34:1 Come near, you nations, to hear; and listen, you peoples!
Let the earth and ①all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it.
▷ ①Lit its fullness
34:2 For the LORD’S anger is against all the nations,
And His wrath against all their armies.
He has ①utterly destroyed them,
He has turned them over to slaughter.
▷ ①Lit put under the ban
34:3 So their slain will be thrown out,
And their corpses ①will give off their stench,
And the mountains will ②be drenched with their blood.
▷ ①Lit their stench will go up ②Lit dissolve
34:4 And all the heavenly ①lights will ②wear away,
And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll;
All its ③lights will also wither away
As a leaf withers from the vine,
Or as one withers from the fig tree.
▷ ①Lit host; i.e., sun, stars, etc. ②Lit rot ③Lit host; i.e., sun, stars, etc.
34:5 For My sword has drunk its fill in heaven;
Behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom,
And upon the people whom I have designated for destruction.
34:6 The sword of the LORD is filled with 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,
And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
34:7 Wild oxen will also ①fall with them
And young bulls with strong ones;
So their land will be soaked with blood,
And their dust ②become greasy with fat.
▷ ①Lit go down ②Lit made fat
34:8 For the LORD has a day of vengeance,
A year of retribution for the ①cause of Zion.
▷ ①Or controversy
34:9 ①Its streams will be turned into pitch,
And its loose earth into brimstone,
And its land will become burning pitch.
▷ ①I.e., Edom’s
34:10 It will not be extinguished night or day;
Its smoke will go up forever.
From generation to generation it will be desolate;
None will pass through it forever and ever.
34:11 But ①pelican and hedgehog will possess it,
And ②owl and raven will dwell in it;
And He will stretch over it the line of ③desolation
And the ④plumb line of emptiness.
▷ ①Or owl; or jackdaw ②Or great horned owl ③Or formlessness ④Lit stones of void
34:12 Its nobles—there is no one there
Whom they may proclaim king—
And all its officials will be nothing.
34:13 Thorns will come up in its fortified towers,
Weeds and thistles in its fortified cities;
It will also be a haunt of jackals
And a habitat of ostriches.
34:14 The desert creatures will meet with the ①wolves,
The ②goat also will cry to its kind.
Yes, the ③night-bird will settle there
And will find herself a resting place.
▷ ①Or howling creatures ②Or goat demon ③Or a demon; Heb Lilith
34:15 The tree snake will make its nest and lay eggs there,
And it will hatch and gather them under its ①protection.
Yes, the ②hawks will be gathered there,
Every one with its kind.
▷ ①Lit shade ②Or kites
34:16 Seek from the book of the LORD, and read:
Not one of these will be missing;
None will lack its mate.
For ①His mouth has commanded,
And His Spirit has gathered them.
▷ ①As in DSS; MT My
34:17 He has cast the lot for them,
And His hand has divided it to them by the measuring line.
They shall possess it forever;
From generation to generation they will dwell in it.