Isaiah 34:6-16

6 The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, It is sated with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, With the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in ¹Bozrah And a great slaughter in the land of ²Edom.

7 ³Wild oxen will also fall with them And ⁴young bulls with strong ones; Thus their land will be ⁵soaked with blood, And their dust become greasy with fat.

8 For the LORD has a day of ⁶vengeance, A year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

9 Its streams will be turned into pitch, And its loose earth into ⁷brimstone, And its land will become burning pitch.

10 It will ⁸not be quenched night or day; Its ⁹smoke will go up forever. From ¹⁰generation to generation it will be desolate; ¹¹None will pass through it forever and ever.

11 But ¹²pelican and hedgehog will possess it, And owl and raven will dwell in it; And He will stretch over it the ¹³line of desolation And the plumb line of emptiness.

12 Its nobles -there is ¹⁴no one there Whom they may proclaim king - And all its princes will be ¹⁵nothing.

13 Thorns will come up in its ¹⁶fortified towers, Nettles and thistles in its fortified cities; It will also be a haunt of ¹⁷jackals And an abode of ostriches.

14 The desert ¹⁸creatures will meet with the wolves, The ¹⁹hairy goat also will cry to its kind; Yes, the night monster will settle there And will find herself a resting place.

15 The tree snake will make its nest and lay eggs there, And it will hatch and gather them under its protection. Yes, ²⁰the hawks will be gathered there, Every one with its kind.

16 Seek from the ²¹book of the LORD, and read: Not one of these will be missing; None * will lack its mate. For ²²His mouth has commanded, And His Spirit has gathered them.

Isaiah 34:6-16 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 34

This chapter is a prophecy of the destruction of all the antichristian nations of the world, and particularly of Rome, signified by Idumea; which is introduced with a call to a general attention to it, it being a very awful and solemn affair, Isa 34:1 utter and universal destruction is declared, as the effect of God's wrath, Isa 34:2 which is expressed by a dreadful scene of blood, to the melting of the mountains with it, and by the dissolution of the heavens, and the hosts of them, Isa 34:3,4 particularly the destruction of Idumea is denounced by the sword of the Lord being on it, and bathed with the blood, both of the common people, and of their princes, signified by various sorts of creatures, Isa 34:5-7 the cause of which is the Lord's vengeance for the controversy of his church and people, injured by Edom or Rome, Isa 34:8 whose desolate and calamitous state is represented as being like that of Sodom, Isa 34:9,10 and should be no more inhabited by men, nor governed by princes, but be the dwelling of wild beasts and unclean birds, Isa 34:11-15 all which is confirmed by the word and Spirit of God, Isa 34:16,17.

Cross References

• 1. Isaiah 63:1; Jeremiah 49:13
• 2. Isaiah 63:1
• 3. Numbers 23:22; Psalms 22:21
• 4. Psalms 68:30; Jeremiah 50:27
• 5. Isaiah 63:6
• 6. Isaiah 13:6; Isaiah 35:4; Isaiah 47:3; Isaiah 61:2; Isaiah 63:4
• 7. Deuteronomy 29:23; Psalms 11:6; Isaiah 30:33
• 8. Isaiah 1:31; Isaiah 66:24
• 9. Revelation 14:11; Revelation 19:3
• 10. Isaiah 13:20-22; Isaiah 24:1; Isaiah 34:10-15; Malachi 1:3, 4
• 11. Ezekiel 29:11
• 12. Zephaniah 2:14
• 13. 2 Kings 21:13; Isaiah 24:10; Lamentations 2:8
• 14. Jeremiah 27:20; Jeremiah 39:6
• 15. Isaiah 41:11, 12
• 16. Isaiah 13:22; Isaiah 25:2; Isaiah 32:13
• 17. Psalms 44:19; Jeremiah 9:11; Jeremiah 10:22
• 18. Isaiah 13:21
• 19. Isaiah 13:21
• 20. Deuteronomy 14:13
• 21. Isaiah 30:8
• 22. Isaiah 1:20; Isaiah 40:5; Isaiah 58:14

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "made fat"
• [b] Lit "go down"
• [c] Lit "made fat"
• [d] Or "controversy"
• [e] I.e. Edom's
• [f] Or "owl" or "jackdaw"
• [g] Or "great horned owl"
• [h] Or "formlessness"
• [i] Lit "stones of void"
• [j] Or "howling creatures"
• [k] Or "demon"
• [l] Heb "Lilith"
• [m] Lit "shade"
• [n] Or "kites"
• [o] So DSS; M.T. "My"