Isaiah 34

A Message for the Nations

Come hear and listen, O nations of the earth! Let the world and
Everything in it hear my words! For the Lord is enraged against the
Nations; his fury is against all their armies. He will completely
Destroy them, dooming them to slaughter. Their dead will be left
Unburied, and the stench of rotting bodies will fill the land. The
Mountains will flow with their blood. The heavens above will melt
Away and disappear like a rolled-up scroll. The stars will fall from
The sky like withered leaves from a grapevine or shriveled figs from
A fig tree. And when my sword has finished its work in the heavens
It will fall upon Edom, the nation I have marked for destruction

The sword of the Lord is drenched with blood and covered with fat
With the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of rams prepared for
Sacrifice. Yes, the Lord will offer a sacrifice in the city of
Bozrah; he will make a mighty slaughter in Edom. Even men as strong
As wild oxen will die, the young men alongside the veterans. The land
Will be soaked with blood and the soil enriched with fat. For it is
The day of the Lord's revenge, the year when Edom will be paid back
For all it did to Israel. The streams of Edom will be filled with

Burning pitch, and the ground will be covered with fire. This
Judgment on Edom will never end; the smoke of its burning will rise
Forever. The land will lie deserted from generation to generation
No one will live there anymore. It will be haunted by the desert owl
And the screech owl, the great owl and the raven. For God will
Measure that land carefully; he will measure it for chaos and
Destruction. It will be called "The Land of Nothing," and all its
Nobles will soon be gone. Thorns will overrun its palaces

Nettles and thistles will grow in its forts. The ruins will become
A haunt for jackals and a home for owls. Desert animals will mingle
There with hyenas, their howls filling the night. Wild goats will
Bleat at one another among the ruins, and night creatures will
Come there to rest. There the owl will make her nest and lay her
Eggs. She will hatch her young and cover them with her wings
And the buzzards will come, each one with its mate. Search the

Book of the Lord and see what he will do. Not one of these birds
And animals will be missing, and none will lack a mate. For the
Lord has promised this; his Spirit will make it all come true. He
Has surveyed and divided the land and deeded it over to those
Creatures. They will possess it forever
From generation to generation