Isaiah 34:4

4 et tabescet omnis militia caelorum et conplicabuntur sicut liber caeli et omnis militia eorum defluet sicut defluit folium de vinea et de ficu

Isaiah 34:4 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 34:4

And all the hosts of heaven shall be dissolved
"Pine away" F9, as with sickness, grow languid, become obscure, lose their light, and be turned into blood and darkness; this figure is used to express the horror of this calamity, as if the very heavens themselves, and the sun, and moon, and stars, were affected with it; see ( Isaiah 13:10 ) and the heavens shall be rolled gether as a scroll;
a book, or volume, which when rolled up, one letter of it could not be read; and it was the manner formerly of making and writing books in the form of a roll; hence the word volume; and here it signifies that there should be such a change in the heavens, as that not a star should be seen, much less the sun or moon; and may signify the utter removal and abolition of all dignities and offices, supreme and subordinate, civil and ecclesiastical, in the whole Roman jurisdiction; thus the destruction of Rome Pagan is described in ( Revelation 6:14 ) as the destruction of Rome Papal is here; from whence the language seems to be borrowed: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from
the vine, and as a falling [fig] from the fig tree;
that is, the stars should fall down: by whom may be meant persons in office, that made a considerable figure; who shall fall from their stations, in which they shone with much splendour and grandeur, as leaves fall from trees in autumn, particularly the vine; or as unripe and rotten figs fall from the fig tree when shaken by a violent wind; the same metaphor is used in ( Revelation 6:13 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F9 (wqmn) "tabescet", Vatablus; "centabescet", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "contabescent", Cocceius, Gataker.

Isaiah 34:4 In-Context

2 quia indignatio Domini super omnes gentes et furor super universam militiam eorum interfecit eos et dedit eos in occisionem
3 interfecti eorum proicientur et de cadaveribus eorum ascendet fetor tabescent montes sanguine eorum
4 et tabescet omnis militia caelorum et conplicabuntur sicut liber caeli et omnis militia eorum defluet sicut defluit folium de vinea et de ficu
5 quoniam inebriatus est in caelo gladius meus ecce super Idumeam descendet et super populum interfectionis meae ad iudicium
6 gladius Domini repletus est sanguine incrassatus est adipe de sanguine agnorum et hircorum de sanguine medullatorum arietum victima enim Domini in Bosra et interfectio magna in terra Edom
The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.