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34. Judgment Against the Nations

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!
² The LORD is angry with all nations;
   his wrath is on all their armies.
He will totally destroy The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the LORD, often by totally destroying them; also in verse 5. them,
   he will give them over to slaughter.
³ Their slain will be thrown out,
   their dead bodies will stink;
   the mountains will be soaked with their blood.
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.

    ⁵ My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens;
   see, it descends in judgment on Edom,
   the people I have totally destroyed.
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.
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.

    ⁸ For the LORD has a day of vengeance,
   a year of retribution, to uphold Zion’s cause.
⁹ Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch,
   her dust into burning sulfur;
   her land will become blazing pitch!
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.
¹¹ The desert owl The precise identification of these birds is uncertain. and screech owl The precise identification of these birds is uncertain. will possess it;
   the great owl The precise identification of these birds is uncertain. and the raven will nest there.
God will stretch out over Edom
   the measuring line of chaos
   and the plumb line of desolation.
¹² Her nobles will have nothing there to be called a kingdom,
   all her princes will vanish away.
¹³ Thorns will overrun her citadels,
   nettles and brambles her strongholds.
She will become a haunt for jackals,
   a home for owls.
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.
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.

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.
¹⁷ He allots their portions;
   his hand distributes them by measure.
They will possess it forever
   and dwell there from generation to generation.

11. Therefore the pelican and the owl shall possess it. As to these animals there are various opinions, and Hebrew commentators are not agreed about them; but the design of the Prophet is evident, which is, to describe a desert place and an extensive wilderness. He undoubtedly mentions dreadful beasts and hideous monsters, which do not dwell with men, and are not generally known by them, in order to shew more fully how shocking will be this desolation. The former clause therefore is plain enough, but the latter is attended by some difficulty.

He shall stretch over it the cord of emptiness. Some view the phrase “an empty cord” as bearing an opposite sense, and apply it to the Jews; but I take a more simple view, and think that, like all the preceding statements, it must relate to the Edomites. Anti to make it more clear that this is Isaiah’s natural meaning, we read the same word in the Prophet Malachi, who lived a long time afterwards. That passage may be regarded as an approbation of this prophecy.

“If Edom shall say, We have been diminished, we shall therefore return and rebuild the desolate places; thus saith the Lord of Hosts, They shall indeed build, but I shall pull down, and they shall call them the borders of wickedness, and the people against whom the Lord is angry for ever. And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, Let the Lord be magnified on the borders of Israel.” —
(Malachi 1:4, 5.)

What Isaiah had foretold more obscurely, Malachi explains with greater clearness. The latter declares that “the Edomires shall build in vain,” and the former that “they shall stretch an empty cord.” As if he had said, “In vain shall the masterbuilders bestow their exertions on rebuilding the cities;” for builders make use of cords and plummets in all their measurements. He therefore shews that the efforts of those who shall intend to restore the land of Edom will be fruitless; for his meaning is, that they shall be destroyed in such a manner that they cannot at all recover from that destruction, though God usually alleviates other calamities by some consolation.

And hence we ought to draw a very profitable doctrine, that when cities are in some measure restored after having been thrown down, this arises from the distinguished kindness of God; for the efforts of builders or workmen will be unavailing, if he do not put his hand both to laying the foundation and to carrying forward the work. Fruitless and unprofitable also will their work be, if he do not conduct it to the conclusion, and afterwards take it under his guardianship. In vain shall men bestow great expense, and make every possible exertion, if he do not watch over and bless the work. It is only by the blessing of God, therefore, that we obtain any success; and hence also it is said that “his hands have built Jerusalem.” (Psalm 147:2; Isaiah 14:32.) What Isaiah threatens in this passage against the Edomites, the Holy Spirit elsewhere declares as to the house of Ahab, meaning that it shall be razed to the very foundation. (2 Kings 21:13.)