Isaiah 34
34
Judgment upon Edom
1Come near, nations, and listen;
be attentive, you peoples!
Let the earth and what fills it listen,
the world and all it produces.#Mi 1:2.
2The Lord is angry with all the nations,
enraged against all their host;
He has placed them under the ban,
given them up to slaughter.#Is 24:21.
3Their slain shall be cast out,
their corpses shall send up a stench;
the mountains shall run with their blood,#Ez 32:4, 6.
4All the host of heaven shall rot;
the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll.
All their host shall wither away,
as the leaf wilts on the vine,
or as the fig withers on the tree.#Is 13:10; 24:23; Ez 32:7; Jl 3:3–4; Mt 24:29; 2 Pt 3:10; Rev 6:12–14.
5When my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens,
it shall come down upon Edom for judgment,
upon a people under my ban.#Jer 46:10.
6The Lord has a sword sated with blood,
greasy with fat,
With the blood of lambs and goats,
with the fat of rams’ kidneys;
For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
a great slaughter in the land of Edom.#Is 63:1; Lv 3:4; 2 Sm 1:22; Jer 49:12–13; Zep 1:7.
7Wild oxen shall be struck down with fatlings,
and bullocks with bulls;
Their land shall be soaked with blood,
and their soil greasy with fat.
8#The extreme hostility against Edom in this passage is reflected in a number of other prophetic texts from the seventh and sixth centuries B.C. (cf. e.g., 63:1–6; Jer 49:7–22; Ez 25:12–14). The animus was probably prompted by Edomite infiltration of the southern territories of Judah, especially after the Babylonian conquest of Judah. For the Lord has a day of vengeance,
a year of requital for the cause of Zion.#Is 13:9; 63:4.
9Edom’s streams shall be changed into pitch,
its soil into sulfur,
and its land shall become burning pitch;
10Night and day it shall not be quenched,
its smoke shall rise forever.
From generation to generation it shall lie waste,
never again shall anyone pass through it.#Mal 1:4; Rev 14:11; 18:18.
11But the desert owl and hoot owl shall possess it,
the screech owl and raven shall dwell in it.
The Lord will stretch over it the measuring line of chaos,
the plumb line of confusion.#Chaos…confusion: tohu…bohu in Hebrew, the terms used to describe the primeval chaos in Gn 1:2. #Is 14:23; 28:17; 2 Kgs 21:13; Zep 2:14.
12Its nobles shall be no more,
nor shall kings be proclaimed there;
all its princes are gone.#Ob 18.
13Its castles shall be overgrown with thorns,
its fortresses with thistles and briers.
It shall become an abode for jackals,
a haunt for ostriches.#Is 13:21; Hos 9:6.
14Wildcats shall meet with desert beasts,
satyrs#Satyrs: see note on 13:21. The lilith: a female demon thought to roam about the desert. shall call to one another;
There shall the lilith repose,
and find for herself a place to rest.
15There the hoot owl shall nest and lay eggs,
hatch them out and gather them in her shadow;
There shall the kites assemble,
each with its mate.
16Search through the book of the Lord#Book of the Lord: a list of God’s creatures; cf. Ex 32:32–33; Ps 69:29, “the book of the living”; Ps 139:16, “your book.” and read:
not one of these shall be lacking,
For the mouth of the Lord has ordered it,
and his spirit gathers them there.
17It is he who casts the lot for them;
his hand measures off#Casts the lot…measures off: an ironic reference to how land might be distributed to new possessors (cf. Jos 14–21; Mi 2:5). their portions;
They shall possess it forever,
and dwell in it from generation to generation.#Jos 18:10; Ps 78:55.
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
Yeshayah (Isaiah) 34
34
1Come near, you nations, to hear. And listen, you people! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world and all its offspring.
2For the displeasure of יהוה is against all the nations,#See footnote at Jer. 30:11 and His wrath against all their divisions. He shall put them under the ban, He shall give them over to the slaughter,
3and their slain be thrown out, and their stench rise from their corpses. And mountains shall be melted with their blood.
4And all the host of the heavens shall rot away. And the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll, and all their host fade like a leaf fading on the vine, and like the fading one of a fig tree.
5“For My sword shall be drenched in the heavens. Look, it comes down on Eḏom, and on the people of My curse, for judgment.
6“The sword of יהוה shall be filled with blood, it shall be made overflowing with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For יהוה has a slaughtering in Botsrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Eḏom.
7“And wild oxen shall come down with them, and young bulls with bulls. And their land shall be drenched with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.”
8For it is the day of the vengeance of יהוה, the year of recompense for the cause of Tsiyon.
9And its streams shall be turned into tar, and its dust into sulphur, and its land shall become burning tar,
10that is not quenched night or day, its smoke going up forever. From generation to generation it lies waste, no one passes through it forever and ever,
11so that the pelican and the porcupine possess it, also the owl and the raven dwell in it. And He shall stretch out over it the line of formlessness and stones of emptiness.
12Its caves, with no one in them, is called a reign, but all its rulers have vanished.
13And thorns shall come up in its palaces, nettles and brambles in its strongholds. And it shall be a home for jackals, a courtyard for ostriches.
14And the wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the jackals, and the shaggy goat call to its companion. The night creature shall also settle there, and shall find for herself a place of rest.
15The arrow snake shall nest there, and lay eggs and hatch, and gather them under her shadow. There too the vultures shall gather, each with its mate.
16Search from the book of יהוה, and read: not one of these shall be missing, not one shall be without a mate, for He has commanded my mouth. And His Spirit shall gather them.
17And He shall cast the lot for them, and His hand shall divide it among them with a measuring line – they possess it forever, from generation to generation they dwell in it.
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