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Gods straf over Edom

34 Jesaja zegt: Volken, kom dichterbij om te luisteren naar wat ik zeg. Landen, let op! Laat de hele aarde goed naar mij luisteren! De Heer is woedend op de volken en op hun legers. Hij heeft besloten al die legers te vernietigen en af te slachten. Overal in het rond zullen de doden liggen. De stank van hun lijken zal opstijgen. De bergen zullen druipen van het bloed. De sterren zullen verbleken. De hemel zal verdwijnen als een boekrol die wordt opgerold. De sterren zullen naar beneden vallen zoals in de herfst de bladeren van de bomen vallen en de vijgen van de vijgenboom.

Het zwaard van de Heer is dronken van bloed. Zijn zwaard zal neerkomen op Edom.[a] Het doodt het volk dat Hij wil straffen. Het zwaard van de Heer druipt van het bloed. Het druipt van vet en bloed van lammetjes, geiten en schapen. Want de Heer houdt een offerfeest in Bozra.[b] Een grote slachtpartij in het land van Edom. Ook wilde buffels worden gedood. Stieren en buffels[c] zullen neervallen. Het land zal doordrenkt zijn met bloed. Het stof zal plakken van het vet. Want het zal de dag van de straf van de Heer zijn. Het zal het moment zijn dat Hij de vijanden van Jeruzalem straft. Het water van de beken zal in teer veranderen. Het stof zal in zwavel veranderen. Ja, de grond zal veranderen in een oven van brandende teer. 10 Die teer zal dag en nacht branden. Voor eeuwig zal de rook opstijgen. Eeuwenlang zal het land onbewoond blijven. Voor eeuwig zal er niemand meer doorheen reizen. 11 Er zullen allerlei watervogels gaan wonen. Want de Heer zal met zijn meetlint het gebied afmeten dat voortaan kaal en leeg zal zijn. 12 Er zal niemand zijn om koning te worden. Er zullen geen leiders meer zijn. 13 In de paleizen zal het onkruid groeien. Het zal er vol staan met dorens en distels. Er zullen alleen jakhalzen en struisvogels wonen. 14 De wilde dieren van de woestijn zullen er wonen met de hyena's. De duivelse geesten zullen er naar elkaar schreeuwen. Allerlei nachtdieren zullen er een plaats zoeken om te rusten. 15 Slangen zullen er nestelen en hun eieren leggen. Ze zullen ze uitbroeden en en onder zich beschermen. Ook zullen de gieren zich daar verzamelen.

16 Zoek het maar op in het boek van de Heer. Lees maar: niet één van deze dieren zal ontbreken. Ze zullen er allemaal zijn. Want ik heb het gezegd en zijn Geest zal ze bij elkaar brengen. 17 Hij heeft het land verloot en aan hen gegeven. Hij bepaalde met zijn meetlint hoe groot hun gebied zou zijn. Ze zullen er voor altijd wonen.

Footnotes

  1. Jesaja 34:5 Edom was Israëls oudste vijand. Hier wordt het land Edom gebruikt als symbool voor al Israëls vijanden.
  2. Jesaja 34:6 Bozra was de hoofdstad van Edom.
  3. Jesaja 34:7 Met de verschillende dieren die hier genoemd worden, worden mensen en/of volken bedoeld.

Judgment on the Nations

34 Come (A)near, you nations, to hear;
And heed, you people!
(B)Let the earth hear, and all that is in it,
The world and all things that come forth from it.
For the indignation of the Lord is against all nations,
And His fury against all their armies;
He has utterly destroyed them,
He has given them over to the (C)slaughter.
Also their slain shall be thrown out;
(D)Their stench shall rise from their corpses,
And the mountains shall be melted with their blood.
(E)All the host of heaven shall be dissolved,
And the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll;
(F)All their host shall fall down
As the leaf falls from the vine,
And as (G)fruit falling from a fig tree.

