Isaiah 34

1 Come near, you nations, to hear. Listen, you peoples. Let the earth and all it contains hear; the world, and everything that comes from it.

Come near, you nations, and give ear; take note, you peoples: let the earth and everything in it give ear; the world and all those living in it.

2 For Jehovah is enraged against all the nations, and angry with all their armies. He has utterly destroyed them. He has given them over for slaughter.

For the Lord is angry with all the nations, and his wrath is burning against all their armies: he has put them to the curse, he has given them to destruction.

3 Their slain will also be cast out, and the stench of their dead bodies will come up; and the mountains will melt in their blood.

Their dead bodies will be thick on the face of the earth, and their smell will come up, and the mountains will be flowing with their blood, and all the hills will come to nothing.

4 And all the host of heaven will rot away, and the heavens will be rolled up like a scroll. And all their host will wither, as a leaf withering from the vine, and as leaves withering from the fig tree.

And the heavens will be rolled together like the roll of a book: and all their army will be gone, like a dead leaf from the vine, or a dry fruit from the fig-tree.

5 For my sword has drunk its fill in the sky. Look, it will come down on Edom, and on the people of my curse, for judgment.

For my sword in heaven is full of wrath: see, it is coming down on Edom, in punishment on the people of my curse.

6 Jehovah's sword is filled with blood. It is covered with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams; for Jehovah has a sacrifice in Bozrah, And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

The sword of the Lord is full of blood, it is fat with the best of the meat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the best parts of the sheep: for the Lord has a feast in Bozrah, and much cattle will be put to death in the land of Edom.

7 The wild oxen will come down with them, and the young bulls with the mighty bulls; and their land will be soaked with blood, and their dust made greasy with fat.

And the strong oxen will go down to death together with the smaller cattle.

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

For it is the day of the Lord's punishment, when he gives payment for the wrongs done to Zion.

9 Its streams will be turned into pitch, its dust into sulfur, And its land will become burning pitch.

And its streams will be turned into boiling oil, and its dust into burning stone, and all the land will be on fire.

10 It won't be quenched night nor day. Its smoke will go up forever. From generation to generation, it will lie waste. No one will pass through it forever and ever.

It will not be put out day or night; its smoke will go up for ever: it will be waste from generation to generation; no one will go through it for ever.

11 But the pelican and the porcupine will possess it. The owl and the raven will dwell in it. He will stretch the line of confusion over it, and the plumb line of emptiness.

But the birds of the waste land will have their place there; it will be a heritage for the bittern and the raven: and it will be measured out with line and weight as a waste land.

12 They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, but none shall be there; and all its princes shall be nothing.

The jackals will be there, and her great ones will be gone; they will say, There is no longer a kingdom there, and all her chiefs will have come to an end.

13 Thorns will come up in its palaces, nettles and thistles in its fortresses; and it will be a habitation of jackals, a court for ostriches.

And thorns will come up in her fair houses, and waste plants in her strong towers: and foxes will make their holes there, and it will be a meeting-place for ostriches.

14 And the wildcats will meet with the hyenas, and the wild goat will cry to his fellow. There too, nocturnal animals shall settle, and shall find themselves a place of rest.

And the beasts of the waste places will come together with the jackals, and the evil spirits will be crying to one another, even the night-spirit will come and make her resting-place there.

15 The owl will make her nest there, and lay, hatch, and gather under her shade. Yes, the vultures will be gathered there, every one with her mate.

The arrowsnake will make her hole and put her eggs there, and get her young together under her shade: there the hawks will come together by twos.

16 Search in the scroll of Jehovah, and read: not one of these will be missing. None will lack her mate. For my mouth has commanded, and his Spirit has gathered them.

See what is recorded in the book of the Lord: all these will be there, not one without the other: the mouth of the Lord has given the order, and his spirit has made them come together.

17 He has cast the lot for them, and his hand has divided it to them with a measuring line. They shall possess it forever. From generation to generation they will dwell in it.

And he has given them their heritage, and by his hand it has been measured out to them: it will be theirs for ever, their resting-place from generation to generation.