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10 Night and day it will burn;[a]
its smoke will ascend continually.
Generation after generation it will be a wasteland,
and no one will ever pass through it again.
11 Owls and wild animals[b] will live there,[c]
all kinds of wild birds[d] will settle in it.
The Lord[e] will stretch out over her
the measuring line of ruin
and the plumb line[f] of destruction.[g]
12 Her nobles will have nothing left to call a kingdom,
and all her officials will disappear.[h]

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 34:10 tn Heb “it will not be extinguished.”
  2. Isaiah 34:11 tn קָאַת (qaʾat) refers to some type of bird (cf. Lev 11:18; Deut 14:17) that was typically found near ruins (see Zeph 2:14). קִפּוֹד (qippod) may also refer to a type of bird (NAB “hoot owl”; NIV “screech owl”; TEV “ravens”), but some have suggested a rodent may be in view (cf. NCV “small animals”; ASV “porcupine”; NASB, NRSV “hedgehog”).
  3. Isaiah 34:11 tn Heb “will possess it” (so NIV).
  4. Isaiah 34:11 tn The Hebrew text has יַנְשׁוֹף וְעֹרֵב (yanshof veʿorev). Both the יַנְשׁוֹף (“owl”; see Lev 11:17; Deut 14:16) and עֹרֵב (“raven”; Lev 11:15; Deut 14:14) were types of wild birds.
  5. Isaiah 34:11 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  6. Isaiah 34:11 tn Heb “stones,” i.e., the stones used in a plumb bob.
  7. Isaiah 34:11 sn The metaphor in v. 11b emphasizes that God has carefully planned Edom’s demise.
  8. Isaiah 34:12 tn Heb “will be nothing”; NCV, TEV, NLT “will all be gone.”

10 It will not be quenched(A) night or day;
    its smoke will rise forever.(B)
From generation to generation(C) it will lie desolate;(D)
    no one will ever pass through it again.
11 The desert owl[a](E) and screech owl[b] will possess it;
    the great owl[c] and the raven(F) will nest there.
God will stretch out over Edom(G)
    the measuring line of chaos(H)
    and the plumb line(I) of desolation.
12 Her nobles will have nothing there to be called a kingdom,
    all her princes(J) will vanish(K) away.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 34:11 The precise identification of these birds is uncertain.
  2. Isaiah 34:11 The precise identification of these birds is uncertain.
  3. Isaiah 34:11 The precise identification of these birds is uncertain.