“For (H)My sword shall be bathed in heaven;
Indeed it (I)shall come down on Edom,
And on the people of My curse, for judgment.
The (J)sword of the Lord is filled with blood,
It is made [a]overflowing with fatness,
With the blood of lambs and goats,
With the fat of the kidneys of rams.
For (K)the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
The wild oxen shall come down with them,
And the young bulls with the mighty bulls;
Their land shall be soaked with blood,
And their dust [b]saturated with fatness.”

For it is the day of the Lord’s (L)vengeance,
The year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
(M)Its streams shall be turned into pitch,
And its dust into brimstone;
Its land shall become burning pitch.
10 It shall not be quenched night or day;
(N)Its smoke shall ascend forever.
(O)From generation to generation it shall lie waste;
No one shall pass through it forever and ever.
11 (P)But the [c]pelican and the [d]porcupine shall possess it,
Also the owl and the raven shall dwell in it.
And (Q)He shall stretch out over it
The line of confusion and the stones of emptiness.
12 They shall call its nobles to the kingdom,
But none shall be there, and all its princes shall be nothing.

13 And (R)thorns shall come up in its palaces,
Nettles and brambles in its fortresses;
(S)It shall be a habitation of jackals,
A courtyard for ostriches.
14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the [e]jackals,
And the wild goat shall bleat to its companion;
Also [f]the night creature shall rest there,
And find for herself a place of rest.
15 There the arrow snake shall make her nest and lay eggs
And hatch, and gather them under her shadow;
There also shall the hawks be gathered,
Every one with her mate.

16 “Search from (T)the book of the Lord, and read:
Not one of these shall fail;
Not one shall lack her mate.
For My mouth has commanded it, and His Spirit has gathered them.
17 He has cast the lot for them,
And His hand has divided it among them with a measuring line.
They shall possess it forever;
From generation to generation they shall dwell in it.”

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 34:6 Lit. fat
  2. Isaiah 34:7 Lit. made fat
  3. Isaiah 34:11 Or owl
  4. Isaiah 34:11 Or hedgehog
  5. Isaiah 34:14 Lit. howling creatures
  6. Isaiah 34:14 Heb. lilith

Judgment on the Nations

34 Come near, nations, to hear;
    and peoples, listen attentively!
Let the earth hear, and that which fills it;
    the world and all its offspring.
For the anger of Yahweh is against all the nations,
    and his wrath is against all their armies;
he has put them under a ban,
    he has given them up for slaughter.
And their slain shall be cast out;
    as for[a] their corpses, their stench shall go up.
And the mountains shall melt with[b] their blood,
    and all the host of heaven shall rot.
And the skies shall roll up like a scroll,
    and all their host shall wither
like the withering of a leaf from a vine,
    or[c] like the withering from a fig tree.

When my sword is drenched in the heavens,

look! It will descend upon Edom,
    and upon the people of my ban, for judgment.

Yahweh has a sword;[d]

it is full of blood.
    It is covered with[e] fat,
with[f] the blood of lambs and goats,
    with[g] the fat of the kidneys of rams,
for Yahweh has a sacrifice[h] in Bozrah
    and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
And wild oxen shall go down with them,
    and steers with strong bulls.
And their land shall be drenched with[i] blood,
    and their soil shall be fattened with[j] fat.
For Yahweh has a day of vengeance,[k]
    a year of retribution for the strife of Zion.
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[l] 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[m] and thistle plants[n] 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[o] 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;[p]

none of these shall be missing;
    none shall miss her mate.
For my[q] mouth is the one that[r] has commanded,
    and his spirit is the one that[s] has gathered them.
17 And he is the one that[t] 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.[u]

