Isaiah 34

1 Come 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.

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

2 For 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.

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.

3 And their slain shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up from their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.

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

4 And 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.

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.

5 For my sword is bathed in the heavens; behold, it shall come down upon Edom, and upon the people of my ban, to judgment.

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.

6 The 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.

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.

7 And 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.

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.

8 For it is the day of Jehovah's vengeance, the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.

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

9 And the torrents thereof shall be turned into pitch, and its dust into brimstone; yea, the land thereof shall become burning pitch:

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

10 it 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.

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.

11 And 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.

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.

12 Of her nobles who should proclaim the kingdom, none are there; and all her princes shall be nought.

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

13 And 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.

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.

14 And 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.

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.

15 There 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.

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.

16 Search 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.

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.

17 For 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.

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.