Isaiah 34

1 Come near, you nations, and listen; pay attention, you people! The earth and all that fills it must listen, the world, and all things that come from it.

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.

2 For Yahweh is angry with all the nations, and furious against all their armies; he has completely destroyed them, he has handed them over to the slaughter.

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:

3 The bodies of their dead will be thrown out. The stench of the dead bodies will be everywhere; and the mountains will soak up their blood.

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.

4 All the stars of the sky will fade away, and the sky will be rolled up like a scroll; and all their stars will fade away, as the leaf fades from off the vine, and as the overripe figs from the fig tree.

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.

5 For when my sword will have drunk its fill in heaven; look, it will now come down on Edom, on the people I am setting apart for destruction.

For my sword is sated in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Edom, and upon the people I have devoted to punishment.

6 The sword of Yahweh is dripping with blood and covered with fat, dripping with the blood of lambs and goats, covered with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For Yahweh 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 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.

7 Wild oxen will fall with them, and young bulls with the older ones. Their land will be drunk with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.

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.

8 For it will be a day of vengeance for Yahweh and a year when he will pay them back for the cause of Zion.

For it is the day of vengeance unto the Lord, and the year of recompense for the controversy of Zion.

9 The streams of Edom will be turned into pitch, her dust into sulfur, and her land will become burning pitch.

And its brooks shall be changed into pitch, and its dust into sulfur, and its land shall become burning pitch.

10 It will burn night and day; its smoke will rise forever; from generation to generation it will be a wasteland; no one will pass through it forever and ever.

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.

11 But wild birds and animals will live there; the owl and the raven will make their nest in it. He will stretch over it the measuring line of ruin and the plumbline of destruction.

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.

12 Her nobles will have nothing left to call a kingdom, and all her princes will be nothing.

Their nobles—no one is there they could call [to] the kingdom, and all its princes shall be no more.

13 Thorns will overgrow her palaces, nettles and thistles her fortresses. It will be a habitation of jackals, a place for ostriches.

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.

14 The wild animals and the hyenas will meet there, and the wild goats will cry to one another. Nocturnal animals will settle there and find for themselves a place of rest.

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.

15 Owls will make nests, lay and hatch their eggs, hatch and protect their young. Yes, there hawks will gather, each one with its mate.

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.

16 Search through the scroll of Yahweh; not one of these will be missing. None will lack for a mate; for his mouth has commanded it, and his spirit has gathered them.

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.

17 He has cast lots for their places, and his hand has measured it out for them by a cord. They will possess it forever; from generation to generation they will live there.

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.