Judgment on the Nations
Isa 34:1 Come near, you nations, and listen; pay attention, you peoples! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world, and all that comes out of it!
Isa 34:2 The LORD is angry with all nations; his wrath is on all their armies. He will totally destroy them, he will give them over to slaughter.
Isa 34:3 Their slain will be thrown out, their dead bodies will stink; the mountains will be soaked with their blood.
Isa 34:4 All the stars in the sky will be dissolved and the heavens rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree.
Isa 34:5 My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; see, it descends in judgment on Edom, the people I have totally destroyed.
Isa 34:6 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.
Isa 34:7 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.
Isa 34:8 For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion’s cause.
Isa 34:9 Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch, her dust into burning sulfur; her land will become blazing pitch!
Isa 34:10 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.
Isa 34:11 The desert owl and screech owl will possess it; the great owl and the raven will nest there. God will stretch out over Edom the measuring line of chaos and the plumb line of desolation.
Isa 34:12 Her nobles will have nothing there to be called a kingdom, all her princes will vanish away.
Isa 34:13 Thorns will overrun her citadels, nettles and brambles her strongholds. She will become a haunt for jackals, a home for owls.
Isa 34:14 Desert creatures will meet with hyenas, and wild goats will bleat to each other; there the night creatures will also lie down and find for themselves places of rest.
Isa 34:15 The owl will nest there and lay eggs, she will hatch them, and care for her young under the shadow of her wings; there also the falcons will gather, each with its mate.
Isa 34:16 Look in the scroll of the LORD and read: None of these will be missing, not one will lack her mate. For it is his mouth that has given the order, and his Spirit will gather them together.
Isa 34:17 He allots their portions; his hand distributes them by measure. They will possess it forever and dwell there from generation to generation
1 The judgments wherewith God revenges his church. 11 The desolation of her enemies. 16 The certainty of the prophecy.
Judgment on the Nations
Isa 34:1 Come near, you nations, and listen; pay attention, you peoples! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world, and all that comes out of it!
The message of ch. 34 is not for Judah alone, but for all nations and for all time. Isaiah here describes the sad and terrible fate of the wicked, both in his own day and at the end of time. He beholds the great day of slaughter, when the wicked perish and their corpses are scattered about like those of Sennacherib’s army after the visit of the destroying angel of the Lord (ch. 37:36).
In the destruction of the Assyrian army, he sees promise of the fate of all the hosts of evil that fight against God. Idumea, or Edom (v. 5), is selected as the typical representative of the enemies of right because Edom often proved to be the most cruel and heartless of the enemies of Judah (see 2 Chron. 28:17; Eze. 35; Amos 1:11; Obadia).
Isa 34:2 The LORD is angry with all nations; his wrath is on all their armies. He will totally destroy them, he will give them over to slaughter.
All their armies. As God’s indignation was upon the Assyrian armies that attacked Jerusalem, so also would it be upon all forces of evil that array themselves against His people. Compare Joel 3:2; Zech. 12:2–9; 14:2, 3; Rev. 16:14, 16; 17:14; 19:11–19.
Utterly destroyed them. Heb. charam, “to devote to destruction,” “to doom” (see on 1 Sam. 15:3).
Isa 34:3 Their slain will be thrown out, their dead bodies will stink; the mountains will be soaked with their blood
Their stench. That is, of dead enemy warriors. When God destroyed the forces of Sennacherib the corpses of the slain were strewn over the ground like refuse (see Isa. 66:16; Jer. 25:33; Eze. 39:11–20; Rev. 19:17–21).
Isa 34:4 All the stars in the sky will be dissolved and the heavens rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree.
The host of heaven. That is, the sun, moon, and stars (see 2 Kings 21:3; 23:5; Jer. 8:2; 33:22; etc.). Instead of “all the host of heaven shall be dissolved,” Dead Sea scroll 1QIsa reads, “The depths shall be split open, and all the host of heaven shall wither away.”
Dissolved. For comment on this expression see on Isa. 13:10, 13; 24:23; Heb. 1:10–14.
Rolled up. Reference is here made to the atmospheric heavens (see on 2 Peter 3:7, 10–12; Rev. 6:14; cf. Isa. 24:19, 20; Jer. 4:23, 28).
Falling down. See on Matt. 24:29; Rev. 6:13.
Isa 34:5 My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; see, it descends in judgment on Edom, the people I have totally destroyed.
The sword of the Lord symbolizes His judgments upon the wicked. Compare Deut. 32:41, 42; Jer. 46:10; Rev. 19:13, 15, 21.
Often all the enemies of God’s people are typified by some one nation whose hatred and cruelty had been particularly bitter. Nations thus singled out were Egypt, Babylon, Edom, Ammon, and Moab. Closely related to the Jews, the Edomites always manifested a particular spite against them (see on Isa. 34:1).
