THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET
ISAIAH
Isaiah 34 ©
The destruction of the enemies of the church of God, v. 2. Under the name of the Edomites, 5. Whose land shall be so wasted and destroyed, as that it would be no more inhabited by men, but by wild, terrible creatures, 10. And this destruction would in every particular be fully accomplished, 16. And last forever, 17.
COME near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all 1that is therein; the world, and 2all things that come forth of it.
For the indignation of the LORD is 3upon 4all nations, and his fury 5upon all their armies: 6he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter.
7Their slain also 8shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be 9melted 10with their blood.
And all the host of heaven shall be 11dissolved,a and the heavens shall be 12rolled together as a scroll: and all 13their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.
14For my sword 15shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon 16Idumea, and upon 17the people of my curse, to 18judgment.
The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and 19with the blood 20of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORDb hath 21a sacrifice in 22Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.
And 23the unicorns shall 24come down 25with them, and the bullocks with 26the bulls; and 27their land shall be soaked 28with blood, and their 29dust made fat 30with fatness.
For it is 31the day of the LORD's vengeance, and the year of recompences 32for the controversy of Zion.
And the streams 33thereof 34shall be turned into pitch, and the dust 35thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.
36It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke 37thereofc shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.
¶But 38thed cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and 39he 40shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and 41the stones of emptiness.
42They shall call the 43nobles 44thereof 45to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes 46shall be nothing.
And thorns shall 47come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and 48it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court 49for owls.
50The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with 51the wild beasts of the island, and 52the satyr shall cry to his fellow; 53the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest.
There shall 54the great owl make her nest, 55and lay, and 56hatch, and gather 57under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, 58every one with her mate.
¶Seek ye 59out of the book of the LORD, and read: 60no one of these shall fail, 61none shall want her mate: for 62my mouth it hath commanded, and 63his spirit 64it hath gathered them.
And he hath cast the lot 65for them, and his hand hath divided 66it unto them by line: they shall possess it 67for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein.