The end of Edom
1 ① Come, O nations, hear and take heed, O peoples! Listen, O earth and all that is in you; listen, O world and all that comes from you. 2The wrath of Yahweh is upon all nations. His fury is upon all their armies. He has doomed them,
he has given them over for slaughter. 3Their slain will be thrown away, stench coming from the carcasses, mountains will flow with blood.
4The heavens will dissolve and the skies roll up like a scroll,
all their hosts shall fall,
as the leaf falls from its vine,
as the fruit falls from its tree.
5My sword waited in the heavens; and look, it descends upon Edom, to judge the people I have doomed.
6The sword of Yahweh is bathed in blood and covered with fat –
the blood of goats and lambs, the fat of the saddle of rams.
For Yahweh has a sacrifice in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7Wild oxen will fall
and young steers with the bulls. Their land will be drenched with blood; their soil enriched with fat.
8For Yahweh has a day of vengeance, Zion’s defender has a year of recompense.
9The streams of Edom will become pitch, her soil will be turned into brimstone,her land will be burning pitch.
10Never will its fire be quenched, night or day,
forever will its smoke go up.
From generation to generation the land will lie desolate
and none will ever pass through it.
11It will be the haunt of pelican and wild hog, the dwelling place of the owl and the hawk. God has decided to make it empty, he has destined it to be desolate.
12There will be no more kings to be proclaimed,
no princes to be acclaimed,
for the nobility will vanish
in a kingdom doomed to perish.
13Thorns will grow over the castles, nettles and brambles over the citadels; the place will be a haunt of reptiles, an abode of owls and ostriches.
14Wild beasts will meet there, wild goats will call to one another;
there will the night creatures alight to find for themselves a resting place. 15There will the great owl make her nest to lay and hatch and also find rest.
There will the vultures gather,
each with its mate.
16Seek and read from the book of Yahweh:
not one of them will be missing, for his mouth has given the order
and his spirit has brought them together.
17He has cast the lot for them. His hand has divided it among them. They will possess the land forever,
and from generation to generation they shall dwell there.
- Is 34,1 - 34:1. Yahweh's judgment upon Edom. See the introduction to chapter 24. 35:1. Announcement of the return of the exiles and of the Messiah's coming. See commentary on Isaiah 40:4.