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 34:3 Or “and”
  2. Isaiah 34:3 Or “from”
  3. Isaiah 34:4 Or “and”
  4. Isaiah 34:6 Literally “A sword for Yahweh”
  5. Isaiah 34:6 Or “from”
  6. Isaiah 34:6 Or “from”
  7. Isaiah 34:6 Or “from”
  8. Isaiah 34:6 Literally “a sacrifice for Yahweh”
  9. Isaiah 34:7 Or “from”
  10. Isaiah 34:7 Or “from”
  11. Isaiah 34:8 Literally “a day of vengeance for Yahweh”
  12. Isaiah 34:11 Or “And”
  13. Isaiah 34:13 Hebrew “weed”
  14. Isaiah 34:13 Hebrew “thistle plant”
  15. Isaiah 34:14 Hebrew transliteration; possibly a proper name for a Mesopotamian night-demon
  16. Isaiah 34:16 Literally “call”
  17. Isaiah 34:16 The Dead Sea Scroll has “his”
  18. Isaiah 34:16 Literally “he”
  19. Isaiah 34:16 Literally “he”
  20. Isaiah 34:17 Literally “he”
  21. Isaiah 34:17 Literally “to generation and generation”

Judgment Against the Nations

34 Come near, you nations, and listen;(A)
    pay attention, you peoples!(B)
Let the earth(C) hear, and all that is in it,
    the world, and all that comes out of it!(D)
The Lord is angry with all nations;
    his wrath(E) is on all their armies.
He will totally destroy[a](F) them,
    he will give them over to slaughter.(G)
Their slain(H) will be thrown out,
    their dead bodies(I) will stink;(J)
    the mountains will be soaked with their blood.(K)
All the stars in the sky will be dissolved(L)
    and the heavens rolled up(M) like a scroll;
all the starry host will fall(N)
    like withered(O) leaves from the vine,
    like shriveled figs from the fig tree.

My sword(P) has drunk its fill in the heavens;
    see, it descends in judgment on Edom,(Q)
    the people I have totally destroyed.(R)
The sword(S) of the Lord is bathed in blood,
    it is covered with fat—
the blood of lambs and goats,
    fat from the kidneys of rams.
For the Lord has a sacrifice(T) in Bozrah(U)
    and a great slaughter(V) in the land of Edom.
And the wild oxen(W) will fall with them,
    the bull calves and the great bulls.(X)
Their land will be drenched with blood,(Y)
    and the dust will be soaked with fat.

For the Lord has a day(Z) of vengeance,(AA)
    a year of retribution,(AB) to uphold Zion’s cause.
Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch,
    her dust into burning sulfur;(AC)
    her land will become blazing pitch!
10 It will not be quenched(AD) night or day;
    its smoke will rise forever.(AE)
From generation to generation(AF) it will lie desolate;(AG)
    no one will ever pass through it again.
11 The desert owl[b](AH) and screech owl[c] will possess it;
    the great owl[d] and the raven(AI) will nest there.
God will stretch out over Edom(AJ)
    the measuring line of chaos(AK)
    and the plumb line(AL) of desolation.
12 Her nobles will have nothing there to be called a kingdom,
    all her princes(AM) will vanish(AN) away.
13 Thorns(AO) will overrun her citadels,
    nettles and brambles her strongholds.(AP)
She will become a haunt for jackals,(AQ)
    a home for owls.(AR)
14 Desert creatures(AS) will meet with hyenas,(AT)
    and wild goats will bleat to each other;
there the night creatures(AU) will also lie down
    and find for themselves places of rest.
15 The owl will nest there and lay eggs,
    she will hatch them, and care for her young
    under the shadow of her wings;(AV)
there also the falcons(AW) will gather,
    each with its mate.

16 Look in the scroll(AX) of the Lord and read:

None of these will be missing,(AY)
    not one will lack her mate.
For it is his mouth(AZ) that has given the order,(BA)
    and his Spirit will gather them together.
17 He allots their portions;(BB)
    his hand distributes them by measure.
They will possess it forever
    and dwell there from generation to generation.(BC)

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 34:2 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them; also in verse 5.
  2. Isaiah 34:11 The precise identification of these birds is uncertain.
  3. Isaiah 34:11 The precise identification of these birds is uncertain.
  4. Isaiah 34:11 The precise identification of these birds is uncertain.