Isaiah 34:1–17
1 Draw near, aO nations, to hear; and listen, O peoples!
bLet the earth and 1all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it.
2 For the Lord’s aindignation is against all the nations,
And His wrath against all their armies;
He has 1butterly destroyed them,
He has given them over to cslaughter.
3 So their slain will be athrown out,
And their corpses 1will give off their bstench,
And the mountains will 2be drenched with their cblood.
4 And aall the host of heaven will 1wear away,
And the bsky will be rolled up like a scroll;
All their hosts will also wither away
As a leaf withers from the vine,
Or as one withers from the fig tree.
5 For aMy sword is satiated in heaven,
Behold it shall descend for judgment upon bEdom
And upon the people whom I have cdevoted to destruction.
6 The sword of the Lord is filled with blood,
It is 1sated with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats,
With the fat of the kidneys of rams.
For the Lord has a sacrifice in aBozrah
And a great slaughter in the land of bEdom.
7 aWild oxen will also 1fall with them
And byoung bulls with strong ones;
Thus their land will be csoaked with blood,
And their dust 2become greasy with fat.
8 For the Lord has a day of avengeance,
A year of recompense for the 1cause of Zion.
9 1Its streams will be turned into pitch,
And its loose earth into abrimstone,
And its land will become burning pitch.
10 It will anot be quenched night or day;
Its bsmoke will go up forever.
From cgeneration to generation it will be desolate;
dNone will pass through it forever and ever.
11 But 1apelican and hedgehog will possess it,
And 2owl and raven will dwell in it;
And He will stretch over it the bline of 3desolation
And the 4plumb line of emptiness.
12 Its nobles—there is ano one there
Whom they may proclaim king—
And all its princes will be bnothing.
13 Thorns will come up in its afortified towers,
Nettles and thistles in its fortified cities;
It will also be a haunt of bjackals
And an abode of ostriches.
14 The desert acreatures will meet with the 1wolves,
The 2ahairy goat also will cry to its kind;
Yes, the 3night monster will settle there
And will find herself a resting place.
15 The tree snake will make its nest and lay eggs there,
And it will hatch and gather them under its 1protection.
Yes, athe 2hawks will be gathered there,
Every one with its kind.
16 Seek from the abook of the Lord, and read:
Not one of these will be missing;
None will lack its mate.
For 1bHis mouth has commanded,
And His Spirit has gathered them.
17 He has cast the alot for them,
And His hand has divided it to them by bline.
They shall possess it forever;
From cgeneration to generation they will dwell in it.