F. The Lord, Zion’s Avenger
Chapter 34
Judgment upon Edom
1 Come near, nations, and listen;
be attentive, you peoples!
Let the earth and what fills it listen,
the world and all it produces.(A)
2 The Lord is angry with all the nations,
enraged against all their host;
He has placed them under the ban,
given them up to slaughter.(B)
3 Their slain shall be cast out,
their corpses shall send up a stench;
the mountains shall run with their blood,(C)
4 All the host of heaven shall rot;
the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll.
All their host shall wither away,
as the leaf wilts on the vine,
or as the fig withers on the tree.(D)
5 When my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens,
it shall come down upon Edom for judgment,
upon a people under my ban.(E)
6 The Lord has a sword sated with blood,
greasy with fat,
With the blood of lambs and goats,
with the fat of rams’ kidneys;
For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
a great slaughter in the land of Edom.(F)
7 Wild oxen shall be struck down with fatlings,
and bullocks with bulls;
Their land shall be soaked with blood,
and their soil greasy with fat.
8 For the Lord has a day of vengeance,
a year of requital for the cause of Zion.(G)
9 Edom’s streams shall be changed into pitch,
its soil into sulfur,
and its land shall become burning pitch;
10 Night and day it shall not be quenched,
its smoke shall rise forever.
From generation to generation it shall lie waste,
never again shall anyone pass through it.(H)
11 But the desert owl and hoot owl shall possess it,
the screech owl and raven shall dwell in it.
The Lord will stretch over it the measuring line of chaos,
the plumb line of confusion.(I)
12 Its nobles shall be no more,
nor shall kings be proclaimed there;
all its princes are gone.(J)
13 Its castles shall be overgrown with thorns,
its fortresses with thistles and briers.
It shall become an abode for jackals,
a haunt for ostriches.(K)
14 Wildcats shall meet with desert beasts,
satyrs shall call to one another;
There shall the lilith repose,
and find for herself a place to rest.
15 There the hoot owl shall nest and lay eggs,
hatch them out and gather them in her shadow;
There shall the kites assemble,
each with its mate.
16 Search through the book of the Lord and read:
not one of these shall be lacking,
For the mouth of the Lord has ordered it,
and his spirit gathers them there.
17 It is he who casts the lot for them;
his hand measures off their portions;
They shall possess it forever,
and dwell in it from generation to generation.(L)
Footnotes
- 34:1–35:10
- 34:8–17
- 34:11
- 34:14
- 34:16
- 34:17
Cross references
- 34:1 : Mi 1:2.
- 34:2 : Is 24:21.
- 34:3 : Ez 32:4, 6.
- 34:4 : Is 13:10; 24:23; Ez 32:7; Jl 3:3–4; Mt 24:29; 2 Pt 3:10; Rev 6:12–14.
- 34:5 : Jer 46:10.
- 34:6 : Is 63:1; Lv 3:4; 2 Sm 1:22; Jer 49:12–13; Zep 1:7.
- 34:8 : Is 13:9; 63:4.
- 34:10 : Mal 1:4; Rev 14:11; 18:18.
- 34:11 : Is 14:23; 28:17; 2 Kgs 21:13; Zep 2:14.
- 34:12 : Ob 18.
- 34:13 : Is 13:21; Hos 9:6.
- 34:17 : Jos 18:10; Ps 78:55.
