Isaiah 34:8

8 For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion’s cause.

Isaiah 34:8 in Other Translations

8 For it is the day of the LORD'S vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.

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

8 For it is the day of the LORD ’s revenge, the year when Edom will be paid back for all it did to Israel.

8 It's God's scheduled time for vengeance, the year all Zion's accounts are settled.

8 For Jehovah hath a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

8 The LORD will have a day of vengeance, a year of revenge in defense of Zion.

8 For the Lord has a day of vengeance, a time of paying back [Edom] for its hostility against Zion.

8 That's because the LORD has set aside a day to pay Edom back. He has set aside a year to pay them back for what they did to the city of Zion.

Isaiah 34:8 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 34:8

For [it is] the day of the Lord's vengeance
The time which he has appointed to take vengeance on antichrist, his 1260 days, or years; being up, in which he is to reign; these being expired, the time is come for the Lord to avenge the blood of his saints; see ( Revelation 18:20 ) ( 19:2 ) : [and] the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion;
the church of God, which has been for many ages abused and injured by the antichristian powers, for which the Lord will have a controversy with them; he will appear in favour of his people, and plead the cause of Zion, and recompense their enemies for all the injuries they have done them; then they that have led into captivity shall go into captivity, and they that have killed with the sword shall be killed with it, ( Revelation 13:10 ) this will be a time of double recompence; and therefore perhaps the word is used in the plural number; it will be the time of rewarding antichrist as he has rewarded others; and it will be the time of the dead, that they shall be judged, and rewards given to God's servants the prophets, ( Revelation 18:6 ) ( 11:18 ) . The Targum is,

``the year of recompence, to take vengeance of judgment for the injury of Zion.''

Isaiah 34:8 In-Context

6 The sword 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 in Bozrah and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

7 And the wild oxen will fall with them, the bull calves and the great bulls. Their land will be drenched with blood, and the dust will be soaked with fat.

8 For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion’s cause.

9 Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch, her dust into burning sulfur; her land will become blazing pitch!

10 It will not be quenched night or day; its smoke will rise forever. From generation to generation it will lie desolate; no one will ever pass through it again.

Cross References

• 1. S Isaiah 2:12
• 2. S Isaiah 1:24; Isaiah 35:4; Isaiah 47:3; Isaiah 63:4
• 3. Isaiah 59:18; Ezekiel 25:12-17; Joel 3:4; Am 1:6-8,9-10