Isaiah 34
BSB
Judgment on the Nations
1Come near, O nations, to listen;
pay attention, O peoples.
Let the earth hear, and all that fills it,
the world and all that springs from it.
2The LORD is angry with all the nations
and furious with all their armies.
He will devote them to destruction;
He will give them over to slaughter.
3Their slain will be left unburied,
and the stench of their corpses will rise;
the mountains will flow with their blood.
4All the stars of heaven will be dissolved.
The skies will be rolled up like a scroll,
and all their stars will fall
like withered leaves from the vine,
like foliage from the fig tree.
Judgment on Edom
(Isaiah 21:11–12)
5When My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens,
then it will come down upon Edom,
upon the people I have devoted to destruction.
6The sword of the LORD is bathed in blood.
It drips with fat—
with the blood of lambs and goats,
with the fat of the kidneys of rams.
For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7And the wild oxen will fall with them,
the young bulls with the strong ones.
Their land will be drenched with blood,
and their soil will be soaked with fat.
8For the LORD has a day of vengeance,
a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
9Edom’s streams will be turned to tar,
and her soil to sulfur;
her land will become a blazing pitch.
10It will not be quenched—day or night.
Its smoke will ascend forever.
From generation to generation it will lie desolate;
no one will ever again pass through it.
11The desert owl and screech owl will possess it,
and the great owl and raven will dwell in it.
The LORD will stretch out over Edom
a measuring line of chaos
and a plumb line of destruction.
12No nobles will be left to proclaim a king,
and all her princes will come to nothing.
13Her towers will be overgrown with thorns,
her fortresses with thistles and briers.
She will become a haunt for jackals,
an abode for ostriches.
14The desert creatures will meet with hyenas,
and one wild goat will call to another.
There the night creature will settle
and find her place of repose.
15There the owl will make her nest;
she will lay and hatch her eggs
and gather her brood under her shadow.
Even there the birds of prey will gather,
each with its mate.
16Search and read the scroll of the LORD:
Not one of these will go missing,
not one will lack her mate,
because He has ordered it by His mouth,
and He will gather them by His Spirit.
17He has allotted their portion;
His hand has distributed it by measure.
They will possess it forever;
they will dwell in it from generation to generation.
Introduction
Isaiah 34
In this chapter we have the fatal doom of all the nations that are enemies to God's church and people, though Edom only is mentioned, because of the old enmity of Esau to Jacob, which was typical, as much as that more ancient enmity of Cain to Abel, and flowed from the original enmity of the serpent to the seed of the woman. It is probable that this prophecy had its accomplishment in the great desolations made by the Assyrian army first, or rather by Nebuchadnezzar's army some time after, among those nations that were neighbours to Israel and had been in some way or other injurious to them. That mighty conqueror took a pride in shedding blood, and laying countries waste, and therein, quite beyond his design, he was fulfilling what God here threatened against his and his people's enemies. But we have reason to think it is intended as a denunciation of the wrath of God against all those who fight against the interests of his kingdom among men, that it has its frequent accomplishment in the havoc made by the wars of the nations and other desolating judgments, and will have its full accomplishment in the final dissolution of all things at the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. Here is, I. A demand of universal attention (Isa 34:1). II. A direful scene of blood and confusion presented (Isa 34:2-7). III. The reason given for these judgments (Isa 34:8). IV. The continuance of this desolation, the country being made like the lake of Sodom (Isa 34:9, Isa 34:10), and the cities abandoned to wild beasts and melancholy fowls (Isa 34:11-15). V. The solemn ratification of all this (Isa 34:16, Isa 34:17). Let us hear, and fear.
Cross-references: Isa 34:1 · Isa 34:2 · Isa 34:8 · Isa 34:9 · Isa 34:10 · Isa 34:11 · Isa 34:16 · Isa 34:17