Isaiah 34–35

Chapter 34

¹Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye peoples: let the earth hear, and all its fulness; the world, and all that cometh forth of it. ²For the wrath of Jehovah is against all the nations, and his fury against all their armies: he hath devoted them to destruction, he hath delivered them to the slaughter. ³And their slain shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up from their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. ⁴And all the host of the heavens shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll; and all their host shall fade away, as a leaf fadeth from off the vine, and as the withered fruit from the fig-tree. ⁵For my sword is bathed in the heavens; behold, it shall come down upon Edom, and upon the people of my ban, to judgment. ⁶The sword of Jehovah is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams; for Jehovah hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. ⁷And the buffaloes shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness. ⁸For it is the day of Jehovah’s vengeance, the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.

⁹And the torrents thereof shall be turned into pitch, and its dust into brimstone; yea, the land thereof shall become burning pitch: ¹⁰it shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever. ¹¹And the pelican and the bittern shall possess it, and the great owl and the raven shall dwell in it. And he shall stretch out upon it the line of waste, and the plummets of emptiness. ¹²Of her nobles who should proclaim the kingdom, none are there; and all her princes shall be nought. ¹³And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in her fortresses; and it shall be a dwelling-place of wild dogs, a court for ostriches. ¹⁴And there shall the beasts of the desert meet with the jackals, and the wild goat shall cry to his fellow; the lilith also shall settle there, and find for herself a place of rest. ¹⁵There shall the arrow-snake make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow; there also shall the vultures be gathered one with another. ¹⁶Search ye in the book of Jehovah and read: not one of these shall fail, one shall not have to seek for the other; for my mouth, it hath commanded, and his Spirit, it hath gathered them. ¹⁷For he himself hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them with the line: they shall possess it for ever; from generation to generation shall they dwell therein.

Chapter 35

¹The wilderness and the dry land shall be gladdened; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. ²It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and shouting: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of Jehovah, the excellency of our God. ³Strengthen the weak hands and confirm the tottering knees. ⁴Say to them that are of a timid heart, Be strong, fear not; behold your God: vengeance cometh, the recompense of God! He will come himself, and save you.

⁵Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf be unstopped; ⁶then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and torrents in the desert. ⁷And the mirage shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of wild dogs, where they lay down, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. ⁸And a highway shall be there and a way, and it shall be called, The way of holiness: the unclean shall not pass through it; but it shall be for these. Those that go this way—even fools, —shall not err therein. ⁹No lion shall be there, nor shall ravenous beast go up thereon, nor be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there. ¹⁰And the ransomed of Jehovah shall return, and come to Zion with singing; and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.