Isaiah 34
Easy-to-Read Version
God Will Punish His Enemies
34 All you nations, come near and listen! Listen, all you people. The earth and everyone on it should listen to these things. Everything in this world should hear this. 2 The Lord is angry with all the nations and their armies. He will destroy them all and put them to death. 3 Their bodies will be thrown outside. The stink will rise from the bodies, and the blood will flow down the mountains. 4 The skies will be rolled shut like a scroll,[a] and the stars will die and fall like leaves from a vine or a fig tree. All the stars[b] in the sky will rot away. 5 The Lord says, “This will happen when my sword in the sky is covered with blood.”
Look, the Lord’s sword will cut through Edom. He judged them guilty, and they must die.[c] 6 The Lord decided there should be a time for killing in Bozrah and in Edom. So the sword of the Lord is covered with blood and fat. The blood is from the “goats.” The fat is from the kidneys of the “rams.”[d] 7 So the rams, the cattle, and the strong bulls will be killed. The land will be filled with their blood. The dirt will be covered with their fat.
8 This will happen because the Lord has chosen a time for punishment. He has chosen a year when people must pay for the wrong they did to Zion. 9 Edom’s rivers will be like hot tar. Edom’s ground will be like burning sulfur. 10 The fires will burn day and night—no one will stop the fire. The smoke will rise from Edom forever. The land will be destroyed forever and ever. No one will ever travel through that land again. 11 Birds and small animals will own that land. It will be a home for owls and ravens. God will leave that land in ruins. People will call it “the empty desert.”[e] 12 The free men[f] and leaders will all be gone, and there will be nothing left for them to rule.
13 Thorns and wild bushes will grow in all the beautiful homes there. Wild dogs and owls will live in them. Wild animals will make their homes there. Big birds will live in the grasses that grow there. 14 Wild cats will live there with hyenas.[g] Wild goats[h] will call to their friends. Night animals[i] will spend some time there and find a place to rest. 15 Snakes will make their homes there and lay their eggs. The eggs will open, and small snakes will crawl from the dark places. Birds that eat dead things will gather there like women visiting their friends.
16 Look in the Lord’s scroll and read what it says: Not one of these will be missing. Not one will be without its mate. God said he would make this happen, so his Spirit will bring them together. 17 God decided what he should do with them, and then he chose a place for them. He drew a line and showed them their land. So the animals will own that land forever. They will live there year after year.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 34:4 rolled shut like a scroll This is like someone closing a book when they have finished reading it.
- Isaiah 34:4 stars Literally, “the armies of the skies.”
- Isaiah 34:5 guilty, and they must die The Hebrew means the people belonged completely to God, and if he does not get them, they must die.
- Isaiah 34:6 goats … rams This probably refers to the people and leaders of Edom.
- Isaiah 34:11 God … desert Literally, “He will stretch over it the measuring string of ‘emptiness’ and the stone weights of ‘nothingness.’” These two words described the empty earth in Gen. 1:2.
- Isaiah 34:12 free men Important citizens of a town or country. These people came from “good families” and had never been slaves.
- Isaiah 34:14 hyenas A kind of wild dog that often eats the meat of dead animals that other animals killed.
- Isaiah 34:14 Wild goats The Hebrew word means “hairy,” “goat,” or “goat-demon.”
- Isaiah 34:14 Night animals Or “Lilith, the night demon.” This name is like the Hebrew word for night.
以賽亞書 34
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Traditional)
審判列國
34 列國啊，近前來聽吧！
列邦啊，留心聽吧！
大地和地上的萬物、世界和世上的一切都要聽。
2 因為耶和華向列國發怒，
向他們的軍隊發烈怒。
祂要毀滅他們，殺盡他們。
3 他們必曝屍在外，
臭氣燻天，
血浸山嶺。
4 天上的萬象必融化，
穹蒼像書卷捲起；
星辰隕落，
像凋零的葡萄葉，
又像枯落的無花果。
5 耶和華的刀劍在天上飽飲了血後，
必降下來懲罰以東——祂決意要毀滅的民族。
6 祂的刀沾滿了血和脂肪，
如同羊羔、公山羊的血和公綿羊腎臟上的脂肪。
因為耶和華要在波斯拉獻祭，
在以東大行殺戮。
7 他們像野牛、牛犢和公牛一樣倒下。
他們的土地被血浸透，
土壤被脂肪覆蓋。
8 因為這是耶和華報應的日子，
是祂為錫安報仇之年。
9 以東的河流要變為瀝青，
土壤要變成硫磺，
大地要成為燃燒的瀝青，
10 晝夜燃燒，濃煙滾滾，
永不止息。
以東必世世代代荒廢，
人蹤絕跡。
11 鵜鶘和刺蝟必佔據那裡，
貓頭鷹和烏鴉必在那裡做窩。
耶和華要用準繩和線錘丈量以東，
使它空虛混沌。
12 以東沒有一個顯貴可以做王，
那裡所有的首領全都消失。
13 那裡的宮殿荊棘叢生，
蒺藜、刺草遍佈堅城，
成了野狗的巢穴和鴕鳥的住處。
14 在那裡，豺狼和曠野的其他走獸出沒，
野山羊對叫，
夜間的怪物棲息，
找到安歇之處。
15 貓頭鷹要在那裡做窩，
產卵，孵化，
把幼鳥保護在翅膀底下，
鷙鳥也成雙成對地聚集在那裡。
16 你們要去查考、閱讀耶和華的書卷：
以上的動物一個也不會少，
無一缺少配偶。
因為這是耶和華親口說的，
祂的靈必把牠們聚在一起。
17 祂親手為牠們抽籤，
用準繩為牠們分地。
牠們必永遠佔據那裡，
世世代代住在那裡。
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