Isaiah 34
1 Come close, you nations, and listen! You peoples, pay attention! Hear these words everyone who lives on earth, and all that comes from it!
Draw near, O ye nations, and hear! Attend, O ye people! Let the earth hear, and all that is therein; The world, and all that springs from it!
2 The Lord's anger is against all the nations and his fury is against all their armies. He will completely destroy them; he will have them slaughtered.
For the wrath of Jehovah is kindled against all the nations, And his fury against all their armies; He hath devoted them to destruction; He hath given them up to slaughter.
3 Those who are killed won't be buried; the stink of their bodies will rise; mountains will be washed away with their blood.
Their slain shall be cast out; From their carcasses their stench shall ascend, And the mountains shall flow down with their blood.
4 The sun, moon, and stars of heaven will fade away, and the skies will be rolled up like a scroll. All the stars will fall like dried-up leaves from a vine, like dried-up figs from a fig tree.
And all the hosts of heaven shall melt away; And the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll, And all their host shall fall down, As the withered leaf faileth from the vine, As the blighted fruit from the fig-tree.
5 After my sword has finished what it has to do in the heavens, it will come down on Edom, on the people I have doomed for destruction.
For my sword hath become drunk in heaven; Behold, upon Edom shall it descend, Upon the people under my curse, for vengeance.
6 The sword of the Lord is coated in blood and covered with fat—the blood of lambs and goats, and the fat of rams' kidneys. For there is a sacrifice for Lord happening in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
The sword of Jehovah is full of blood; It is covered with fat, With the blood of lambs and goats, With the fat of the kidneys of rams; For Jehovah holdeth a sacrifice in Bozrah, And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7 Wild ox will fall with them, the young bulls along with the mature ones. Their land will be soaked with blood, and their soil soaked with fat.
The wild buffaloes shall fall down with them. And the bullocks with the bulls; The hind shall be drunk with blood, And the ground enriched with fat.
8 For the Lord has a day of punishment, a year of retribution, for the trouble caused to Zion.
For Jehovah holdeth a day of vengeance, A year of recompense in the cause of Zion.
9 Edom's streams will be turned into tar, its soil into sulfur, and her land will become burning tar!
Her streams shall be turned into pitch, And her dust into brimstone, And her whole land shall become burning pitch.
10 The fire will burn day and night, and will never go out, its smoke will rise forever. From one generation to the next it will remain desolate—people won't ever go there again.
Day and night it shall not be quenched; Its smoke shall ascend forever; From generation to generation it shall lie waste; None shall pass through it for ever and ever.
11 The desert owl and screech owl will take it over, and the eagle owl and raven will live there. The Lord will stretch out over Edom a measuring line of destruction and a plumb line of desolation.
The pelican and the hedgehog shall possess it; The heron and the raven shall dwell in it; Over it will he draw the measuring-line of destruction. And the plummet of desolation.
12 Its nobles won't have anything to call a kingdom; all its princes will be gone.
Her nobles — none are there, who may proclaim a kingdom, And all her princes have come to naught.
13 Thorns will grow over its palaces; weeds and thistles will take over its fortresses. It will be a place where jackals live, a home for owls.
Thorns shall spring up in her palaces; Nettles and thistles in her strongholds. She shall become a habitation for jackals, A court for ostriches.
14 It will be a meeting place for desert animals and hyenas, and wild goats will call to each other there. Night animals will settle there and find a place to rest.
The wild-cats shall fall upon the wolves, And the satyr shall call to his fellow; There also shall the night-spectre light, And find a place of rest.
15 There the owl will build its nest, lay and hatch its eggs, and raise its chicks in the shade of its wings. It has become a roost for birds of prey, each one with its mate.
There also shall the arrow-snake make her nest, and lay her eggs; She shall hatch them, and gather her young under her shadow: There also shall the vultures be gathered together, Every one with her mate.
16 Look in the scroll of the Lord and read what it says: Not a single one of these will be missing its mate, for the Lord has ordered this to happen, and his Spirit has gathered them together.
Search ye the book of Jehovah, and read! Not one of these shall fail; Not one shall want her mate; For His mouth, it shall command, And His spirit, it shall gather them.
17 He assigns them their territories, he divides up the land for them using a measuring line. These birds and animals will own it forever, from one generation to the next.
He shall cast the lot for them; His hand shall divide it for them with a line; They shall possess it forever; From generation to generation shall they dwell therein.
