Isaiah 34

Modern

Literal

Judgment on the Nations

¹Come near, O nations, to listen;

pay attention, O peoples.

Let the earth hear, and all that fills it,

the world and all that springs from it.

¹Come near, O nations, to hear; and pay attention O peoples! Let the earth hear, and its fullness, the world, and all its offspring.

²The LORD is angry with all the nations

and furious with all their armies.

He will devote them to destruction;^a

He will give them over to slaughter.

²For wrath is unto YHWH against all the nations, and rage against all their hosts; He has devoted them to destruction, He has given them over to the slaughter!

³Their slain will be left unburied,

and the stench of their corpses will rise;

the mountains will flow with their blood.

³And their slain will be thrown out, and from their corpses their stench will rise, and the mountains will flow with their blood.

⁴All the stars of heaven will be dissolved.

The skies will be rolled up like a scroll,

and all their stars will fall

like withered leaves from the vine,

like foliage from the fig tree.

⁴And all the host of heavens will be made to rot, and the heavens will be rolled up like a scroll; and all their host will fade away, like the fading of a leaf from the vine and like a falling from a fig tree.

Judgment on Edom

⁵When My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens,

then it will come down upon Edom,

upon the people I have devoted to destruction.

⁵For in the heavens My sword has drunk its fill; behold, upon Edom it will come down, and upon the people I have devoted to judgment.

⁶The sword of the LORD is bathed in blood.

It drips with fat—

with the blood of lambs and goats,

with the fat of the kidneys of rams.

For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah,

a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

⁶The sword of YHWH has been full of blood, dripping with fat and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams; for a sacrifice is unto YHWH in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

⁷And the wild oxen will fall with them,

the young bulls with the strong ones.

Their land will be drenched with blood,

and their soil will be soaked with fat.

⁷And the wild oxen will go down with them and the young bulls with the mighty ones; and their land will be watered with blood, and their dust will be soaked with fat.

⁸For the LORD has a day of vengeance,

a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.^a

⁸For a day of vengeance is unto YHWH, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

⁹Edom’s streams will be turned to tar,

and her soil to sulfur;

her land will become a blazing pitch.

⁹And her streams will be turned to pitch, and her dust to brimstone, and her land will become a burning pitch.

¹⁰It will not be quenched—day or night.

Its smoke will ascend forever.

From generation to generation it will lie desolate;

no one will ever again pass through it.

¹⁰Night and day it will not be quenched; her smoke will ascend forever; she will be desolate from generation to generation; no one will pass through her forever and ever;

¹¹The desert owl and screech owl will possess it,

and the great owl and raven will dwell in it.^a

The LORD will stretch out over Edom

a measuring line of chaos

and a plumb line of destruction.

¹¹and the hawk and the hedgehog will dispossess her, and the owl and the raven will dwell in her; and He will stretch out over her a measuring line of confusion, and a plumb line of emptiness.

¹²No nobles will be left to proclaim a king,

and all her princes will come to nothing.

¹²And nothing is there for her nobles to call a kingdom, and all her princes will be nothing.

¹³Her towers will be overgrown with thorns,

her fortresses with thistles and briers.

She will become a haunt for jackals,^a

an abode for ostriches.^b

¹³And thorns will come up in her palaces, thistles and briers in her fortresses; and she will be a habitation of jackals, a courtyard for daughters of the ostrich.

¹⁴The desert creatures will meet with hyenas,

and one wild goat will call to another.

There the night creature^a will settle

and find her place of repose.

¹⁴And the desert creatures will meet with the jackals, and the wild goat will bleat alongside his companion; indeed, Lilith will rest there and find for herself a place of rest,

¹⁵There the owl will make her nest;

she will lay and hatch her eggs

and gather her brood under her shadow.

Even there the birds of prey will gather,

each with its mate.

¹⁵There the owl will nest and lay and hatch and gather them under her shadow; even there will gather the birds of prey, each with her mate.

¹⁶Search and read the scroll of the LORD:

Not one of these will go missing,

not one will lack her mate,

because He has ordered it by His mouth,

and He will gather them by His Spirit.

¹⁶Search from the book of YHWH and recite: Not one of these will go missing, a female will not lack her mate. For His mouth has commanded it, and by His Spirit He has gathered them.

¹⁷He has allotted their portion;

His hand has distributed it by measure.

They will possess it forever;

they will dwell in it from generation to generation.

¹⁷And He has cast in it a lot, and His hand has divided it among them with a measuring line; even to forever they will possess it; for generation and generation they will dwell in it.