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
The Nations Will Be Judged
1Everyone of every nation,
the entire earth,
and all its creatures,
come here and listen!
2The Lord is terribly angry
with the nations;
he has condemned them
to be slaughtered.
3Their dead bodies will be left
to rot and stink;
their blood will flow
down the mountains.
4 #
Mt 24.29; Mk 13.25; Lk 21.26; Rev 6.13,14. Each star#34.4 star: Stars were worshiped as gods. will disappear—
the sky will roll up
like a scroll.#34.4 scroll: A roll of paper or specially prepared leather used for writing on.
Everything in the sky
will dry up and wilt
like leaves on a vine
or fruit on a tree.
Trouble for Edom
5 #
Is 63.1-6; Jr 49.7-22; Ez 25.12-14; 35.1-15; Am 1.11,12; Ob 1-14; Ml 1.2-5. After the sword of the Lord
has done what it wants
to the skies above,#34.5 has done … above: The Standard Hebrew Text; the Dead Sea Scrolls “appears in the skies above.”
it will come down on Edom,
the nation that the Lord
has doomed for destruction.
6The sword of the Lord
is covered with blood
from lambs and goats,
together with fat
from kidneys of rams.
This is because the Lord
will slaughter many people
and make a sacrifice of them
in the city of Bozrah
and everywhere else
in Edom.
7Edom's leaders are wild oxen.
They are powerful bulls,
but they will die
with the others.
Their country will be soaked
with their own blood,
and its soil made fertile
with their own fat.
8The Lord has chosen
the year and the day,
when he will take revenge
and come to Zion's defense.
9Edom's streams will turn into tar
and its soil into sulfur—
then the whole country
will go up in flames.
10 #
Rev 14.11; 19.3. It will burn night and day
and never stop smoking.
Edom will be a desert,
generation after generation;
no one will ever travel
through that land.
11Owls, hawks, and wild animals#34.11 Owls … animals: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
will make it their home.
God will leave it in ruins,
merely a pile of rocks.
The End of Edom
12Edom will be called
“Kingdom of Nothing.”
Its rulers will also be nothing.
13Its palaces and fortresses
will be covered with thorns;
only wolves and ostriches
will make their home there.
14Wildcats and hyenas
will hunt together,
demons will scream to demons,
and creatures of the night
will live among the ruins.
15Owls will nest there
to raise their young
among its shadows,#34.15 Owls … shadows: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
while families of vultures
circle around.
16In The Book of the Lord#34.16 The Book of the Lord: The book that Isaiah refers to is unknown.
you can search and find
where it is written,
“The Lord brought together
all of his creatures
by the power of his Spirit.
Not one is missing.”
17The Lord has decided
where they each should live;
they will be there forever,
generation after generation.
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.