1 Come near, ye nations, to hear, And ye peoples, give attention, Hear doth the earth and its fulness, The world, and all its productions.
2 For wrath `is' to Jehovah against all the nations, And fury against all their host, He hath devoted them to destruction, He hath given them to slaughter.
3 And their wounded are cast out, And their carcases cause their stench to ascend, And melted have been mountains from their blood.
4 And consumed have been all the host of the heavens, And rolled together as a book have been the heavens, And all their hosts do fade, As the fading of a leaf of a vine, And as the fading one of a fig-tree.
5 For soaked in the heavens was My sword, Lo, on Edom it cometh down, On the people of My curse for judgment.
6 A sword `is' to Jehovah -- it hath been full of blood, It hath been made fat with fatness, With blood of lambs and he-goats. With fat of kidneys of rams, For a sacrifice `is' to Jehovah in Bozrah, And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7 And come down have reems with them, And bullocks with bulls, And soaked hath been their land from blood, And their dust from fatness is made fat.
8 (For a day of vengeance `is' to Jehovah, A year of recompences for Zion's strife,)
9 And turned have been her streams to pitch, And her dust to brimstone, And her land hath become burning pitch.
10 By night and by day she is not quenched, To the age go up doth her smoke, From generation to generation she is waste, For ever and ever, none is passing into her.
11 And possess her do pelican and hedge-hog, And owl and raven dwell in her, And He hath stretched out over her A line of vacancy, and stones of emptiness.
12 `To' the kingdom her freemen they call, But there are none there, And all her princes are at an end.
13 And gone up her palaces have thorns, Nettle and bramble `are' in her fortresses, And it hath been a habitation of dragons, A court for daughters of an ostrich.
14 And met have Ziim with Aiim, And the goat for its companion calleth, Only there rested hath the night-owl, And hath found for herself a place of rest.
15 There made her nest hath the bittern, Yea, she layeth, and hath hatched, And hath gathered under her shadow, Only there gathered have been vultures, Each with its companion.
16 Seek out of the book of Jehovah, and read, One of these hath not been lacking, None hath missed its companion, For My mouth -- it hath commanded, And His spirit -- He hath gathered them.
17 And He hath cast for them a lot, And His hand hath apportioned `it' to them by line, Unto the age they possess it, To all generations they dwell in it!
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Isaiah 34
Commentary on Isaiah 34 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 34
In this chapter we have the fatal doom of all the nations that are enemies to God's church and people, though Edom only is mentioned, because of the old enmity of Esau to Jacob, which was typical, as much as that more ancient enmity of Cain to Abel, and flowed from the original enmity of the serpent to the seed of the woman. It is probable that this prophecy had its accomplishment in the great desolations made by the Assyrian army first, or rather by Nebuchadnezzar's army some time after, among those nations that were neighbours to Israel and had been in some way or other injurious to them. That mighty conqueror took a pride in shedding blood, and laying countries waste, and therein, quite beyond his design, he was fulfilling what God here threatened against his and his people's enemies. But we have reason to think it is intended as a denunciation of the wrath of God against all those who fight against the interests of his kingdom among men, that it has its frequent accomplishment in the havoc made by the wars of the nations and other desolating judgments, and will have its full accomplishment in the final dissolution of all things at the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. Here is,
Let us hear, and fear.
Isa 34:1-8
Here we have a prophecy, as elsewhere we have a history, of the wars of the Lord, which we are sure are all both righteous and successful. This world, as it is his creature, he does good to; but as it is in the interest of Satan, who is called the god of this world, he fights against it.
Isa 34:9-17
This prophecy looks very black, but surely it looks so further than upon Edom and Bozrah.