At the time of an Assyrian invasion Edom had possibly joined the Assyrian and had vented its wrath upon Judah, and thus the name of Edom is here associated with that of Assyria in Isaiah’s pronouncements of doom. For divine judgments on Edom as symbolic of the great day of God, see on ch. 63:1–6.
Isa 34:6 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.
A sacrifice in Bozrah. Bozrah was an important city of Edom (Isa. 63:1; cf. Gen. 36:33; 1 Chron. 1:44) 24 mi. (38.5 km.) south by east from the Dead Sea. Amos foretold the destruction of its palaces (Amos 1:12), and Jeremiah declared that it would become a desolation and a reproach (Jer 49:13, 22).
The lambs, goats, and rams represent the people of Edom, who will be devoted to slaughter like animals at the time of sacrifice. Jeremiah uses a similar figure of speech (Jer. 46:10).
Isa 34:6 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.
Isa 34:7 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.
The various oxen of this verse represent the strong nations of earth, which would accompany the weaker nations, the lambs, goats, and rams of v. 6, to the place of sacrifice.
Isa 34:8 For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion’s cause.
The nations are here represented as participants in the great contest between good and evil, arrayed with Satan against Zion, the city of God. Compare Zech. 3:1, 2. The seemingly long-delayed hour of retribution is pictured, wherein “Edom” (see on Isa. 34:5, 6) will be punished for its persistent hostility against God’s chosen people (see Isa. 63:1–4; cf. Jer. 46:10). For the application of this verse to the great day of God see GC 673.
Isa 34:9 Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch, her dust into burning sulfur; her land will become blazing pitch!
Brimstone. The imagery of v. 9 is based on the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (see on Gen. 19:24). The region occupied by these cities probably lay at the southern end of the Dead Sea (see on Gen. 14:3). Even today liquid petroleum and bitumen are found here. When Christ returns, the entire earth will be destroyed in a great conflagration (2 Peter 3:10, 12; Rev. 20:10, 14).
Isa 34:10 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.
The smoke thereof. Compare similar expressions in Rev. 14:11 and 19:3. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is set forth as an example of “the vengeance of eternal fire,” which will destroy the wicked (Jude 7). Those cities, whose destruction was “an ensample” to the “ungodly,” were consumed “into ashes” (2 Peter 2:6).
All the wicked are likewise to be destroyed and consumed “into smoke” (Ps. 37:20). Proud Babylon, whose smoke “rose up for ever and ever” (Rev. 19:3), will be “utterly burned with fire” (Rev. 18:8). The fires of the last day will leave the wicked “neither root nor branch” (Mal. 4:1, 3; cf. Ps. 37:9, 10; Obadiah 10), and as if they had never been (see Eze. 28:18, 19; Obadiah 16).
Isa 34:10 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.
Isa 34:11 The desert owl and screech owl will possess it; the great owl and the raven will nest there. God will stretch out over Edom the measuring line of chaos and the plumb line of desolation.
The cormorant. Heb. qa’ath, an unidentified, unclean bird, possibly a species of owl or hawk. In Lev. 11:18 and Deut. 14:17 qa’ath is translated “pelican.”
Bittern. Heb. qippod, probably the “hedgehog,” or the “porcupine.” In Zeph. 2:14 the “cormorant” and “bittern” are again mentioned together.
Confusion … emptiness. Heb. tohu … bohu, the same terms translated “without form” and “void” in Gen. 1:2, and meaning “chaotic” and “empty” (see on Gen. 1:2). The same vivid picture is given of the earth as it will be during the millennium (see on Isa. 24:1, 3; Rev. 20:1–3). For the word here translated “line” see on Isa. 28:17.
Isa 34:12 Her nobles will have nothing there to be called a kingdom, all her princes will vanish away.
Shall be nothing. All the leaders of Edom have fled, and the kingdom is in a chaotic state.
Isa 34:13 Thorns will overrun her citadels, nettles and brambles her strongholds. She will become a haunt for jackals, a home for owls.
Isa 34:14 Desert creatures will meet with hyenas, and wild goats will bleat to each other; there the night creatures will also lie down and find for themselves places of rest.
Verses 11–15 present a highly figurative description of the world in its chaotic state.
The screech owl. Heb. lilith, a word meaning “wicked demon” in Akkadian.
Isa 34:15 The owl will nest there and lay eggs, she will hatch them, and care for her young under the shadow of her wings; there also the falcons will gather, each with its mate.
Isa 34:16 Look in the scroll of the LORD and read: None of these will be missing, not one will lack her mate. For it is his mouth that has given the order, and his Spirit will gather them together.
Nowhere but in the Inspired Record is there reliable information about the conditions that prevail when “the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations” (see on v. 2).
Isa 34:17 He allots their portions; his hand distributes them by measure. They will possess it forever and dwell there from generation to generation.