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Isaiah 34
Easy-to-Read Version
Isaiah 34
Easy-to-Read Version
God Will Punish His Enemies
34 All you nations, come near and listen! Listen, all you people. The earth and everyone on it should listen to these things. Everything in this world should hear this. 2 The Lord is angry with all the nations and their armies. He will destroy them all and put them to death. 3 Their bodies will be thrown outside. The stink will rise from the bodies, and the blood will flow down the mountains. 4 The skies will be rolled shut like a scroll,[a] and the stars will die and fall like leaves from a vine or a fig tree. All the stars[b] in the sky will rot away. 5 The Lord says, “This will happen when my sword in the sky is covered with blood.”
Look, the Lord’s sword will cut through Edom. He judged them guilty, and they must die.[c] 6 The Lord decided there should be a time for killing in Bozrah and in Edom. So the sword of the Lord is covered with blood and fat. The blood is from the “goats.” The fat is from the kidneys of the “rams.”[d] 7 So the rams, the cattle, and the strong bulls will be killed. The land will be filled with their blood. The dirt will be covered with their fat.
8 This will happen because the Lord has chosen a time for punishment. He has chosen a year when people must pay for the wrong they did to Zion. 9 Edom’s rivers will be like hot tar. Edom’s ground will be like burning sulfur. 10 The fires will burn day and night—no one will stop the fire. The smoke will rise from Edom forever. The land will be destroyed forever and ever. No one will ever travel through that land again. 11 Birds and small animals will own that land. It will be a home for owls and ravens. God will leave that land in ruins. People will call it “the empty desert.”[e] 12 The free men[f] and leaders will all be gone, and there will be nothing left for them to rule.
13 Thorns and wild bushes will grow in all the beautiful homes there. Wild dogs and owls will live in them. Wild animals will make their homes there. Big birds will live in the grasses that grow there. 14 Wild cats will live there with hyenas.[g] Wild goats[h] will call to their friends. Night animals[i] will spend some time there and find a place to rest. 15 Snakes will make their homes there and lay their eggs. The eggs will open, and small snakes will crawl from the dark places. Birds that eat dead things will gather there like women visiting their friends.
16 Look in the Lord’s scroll and read what it says: Not one of these will be missing. Not one will be without its mate. God said he would make this happen, so his Spirit will bring them together. 17 God decided what he should do with them, and then he chose a place for them. He drew a line and showed them their land. So the animals will own that land forever. They will live there year after year.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 34:4 rolled shut like a scroll This is like someone closing a book when they have finished reading it.
- Isaiah 34:4 stars Literally, “the armies of the skies.”
- Isaiah 34:5 guilty, and they must die The Hebrew means the people belonged completely to God, and if he does not get them, they must die.
- Isaiah 34:6 goats … rams This probably refers to the people and leaders of Edom.
- Isaiah 34:11 God … desert Literally, “He will stretch over it the measuring string of ‘emptiness’ and the stone weights of ‘nothingness.’” These two words described the empty earth in Gen. 1:2.
- Isaiah 34:12 free men Important citizens of a town or country. These people came from “good families” and had never been slaves.
- Isaiah 34:14 hyenas A kind of wild dog that often eats the meat of dead animals that other animals killed.
- Isaiah 34:14 Wild goats The Hebrew word means “hairy,” “goat,” or “goat-demon.”
- Isaiah 34:14 Night animals Or “Lilith, the night demon.” This name is like the Hebrew word for night.
Isaiah 34
New International Version
Isaiah 34
New International Version
Judgment Against the Nations
34 Come near, you nations, and listen;(A)
pay attention, you peoples!(B)
Let the earth(C) hear, and all that is in it,
the world, and all that comes out of it!(D)
2 The Lord is angry with all nations;
his wrath(E) is on all their armies.
He will totally destroy[a](F) them,
he will give them over to slaughter.(G)
3 Their slain(H) will be thrown out,
their dead bodies(I) will stink;(J)
the mountains will be soaked with their blood.(K)
4 All the stars in the sky will be dissolved(L)
and the heavens rolled up(M) like a scroll;
all the starry host will fall(N)
like withered(O) leaves from the vine,
like shriveled figs from the fig tree.
5 My sword(P) has drunk its fill in the heavens;
see, it descends in judgment on Edom,(Q)
the people I have totally destroyed.(R)
6 The sword(S) of the Lord is bathed in blood,
it is covered with fat—
the blood of lambs and goats,
fat from the kidneys of rams.
For the Lord has a sacrifice(T) in Bozrah(U)
and a great slaughter(V) in the land of Edom.
7 And the wild oxen(W) will fall with them,
the bull calves and the great bulls.(X)
Their land will be drenched with blood,(Y)
and the dust will be soaked with fat.
8 For the Lord has a day(Z) of vengeance,(AA)
a year of retribution,(AB) to uphold Zion’s cause.
9 Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch,
her dust into burning sulfur;(AC)
her land will become blazing pitch!
10 It will not be quenched(AD) night or day;
its smoke will rise forever.(AE)
From generation to generation(AF) it will lie desolate;(AG)
no one will ever pass through it again.
11 The desert owl[b](AH) and screech owl[c] will possess it;
the great owl[d] and the raven(AI) will nest there.
God will stretch out over Edom(AJ)
the measuring line of chaos(AK)
and the plumb line(AL) of desolation.
12 Her nobles will have nothing there to be called a kingdom,
all her princes(AM) will vanish(AN) away.
13 Thorns(AO) will overrun her citadels,
nettles and brambles her strongholds.(AP)
She will become a haunt for jackals,(AQ)
a home for owls.(AR)
14 Desert creatures(AS) will meet with hyenas,(AT)
and wild goats will bleat to each other;
there the night creatures(AU) will also lie down
and find for themselves places of rest.
15 The owl will nest there and lay eggs,
she will hatch them, and care for her young
under the shadow of her wings;(AV)
there also the falcons(AW) will gather,
each with its mate.
16 Look in the scroll(AX) of the Lord and read:
None of these will be missing,(AY)
not one will lack her mate.
For it is his mouth(AZ) that has given the order,(BA)
and his Spirit will gather them together.
17 He allots their portions;(BB)
his hand distributes them by measure.
They will possess it forever
and dwell there from generation to generation.(BC)
Footnotes
- Isaiah 34:2 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them; also in verse 5.
- Isaiah 34:11 The precise identification of these birds is uncertain.
- Isaiah 34:11 The precise identification of these birds is uncertain.
- Isaiah 34:11 The precise identification of these birds is uncertain.
Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International
New International Version (NIV) 
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