Isaiah 34
1 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.
Come near, you nations, to hear, And you peoples, give attention, The earth and its fullness hear, The world, and all its productions.
2 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.
For to YHWH [is] wrath against all the nations, And fury against all their host, He has devoted them to destruction, He has given them to slaughter.
3 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.
And their wounded are cast out, And their carcasses cause their stench to ascend, And mountains have been melted from their blood.
4 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.
And all the host of the heavens have been consumed, And the heavens have been rolled together as a scroll, And all their hosts fade, As the fading of a leaf of a vine, And as the fading one of a fig tree.
5 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.
For My sword was soaked in the heavens, Behold, it comes down on Edom, On the people of My curse for judgment.
6 [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.
A sword [is] to YHWH—it has been full of blood, It has been made fat with fatness, With blood of lambs and male goats. With fat of kidneys of rams, For to YHWH [is] a sacrifice in Bozrah, And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7 [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.
And reems have come down with them, And bullocks with bulls, And their land has been soaked from blood, And their dust is made fat from fatness.
8 That will be the time when Yahweh gets revenge for what those people did to the people of Judah.
(For a day of vengeance [is] to YHWH, A year of recompenses for Zion’s strife),
9 The streams in Edom will be full of burning pitch/tar, and the ground will be covered with burning sulfur.
And her streams have been turned to pitch, And her dust to brimstone, And her land has become burning pitch.
10 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.
She is not quenched by night and by day, Her smoke goes up for all time, She is desolate from generation to generation, Forever and ever, none is passing into her.
11 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.
And pelican and hedgehog possess her, And owl and raven dwell in her, And He has stretched out over her A line of vacancy, and stones of emptiness.
12 There will be no princes; the people who have authority will have no kingdom to rule.
They call her nobles [to] the kingdom, But there are none there, And all her princes are at an end.
13 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.
And thorns have gone up her palaces, Nettle and bramble [are] in her fortresses, And it has been a habitation of dragons, A court for daughters of an ostrich.
14 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.
And desert-dwellers have met with howlers, And the goat calls for its companion, Surely the night-owl has rested there, And has found a place of rest for herself.
15 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.
The owl has made her nest there, Indeed, she lays, and has hatched, And has gathered under her shadow, Surely vultures have been gathered there, Each with its companion.
16 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].
Seek out of the scroll of YHWH, and read, One of these has not been lacking, None has missed its companion, For My mouth—it has commanded, And His Spirit—He has gathered them.
17 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.
And He has cast a lot for them, And His hand has apportioned [it] to them by line, They possess it for all time, They dwell in it from generation to generation!
