Isaiah 34
New Catholic Bible
The Lord, Zion’s Defender[a]
Chapter 34
The End of Edom
1 Draw near, you nations, and listen;
pay attention, you peoples.
Let the earth and everything in it listen,
the world and all that issues forth from it.
2 For the Lord is angry with all the nations
and enraged against all their armies;
he has decreed their doom
and given them over to slaughter.
3 Their slain will be cast out,
and their corpses will emit a stench;
the mountains will flow with their blood.
4 All the host of heaven will crumble into nothing,
and the heavens will be rolled up like a scroll.
All their host will wither away
as the leaves wither on a vine
or as the fruit withers on a fig tree.
5 When my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens,
lo, it will descend upon Edom,
upon a people I have doomed to destruction.
6 The Lord has a sword sated with blood;
it is greasy 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
and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7 Wild oxen will also be struck down alongside them
as will the bullocks with the bulls.
Their land will be drenched with blood
and their soil will be greasy with fat.
8 For the Lord has a day of vengeance,
a year of reprisal by Zion’s defenders.
9 The streams of Edom will be turned into pitch
and her soil into sulfur;
her land will become burning pitch.[b]
10 Night or day it will never be quenched;
its smoke will rise forever.
From generation to generation it will lie waste;
never again will anyone pass through it.
11 But the hawk and the hedgehog will possess it;
the owl and the raven will dwell in it.
The Lord will stretch out over it
the measuring line of chaos
and the plumb line of desolation.
12 There will be no more nobles there
to proclaim the king;
all of its princes will have vanished.
13 Its citadels will be overgrown with thorns,
and nettles and briars will cover its fortresses.
It will become an abode for jackals
and a haunt for ostriches.
14 Desert creatures will frolic with hyenas,
and wild goats will call out to each other;
there, too, the nightjar will return to rest
and find a place for repose.
15 There will the owl nest and lay eggs,
and hatch and gather its young under her wings;
there, too, the buzzards will gather,
each one with its mate.
16 Consult the book[c] of the Lord and read it.
Not one of these will be missing,
not one will be without its mate.
For the mouth of the Lord has commanded this,
and his Spirit has gathered them together.
17 He has allotted the portion for each;
his hand has measured out their shares.
They will possess it forever
and dwell there from generation to generation.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 34:1 This section, often called “The Little Apocalypse of Isaiah,” in order to distinguish it from the “Great Apocalypse” in chapters 24–27, was redacted after the Exile. In imaginative and symbolic language, it describes the vengeance and anger of God in the terrible combats that are imagined as occurring at the end of time and as prelude to the judgment in which the Lord will restore Jerusalem, itself a sign of salvation in a new and peaceful land.
- Isaiah 34:9 The language recalls the punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah.
- Isaiah 34:16 Book: perhaps a collect of Isaiah’s oracles.
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
Authorized (King James) Version
34 Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people:
let the earth hear, and all that is therein;
the world, and all things that come forth of it.
2 For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations,
and his fury upon all their armies:
he hath utterly destroyed them,
he hath delivered them to the slaughter.
3 Their slain also shall be cast out,
and their stink shall come up out of their carcases,
and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.
4 And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved,
and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll:
and all their host shall fall down,
as the leaf falleth off from the vine,
and as a falling fig from the fig tree.
5 For my sword shall be bathed in heaven:
behold, it shall come down upon Idumea,
and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.
6 The sword of the Lord is filled with blood,
it is made fat with fatness,
and with the blood of lambs and goats,
with the fat of the kidneys of rams:
for the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah,
and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.
7 And the unicorns shall come down with them,
and the bullocks with the bulls;
and their land shall be soaked with blood,
and their dust made fat with fatness.
8 For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance,
and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.
9 And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch,
and the dust thereof into brimstone,
and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.
10 It shall not be quenched night nor day;
the smoke thereof shall go up for ever:
from generation to generation it shall lie waste;
none shall pass through it for ever and ever.
11 But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it;
the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it:
and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion,
and the stones of emptiness.
12 They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom,
but none shall be there,
and all her princes shall be nothing.
13 And thorns shall come up in her palaces,
nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof:
and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls.
14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island,
and the satyr shall cry to his fellow;
the screech owl also shall rest there,
and find for herself a place of rest.
15 There shall the great owl make her nest,
and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow:
there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate.
16 Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read:
no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate:
for my mouth it hath commanded,
and his spirit it hath gathered them.
17 And he hath cast the lot for them,
and his hand hath divided it unto them by line:
they shall possess it for ever,
from generation to generation shall they dwell therein.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
KJV reproduced by permission of Cambridge University Press, the Crown’s patentee in the UK.