Isaiah 34:5-17
Modern English Version
5 For My sword is filled in heaven;
see, it shall come down for judgment on Edom,
and on the people whom I have devoted to destruction.
6 The sword of the Lord is filled with blood,
it is made full with fatness,
and 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 The wild oxen shall also fall with them,
and the young bulls with the mighty bulls;
so their land shall be soaked with blood,
and their dust become greasy with fat.
8 For it is the day of the vengeance of the Lord,
and the year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
9 Its streams shall be turned into pitch,
and its dust into brimstone,
and its land shall become burning pitch.
10 It shall not be quenched night or day;
its smoke shall go up forever.
From generation to generation it shall lie waste;
no one shall pass through it forever and ever.
11 But the cormorant and the hedgehog shall possess it,
the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it.
And He shall stretch out on it
the line of desolation,
and the plumb line of emptiness.
12 They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, but no one shall be there,
and all her princes shall be nothing.
13 Thorns shall come up in her palaces,
nettles and brambles in the fortresses;
and it shall be a habitation of jackals
and a home for owls.
14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wolves,
and the wild goat shall cry to its kind;
the screech owl also shall rest there
and find for herself a place of rest.
15 There shall the tree snake make its nest and lay eggs,
and it shall hatch and gather them under its protection;
yes, there shall the vultures also be gathered,
every one with its kind.
16 Seek from the book of the Lord, and read.
Not one of these shall be missing,
not one shall lack its mate.
For His mouth has commanded,
and His Spirit has gathered them.
17 He has cast the lot for them,
and His hand has divided it to them by line.
They shall possess it forever,
from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.
Isaiah 34:5-17
Lexham English Bible
5 When my sword is drenched in the heavens,
look! It will descend upon Edom,
and upon the people of my ban, for judgment.
6 Yahweh has a sword;[a]
it is full of blood.
It is covered with[b] fat,
with[c] the blood of lambs and goats,
with[d] the fat of the kidneys of rams,
for Yahweh has a sacrifice[e] in Bozrah
and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7 And wild oxen shall go down with them,
and steers with strong bulls.
And their land shall be drenched with[f] blood,
and their soil shall be fattened with[g] fat.
8 For Yahweh has a day of vengeance,[h]
a year of retribution for the strife of Zion.
9 And its streams shall be changed to pitch and its soil to sulfur,
and its land shall become like burning pitch.
10 Night and day it shall not be quenched;
its smoke shall go up forever.
From generation to generation it shall be in ruins;
forever and ever there will be no one who passes through her.
11 But[i] the large bird and the hedgehog shall take possession of it,
and the owl and the raven shall live in it.
And he shall stretch the measuring line of confusion out over it,
and the plumb line of emptiness.
12 Its nobles—but no kingdom is there—shall call,
and all its princes shall be nothing.
13 And thorns shall go up her citadel fortress,
weeds[j] and thistle plants[k] in her fortresses;
and it shall be the settlement of jackals,
green grass for the daughters of an ostrich.
14 And desert creatures shall meet with hyenas,
and a goat-demon shall call to his neighbor;
surely there Lilith[l] shall repose,
and she shall find a resting place for herself.
15 There the owl shall nest and lay
and hatch and care for her chicks in her shadow;
surely there the birds of prey shall be gathered,
each one with her mate.
16 Seek from the book of Yahweh and read;[m]
none of these shall be missing;
none shall miss her mate.
For my[n] mouth is the one that[o] has commanded,
and his spirit is the one that[p] has gathered them.
17 And he is the one that[q] has cast the lot for them,
and his hand has apportioned it to them with the measuring line;
they shall take possession of it forever,
they shall live in it from generation to generation.[r]
Footnotes
- Isaiah 34:6 Literally “A sword for Yahweh”
- Isaiah 34:6 Or “from”
- Isaiah 34:6 Or “from”
- Isaiah 34:6 Or “from”
- Isaiah 34:6 Literally “a sacrifice for Yahweh”
- Isaiah 34:7 Or “from”
- Isaiah 34:7 Or “from”
- Isaiah 34:8 Literally “a day of vengeance for Yahweh”
- Isaiah 34:11 Or “And”
- Isaiah 34:13 Hebrew “weed”
- Isaiah 34:13 Hebrew “thistle plant”
- Isaiah 34:14 Hebrew transliteration; possibly a proper name for a Mesopotamian night-demon
- Isaiah 34:16 Literally “call”
- Isaiah 34:16 The Dead Sea Scroll has “his”
- Isaiah 34:16 Literally “he”
- Isaiah 34:16 Literally “he”
- Isaiah 34:17 Literally “he”
- Isaiah 34:17 Literally “to generation and generation”
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