Isaiah 34:5-17
English Standard Version
5 For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens;
behold, it descends for judgment upon (A)Edom,
upon the people (B)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.
(C)For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7 (D)Wild oxen shall (E)fall with them,
and (F)young steers with (G)the mighty bulls.
Their land shall drink its fill of blood,
and their soil shall be gorged with fat.
8 (H)For the Lord has a day of vengeance,
a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
9 (I)And the streams of Edom[a] shall be turned into pitch,
and her soil into sulfur;
her land shall become burning pitch.
10 Night and day (J)it shall not be quenched;
(K)its smoke shall go up forever.
(L)From generation to generation it shall lie waste;
none shall pass through it forever and ever.
11 (M)But the hawk and the porcupine[b] shall possess it,
the owl and the raven shall dwell in it.
(N)He shall stretch the line of (O)confusion[c] 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 (P)Thorns shall grow over its strongholds,
nettles and thistles in its fortresses.
It shall be the haunt of (Q)jackals,
an abode for ostriches.[d]
14 (R)And wild animals shall meet with hyenas;
the wild goat shall cry to his fellow;
indeed, there the night bird[e] 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 (S)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 (T)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 34:9 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 34:5-17
Holman Christian Standard Bible
The Judgment of Edom
5 When My sword has drunk its fill[a](A) in the heavens,
it will then come down on Edom(B)
and on the people I have set apart for destruction.
6 The Lord’s sword is covered with blood.
It drips with fat,
with the blood of lambs and goats,
with the fat of the kidneys of rams.(C)
For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,(D)
a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7 The wild oxen will be struck[b] down with them,
and young bulls with the mighty bulls.
Their land will be soaked with[c] blood,
and their soil will be saturated with fat.
8 For the Lord has a day of vengeance,(E)
a time of paying back Edom
for its hostility against Zion.
9 Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch,
her soil into sulfur;(F)
her land will become burning pitch.
10 It will never go out—day or night.
Its smoke will go up forever.(G)
It will be desolate, from generation to generation;
no one will pass through it forever and ever.(H)
11 The desert owl[d] and the screech owl[e] will possess it,
and the great owl and the raven will dwell there.(I)
The Lord will stretch out a measuring line
and a plumb line over her
for her destruction and chaos.(J)
12 No nobles will be left to proclaim a king,
and all her princes will come to nothing.
13 Her palaces will be overgrown with thorns;
her fortified cities, with thistles and briers.(K)
She will become a dwelling for jackals,
an abode[f] for ostriches.(L)
14 The desert creatures will meet hyenas,
and one wild goat will call to another.
Indeed, the screech owl will stay there
and will find a resting place for herself.
15 The sand partridge[g] will make her nest there;
she will lay and hatch her eggs
and will gather her brood under her shadow.
Indeed, the birds of prey will gather there,
each with its mate.(M)
16 Search and read the scroll of the Lord:(N)
Not one of them will be missing,
none will be lacking its mate,
because He has ordered it by my[h] mouth,
and He will gather them by His Spirit.
17 He has ordained a lot for them;
His hand allotted their portion with a measuring line.
They will possess it forever;(O)
they will dwell in it from generation to generation.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 34:5 DSS read sword will appear
- Isaiah 34:7 Or will go
- Isaiah 34:7 Or will drink its fill of
- Isaiah 34:11 Or The pelican
- Isaiah 34:11 Or the hedgehog
- Isaiah 34:13 DSS, LXX, Syr, Tg; MT reads jackals, grass
- Isaiah 34:15 Or The arrow snake, or The owl
- Isaiah 34:16 Some Hb mss; other Hb mss, DSS, Syr, Tg read His
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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