Isaiah 34

Judgment on the Nations

1 Draw near, *Ps. 49:1;[Joel 3:1,2]O nations, to hear,

and give attention, O peoples!

Let the earth hear, and all that fills it;

the world, and all that comes from it.

2 For the Lord is enraged against all the nations,

and furious against all their host;

he has *[Josh. 6:21]devoted them to destruction,*34:2 That is, set apart (devoted) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction); also verse 5 has given them over for slaughter.

3 Their slain shall be cast out,

and *Joel 2:20the stench of their corpses shall rise;

*[Ezek. 39:4]the mountains shall flow with their blood.

4 *Joel 2:31;3:15;Matt. 24:29;Acts 2:20;Rev. 6:13,14;[Ps. 102:26;Heb. 1:11]All the host of heaven shall rot away,

and the skies roll up like a scroll.

All their host shall fall,

as leaves fall from the vine,

like leaves falling from the fig tree.

5 For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens;

behold, it descends for judgment upon *See ch. 63:1-6;Jer. 49:7-22;Obad. 1-21;Mal. 1:2-4Edom,

upon the people *[ver. 2]I have devoted to destruction.

6 The Lord has a sword; it is sated with blood;

it is gorged with fat,

with the blood of lambs and goats,

with the fat of the kidneys of rams.

*ch. 63:1For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,

a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

7 *Num. 23:22Wild oxen shall *ch. 47:1fall with them,

and *Ps. 22:12young steers with *Ps. 22:12the mighty bulls.

Their land shall drink its fill of blood,

and their soil shall be gorged with fat.

8 *ch. 61:2;63:4;Ps. 137:7For the Lord has a day of vengeance,

a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

9 *Deut. 29:23And the streams of Edom*34:9 Hebrew her streams shall be turned into pitch,

and her soil into sulfur;

her land shall become burning pitch.

10 Night and day *ch. 66:24it shall not be quenched;

*[Rev. 14:11;18:18;19:3] its smoke shall go up forever.

*Mal. 1:4From generation to generation it shall lie waste;

none shall pass through it forever and ever.

11 *ch. 14:23;Zeph. 2:14;[Rev. 18:2] But the hawk and the porcupine*34:11 The identity of the animals rendered hawk and porcupine is uncertain shall possess it,

the owl and the raven shall dwell in it.

*2 Kgs. 21:13;Lam. 2:8;See Amos 7:7-9He shall stretch the line of *[ch. 24:10]confusion*34:11 Hebrew formlessness over it,

and the plumb line of emptiness.

12 Its nobles—there is no one there to call it a kingdom,

and all its princes shall be nothing.

13 *See ch. 32:13Thorns shall grow over its strongholds,

nettles and thistles in its fortresses.

It shall be the haunt of *ch. 13:22;Ps. 44:19;Mal. 1:3jackals,

an abode for ostriches.*34:13 Or owls

14 *See ch. 13:21And wild animals shall meet with hyenas;

the wild goat shall cry to his fellow;

indeed, there the night bird*34:14 Identity uncertain settles

and finds for herself a resting place.

15 There the owl nests and lays

and hatches and gathers her young in her shadow;

indeed, there *Deut. 14:13the hawks are gathered,

each one with her mate.

16 Seek and read from the book of the Lord:

Not one of these shall be missing;

none shall be without her mate.

For the mouth of the Lord has commanded,

and his Spirit has gathered them.

17 *[Ps. 78:55]He has cast the lot for them;

his hand has portioned it out to them with the line;

they shall possess it forever;

from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.