Isaiah 34:7

7 The wild oxen shall come down with them, And the young bulls with the mighty bulls; Their land shall be soaked with blood, And their dust saturated with fatness."

Isaiah 34:7 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 34:7

And the unicorns shall come down with them
With the lambs, goats, and rams; that is, either the rhinoceros, as some, there being no such creature as the unicorn; or the buffaloes, as ^F13 others; these "shall fall", as the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions render it, they shall be slain, as well as the rest; meaning, that along with the common soldiers, and inferior officers, the general officers should fall; and so the Targum,

``and the mighty shall be slain with them.''

R. Abraham Seba says ^F14 he read in a certain book, that the word here should not be read (Mymar) , "unicorns", but (Myymwr) , "the Romans shall come down": and the bullocks with the bulls:
or, as the Targum,

``and the rulers with the princes;''

the same with the kings, captains, and mighty men in ( Revelation 19:18 ) : and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat
with fatness;
Or, "their land shall be inebriated" ^F15, or made drunk, with blood; and the dust thereof thickened by it, and made clods of with it, as the parched earth is watered with a plentiful shower, and the dust laid with it: this is a just retaliation to the whore of Rome, who has been made drunk with the blood of the saints, and now blood shall be given her to drink, even her own, with which she shall be filled, and welter and wallow in the clods of it, ( Revelation 17:6 ) ( 16:6 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 So Gussetius understands it of a larger sort of oxen, Comment. Ebr. p. 783.
F14 Tzeror Hammor, fol. 47. 3.
F15 (htwrw) "et inebriabitur", Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator.

Isaiah 34:7 In-Context

5 "For My sword shall be bathed in heaven; Indeed it shall come down on Edom, And on the people of My curse, for judgment.

6 The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, It is made overflowing with fatness, With the blood of lambs and goats, With the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah, And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

7 The wild oxen shall come down with them, And the young bulls with the mighty bulls; Their land shall be soaked with blood, And their dust saturated with fatness."

8 For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, The year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

9 Its streams shall be turned into pitch, And its dust into brimstone; Its land shall become burning pitch.