unto them by line: they shall possess it forever: from generation to generation shall they dwell in it.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 34:1 He prophesieth of the destruction of the Edomites and other nations which were enemies to the Church.
- Isaiah 34:2 God hath determined in his counsel, and hath given sentence for their destruction.
- Isaiah 34:4 He speaketh this in respect of man’s judgment, who in great fear and horrible troubles, thinketh that heaven and earth perisheth.
- Isaiah 34:5 I have determined in my secret counsel, and in the heavens to destroy them till my sword be weary with shedding of blood.
- Isaiah 34:5 They had an opinion of holiness, because they came of the Patriarch Isaac, but in effect were accursed of God, and enemies unto his Church, as the Papists are.
- Isaiah 34:6 That is, both of young and old, poor and rich of his enemies.
- Isaiah 34:6 That famous city shall be consumed as a sacrifice burnt to ashes.
- Isaiah 34:7 The mighty and rich shall be as well destroyed as the inferiors.
- Isaiah 34:9 He alludeth to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Gen. 19:24.
- Isaiah 34:11 Read Isa. 13:21 and Zeph. 2:14.
- Isaiah 34:11 In vain shall any man go about to build it again.
- Isaiah 34:12 Meaning, here shall be neither order nor policy, nor state of commonweal.
- Isaiah 34:14 Read Isa. 13:21.
- Isaiah 34:15 Signifying, that Edom should be an horrible desolation and barren wilderness.
- Isaiah 34:16 That is, in the Law where such curses are threatened against the wicked.
- Isaiah 34:16 To wit, beasts and souls.
- Isaiah 34:16 That is, the mouth of the Lord.
- Isaiah 34:17 He hath given the beasts and fowls Edom for an inheritance.
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