Isaiah 34

Judgment on the Nations

1  Draw near, a 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 b devoted them to destruction ▼
▼ 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 d the stench of their corpses shall rise;
e the mountains shall flow with their blood.
 4  f 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 g Edom,
upon the people h 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.
i For the  Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
 7  j Wild oxen shall k fall with them,
and l young steers with m the mighty bulls.
Their land shall drink its fill of blood,
and their soil shall be gorged with fat.
 8  n For the  Lord has a day of vengeance,
a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
 9  o And the streams of Edom ▼
▼ Hebrew her streams
 shall be turned into pitch,
and her soil into sulfur;
her land shall become burning pitch.
 10 Night and day q it shall not be quenched;
r its smoke shall go up forever.
s From generation to generation it shall lie waste;
none shall pass through it forever and ever.
 11  t But the hawk and the porcupine ▼
▼ The identity of the animals rendered  hawk and  porcupine is uncertain
 shall possess it,
the owl and the raven shall dwell in it.
v He shall stretch the line of w confusion ▼
▼ 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  y Thorns shall grow over its strongholds,
nettles and thistles in its fortresses.
It shall be the haunt of z jackals,
an abode for ostriches. ▼
▼ Or owls

 14  ab And wild animals shall meet with hyenas;
the wild goat shall cry to his fellow;
indeed, there the night bird ▼
▼ 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 ad the 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  ae 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.
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