Isaiah 34

1 Come close, you nations, and listen! You peoples, pay attention! Hear these words everyone who lives on earth, and all that comes from it!

Come near, you nations, to hear. Listen, you peoples. Let the earth and all it contains hear; the world, and everything that comes from it.

2 The Lord's anger is against all the nations and his fury is against all their armies. He will completely destroy them; he will have them slaughtered.

For the LORD is enraged against all the nations, and angry with all their armies. He has utterly destroyed them. He has given them over for slaughter.

3 Those who are killed won't be buried; the stink of their bodies will rise; mountains will be washed away with their blood.

Their slain will also be cast out, and the stench of their dead bodies will come up; and the mountains will melt in their blood.

4 The sun, moon, and stars of heaven will fade away, and the skies will be rolled up like a scroll. All the stars will fall like dried-up leaves from a vine, like dried-up figs from a fig tree.

And all the host of heaven will rot away, and the heavens will be rolled up like a scroll. And all their host will wither, as a leaf withering from the vine, and as leaves withering from the fig tree.

5 After my sword has finished what it has to do in the heavens, it will come down on Edom, on the people I have doomed for destruction.

For my sword has drunk its fill in the sky. Look, it will come down on Edom, and on the people of my curse, for judgment.

6 The sword of the Lord is coated in blood and covered with fat—the blood of lambs and goats, and the fat of rams' kidneys. For there is a sacrifice for Lord happening in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

The LORD's sword is filled with blood. It is covered 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.

7 Wild ox will fall with them, the young bulls along with the mature ones. Their land will be soaked with blood, and their soil soaked with fat.

The wild oxen will come down with them, and the young bulls with the mighty bulls; and their land will be soaked with blood, and their dust made greasy with fat.

8 For the Lord has a day of punishment, a year of retribution, for the trouble caused to Zion.

For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

9 Edom's streams will be turned into tar, its soil into sulfur, and her land will become burning tar!

Its streams will be turned into pitch, its dust into sulfur, And its land will become burning pitch.

10 The fire will burn day and night, and will never go out, its smoke will rise forever. From one generation to the next it will remain desolate—people won't ever go there again.

It won't be quenched night nor day. Its smoke will go up forever. From generation to generation, it will lie waste. No one will pass through it forever and ever.

11 The desert owl and screech owl will take it over, and the eagle owl and raven will live there. The Lord will stretch out over Edom a measuring line of destruction and a plumb line of desolation.

But the pelican and the porcupine will possess it. The owl and the raven will dwell in it. He will stretch the line of confusion over it, and the plumb line of emptiness.

12 Its nobles won't have anything to call a kingdom; all its princes will be gone.

They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, but none shall be there; and all its princes shall be nothing.

13 Thorns will grow over its palaces; weeds and thistles will take over its fortresses. It will be a place where jackals live, a home for owls.

Thorns will come up in its palaces, nettles and thistles in its fortresses; and it will be a habitation of jackals, a court for ostriches.

14 It will be a meeting place for desert animals and hyenas, and wild goats will call to each other there. Night animals will settle there and find a place to rest.

And the wildcats will meet with the hyenas, and the wild goat will cry to his fellow. There too, nocturnal animals shall settle, and shall find themselves a place of rest.

15 There the owl will build its nest, lay and hatch its eggs, and raise its chicks in the shade of its wings. It has become a roost for birds of prey, each one with its mate.

The owl will make her nest there, and lay, hatch, and gather under her shade. Yes, the vultures will be gathered there, every one with her mate.

16 Look in the scroll of the Lord and read what it says: Not a single one of these will be missing its mate, for the Lord has ordered this to happen, and his Spirit has gathered them together.

Search in the scroll of the LORD, and read: not one of these will be missing. None will lack her mate. For my mouth has commanded, and his Spirit has gathered them.

17 He assigns them their territories, he divides up the land for them using a measuring line. These birds and animals will own it forever, from one generation to the next.

He has cast the lot for them, and his hand has divided it to them with a measuring line. They shall possess it forever. From generation to generation they will dwell in it.