Isaiah 34

1 You people of all nations, come near and listen and pay careful attention. I want the world and everything that is in it to hear what I say.

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 Yahweh is angry with [the people of] all nations; he is (furious/very angry) with all their armies. He has decided that they must be destroyed, and he will slaughter them.

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 Their corpses will not be buried, and [as a result] their corpses will stink, and their blood will [fill the streams that] flow down the mountains.

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 sky will disappear like [SIM] a scroll that is rolled up [and thrown away]. Stars will fall [from the sky] like [SIM] [withered] leaves fall from grapevines, [or] like [SIM] shriveled figs fall from fig trees.

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 When Yahweh has finished his work of destroying objects in the sky, he will punish [the people of] Edom, that people-group that he has said must be destroyed/exterminated.

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 [It is as though] Yahweh has a sword that is covered with blood and fat— the blood of lambs and goats and the fat of the kidneys of rams to be sacrificed. [It is as though] Yahweh will offer a sacrifice in [the city of] Bozrah [and kill many people] in other cities in 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 [Even] wild oxen will be killed, as well as young calves and big bulls. The ground will be soaked with blood, and the dirt will be covered with the fat of those animals.

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 That will be the time when Yahweh gets revenge for what those people did to the people of Judah.

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

9 The streams in Edom will be full of burning pitch/tar, and the ground will be covered with burning sulfur.

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

10 Yahweh will never finish punishing Edom with fire; the smoke will rise forever. No one will ever live in that land, and no one will [even] travel through it.

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 Ravens and various kinds of owls and small animals will live there. Yahweh will measure that land carefully: He will measure it to [to decide where] to cause chaos and destruction.

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 There will be no princes; the people who have authority will have no kingdom to rule.

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

13 The deserted palaces and fortified buildings will be full of thorns and thistles. The ruins will be a place for jackals/wolves and owls to live.

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 Animals that live in the desert and hyenas/wolves will be there, and wild goats will bleat/call to each other. There will also be creatures/animals that [roam around] at night.

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 Owls will make their nests there and lay their eggs in the nests; and when the eggs hatch, the mother birds will cover them [with their wings]. There will also be falcons/hawks there, each 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 If you read what is written in the book that contains messages from Yahweh, you will find out what he will do [in Edom]. All of those animals and birds will be there, and each one will have a mate, because that is what Yahweh has promised, and his Spirit will cause them [all] to gather [there].

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 Ruach has gathered them.

17 He has decided what parts of the land [of Edom] each will live in, and those are the places where each bird or animal will live. Their descendants will possess those areas forever, throughout all generations.

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.