Isaiah 34
34
God Will Punish His Enemies
1All 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. 2The Lord is angry with all the nations and their armies. He will destroy them all and put them to death. 3Their bodies will be thrown outside. The stink will rise from the bodies, and the blood will flow down the mountains. 4The skies will be rolled shut like a scroll,#34:4 rolled shut like a scroll This is like someone closing a book when they have finished reading it. and the stars will die and fall like leaves from a vine or a fig tree. All the stars#34:4 stars Literally, “the armies of the skies.” in the sky will rot away. 5The 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.#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. 6The 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.”#34:6 goats … rams This probably refers to the people and leaders of Edom. 7So 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.
8This 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. 9Edom’s rivers will be like hot tar. Edom’s ground will be like burning sulfur. 10The 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. 11Birds 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.”#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. 12The free men#34:12 free men Important citizens of a town or country. These people came from “good families” and had never been slaves. and leaders will all be gone, and there will be nothing left for them to rule.
13Thorns 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. 14Wild cats will live there with hyenas.#34:14 hyenas A kind of wild dog that often eats the meat of dead animals that other animals killed. Wild goats#34:14 Wild goats The Hebrew word means “hairy,” “goat,” or “goat-demon.” will call to their friends. Night animals#34:14 Night animals Or “Lilith, the night demon.” This name is like the Hebrew word for night. will spend some time there and find a place to rest. 15Snakes 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.
16Look 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. 17God 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.
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Isaiah 34
34
1Come near, you nations, to hear!
Listen, you peoples.
Let the earth and all it contains hear,
the world, and everything that comes from it.
2For Yahweh is enraged against all the nations,
and angry with all their armies.
He has utterly destroyed them.
He has given them over for slaughter.
3Their slain will also be cast out,
and the stench of their dead bodies will come up.
The mountains will melt in their blood.
4All of the army of the sky will be dissolved.
The sky will be rolled up like a scroll,
and all its armies will fade away,
as a leaf fades from off a vine or a fig tree.
5For my sword has drunk its fill in the sky.
Behold, it will come down on Edom,
and on the people of my curse, for judgment.
6Yahweh’s sword is filled with blood.
It is covered with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats,
with the fat of the kidneys of rams;
for Yahweh has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7The wild oxen will come down with them,
and the young bulls with the mighty bulls;
and their land will be drunken with blood,
and their dust made greasy with fat.
8For Yahweh has a day of vengeance,
a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
9Its streams will be turned into pitch,
its dust into sulfur,
and its land will become burning pitch.
10It won’t be quenched night or day.
Its smoke will go up forever.
From generation to generation, it will lie waste.
No one will pass through it forever and ever.
11But the pelican and the porcupine will possess it.
The owl and the raven will dwell in it.
He will stretch the line of confusion over it,
and the plumb line of emptiness.
12They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, but none shall be there;
and all its princes shall be nothing.
13Thorns will come up in its palaces,
nettles and thistles in its fortresses;
and it will be a habitation of jackals,
a court for ostriches.
14The wild animals of the desert will meet with the wolves,
and the wild goat will cry to his fellow.
Yes, the night creature#34:14 literally, lilith, which could also be a night demon or night monster shall settle there,
and shall find herself a place of rest.
15The arrow snake will make her nest there,
and lay, hatch, and gather under her shade.
Yes, the kites will be gathered there, every one with her mate.
16Search in the book of Yahweh, and read:
not one of these will be missing.
None will lack her mate.
For my mouth has commanded,
and his Spirit has gathered them.
17He has cast the lot for them,
and his hand has divided it to them with a measuring line.
They shall possess it forever.
From generation to generation they will dwell in it.
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