Isaiah 34
1 Come near, ye nations, to hear; and ye people, hearken: let the earth hear, and all that filleth it; the world, and all things that spring forth of it.
You people of all nations, come near and listen and pay careful attention. I want the world and everything that is in it to hear what I say.
2 For the indignation of the Lord is [enkindled] over all the nations, and his fury over all their army: he hath devoted them, he hath given them up to the slaughter:
Yahweh is angry with [the people of] all nations; he is (furious/very angry) with all their armies. He has decided that they must be destroyed, and he will slaughter them.
3 And their slain also shall be cast out, and as regardeth their carcasses their stench shall ascend upward, and the mountains shall be melted through their blood.
Their corpses will not be buried, and [as a result] their corpses will stink, and their blood will [fill the streams that] flow down the mountains.
4 And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together like a book: and all their host shall wither, as the leaf withereth from the vine, and as withering fruit from the fig-tree.
The sky will disappear like [SIM] a scroll that is rolled up [and thrown away]. Stars will fall [from the sky] like [SIM] [withered] leaves fall from grapevines, [or] like [SIM] shriveled figs fall from fig trees.
5 For my sword is sated in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Edom, and upon the people I have devoted to punishment.
When Yahweh has finished his work of destroying objects in the sky, he will punish [the people of] Edom, that people-group that he has said must be destroyed/exterminated.
6 The sword of the Lord is full of blood, it is enriched with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams; for the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
[It is as though] Yahweh has a sword that is covered with blood and fat— the blood of lambs and goats and the fat of the kidneys of rams to be sacrificed. [It is as though] Yahweh will offer a sacrifice in [the city of] Bozrah [and kill many people] in other cities in Edom.
7 And wild oxen shall sink down with them, and steers with bullocks; and their land shall be sated with blood, and their dust enriched with fat.
[Even] wild oxen will be killed, as well as young calves and big bulls. The ground will be soaked with blood, and the dirt will be covered with the fat of those animals.
8 For it is the day of vengeance unto the Lord, and the year of recompense for the controversy of Zion.
That will be the time when Yahweh gets revenge for what those people did to the people of Judah.
9 And its brooks shall be changed into pitch, and its dust into sulfur, and its land shall become burning pitch.
The streams in Edom will be full of burning pitch/tar, and the ground will be covered with burning sulfur.
10 Night and day shall it not be quenched; for ever shall ascend the smoke thereof: from generation to generation shall it lie waste; no one shall for ever and ever pass through it.
Yahweh will never finish punishing Edom with fire; the smoke will rise forever. No one will ever live in that land, and no one will [even] travel through it.
11 But pelican and hedgehog shall take possession of it; night-owl also and raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out over it the line of destruction, and the weights of desolation.
Ravens and various kinds of owls and small animals will live there. Yahweh will measure that land carefully: He will measure it to [to decide where] to cause chaos and destruction.
12 Their nobles—no one is there they could call [to] the kingdom, and all its princes shall be no more.
There will be no princes; the people who have authority will have no kingdom to rule.
13 And thorns shall spring up in its palaces, nettles and brambles in its fortresses: and it shall be a habitation of monsters, and a court for ostriches.
The deserted palaces and fortified buildings will be full of thorns and thistles. The ruins will be a place for jackals/wolves and owls to live.
14 And the martens shall meet with the jackals, and one goat shall call to his fellow; only the screech-owl shall rest there, and find for herself a place of repose.
Animals that live in the desert and hyenas/wolves will be there, and wild goats will bleat/call to each other. There will also be creatures/animals that [roam around] at night.
15 There shall nestle the arrow-snake, and lay eggs, and hatch, and gather its young under its shadow: only vultures shall assemble there, every one with her mate.
Owls will make their nests there and lay their eggs in the nests; and when the eggs hatch, the mother birds will cover them [with their wings]. There will also be falcons/hawks there, each with its mate.
16 Inquire out of the book of the Lord, and read: not one of these shall be absent, not one shall miss her mate; for my mouth it is that hath ordained it, and its breath it is that hath gathered them.
If you read what is written in the book that contains messages from Yahweh, you will find out what he will do [in Edom]. All of those animals and birds will be there, and each one will have a mate, because that is what Yahweh has promised, and his Spirit will cause them [all] to gather [there].
17 And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it out unto them by the measuring line: for ever shall they possess it, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein.
He has decided what parts of the land [of Edom] each will live in, and those are the places where each bird or animal will live. Their descendants will possess those areas forever, throughout all generations.
