Isaiah 34

Judgment on the Nations

1 Draw near, aO nations, to hear,
and give attention, O peoples!
Let the earth hear, and all that fills it;
the world, and all that comes from it.
2For the Lord is enraged against all the nations,
and furious against all their host;
he has bdevoted them to destruction,
That is, set apart ( devoted) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction); also verse 5
has given them over for slaughter.
3Their slain shall be cast out,
and dthe stench of their corpses shall rise;
ethe mountains shall flow with their blood.
4 fAll the host of heaven shall rot away,
and the skies roll up like a scroll.
All their host shall fall,
as leaves fall from the vine,
like leaves falling from the fig tree.
5 For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens;
behold, it descends for judgment upon gEdom,
upon the people hI have devoted to destruction.
6The Lord has a sword; it is sated with blood;
it is gorged with fat,
with the blood of lambs and goats,
with the fat of the kidneys of rams.
iFor the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7 jWild oxen shall kfall with them,
and lyoung steers with mthe mighty bulls.
Their land shall drink its fill of blood,
and their soil shall be gorged with fat.
8 nFor the Lord has a day of vengeance,
a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
9 oAnd the streams of Edom
Hebrew her streams
shall be turned into pitch,
and her soil into sulfur;
her land shall become burning pitch.
10Night and day qit shall not be quenched;
rits smoke shall go up forever.
sFrom generation to generation it shall lie waste;
none shall pass through it forever and ever.
11 tBut the hawk and the porcupine
The identity of the animals rendered  hawk and  porcupine is uncertain
shall possess it,
the owl and the raven shall dwell in it.
vHe shall stretch the line of wconfusion
Hebrew formlessness
over it,
and the plumb line of emptiness.
12Its nobles—there is no one there to call it a kingdom,
and all its princes shall be nothing.
13 yThorns shall grow over its strongholds,
nettles and thistles in its fortresses.
It shall be the haunt of zjackals,
an abode for ostriches.
Or owls

14 abAnd wild animals shall meet with hyenas;
the wild goat shall cry to his fellow;
indeed, there the night bird
Identity uncertain
settles
and finds for herself a resting place.
15 There the owl nests and lays
and hatches and gathers her young in her shadow;
indeed, there adthe hawks are gathered,
each one with her mate.
16Seek and read from the book of the Lord:
Not one of these shall be missing;
none shall be without her mate.
For the mouth of the Lord has commanded,
and his Spirit has gathered them.
17 aeHe has cast the lot for them;
his hand has portioned it out to them with the line;
they shall possess it forever;
from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.
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