Isaiah 34

1 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 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 Their slain shall be cast out; From their carcasses their stench shall ascend, And the mountains shall flow down with their blood.

4 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 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 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 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 Jehovah holdeth a day of vengeance, A year of recompense in the cause of Zion.

9 Her streams shall be turned into pitch, And her dust into brimstone, And her whole land shall become burning pitch.

10 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 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 Her nobles — none are there, who may proclaim a kingdom, And all her princes have come to naught.

13 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 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 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 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 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.