Isaiah 34

1 Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye peoples: let the earth hear, and all its fulness; the world, and all that cometh forth of it.

Come 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.

2 For the wrath of Jehovah is against all the nations, and [his] fury against all their armies: he hath devoted them to destruction, he hath delivered them to the slaughter.

The LORD is angry with all the nations and furious with all their armies. He will devote them to destruction; He will give them over to slaughter.

3 And their slain shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up from their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.

Their slain will be left unburied, and the stench of their corpses will rise; the mountains will flow with their blood.

4 And all the host of the heavens shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll; and all their host shall fade away, as a leaf fadeth from off the vine, and as the withered [fruit] from the fig-tree.

All 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.

5 For my sword is bathed in the heavens; behold, it shall come down upon Edom, and upon the people of my ban, to judgment.

When My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens, then it will come down upon Edom, upon the people I have devoted to destruction.

6 The sword of Jehovah is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams; for Jehovah hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

The 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.

7 And the buffaloes shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.

And 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.

8 For it is the day of Jehovah's vengeance, the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.

For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

9 And the torrents thereof shall be turned into pitch, and its dust into brimstone; yea, the land thereof shall become burning pitch:

Edom’s streams will be turned to tar, and her soil to sulfur; her land will become a blazing pitch.

10 it shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.

It 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.

11 And the pelican and the bittern shall possess it, and the great owl and the raven shall dwell in it. And he shall stretch out upon it the line of waste, and the plummets of emptiness.

The desert owl and screech owl will possess it, and the great owl and raven will dwell in it. The LORD will stretch out over Edom a measuring line of chaos and a plumb line of destruction.

12 Of her nobles who should proclaim the kingdom, none are there; and all her princes shall be nought.

No nobles will be left to proclaim a king, and all her princes will come to nothing.

13 And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in her fortresses; and it shall be a dwelling-place of wild dogs, a court for ostriches.

Her towers will be overgrown with thorns, her fortresses with thistles and briers. She will become a haunt for jackals, an abode for ostriches.

14 And there shall the beasts of the desert meet with the jackals, and the wild goat shall cry to his fellow; the lilith also shall settle there, and find for herself a place of rest.

The desert creatures will meet with hyenas, and one wild goat will call to another. There the night creature will settle and find her place of repose.

15 There shall the arrow-snake make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow; there also shall the vultures be gathered one with another.

There 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.

16 Search ye in the book of Jehovah and read: not one of these shall fail, one shall not have to seek for the other; for my mouth, it hath commanded, and his Spirit, it hath gathered them.

Search 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.

17 For he himself hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them with the line: they shall possess it for ever; from generation to generation shall they dwell therein.

He 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.