Isaiah 34

General context

The nations, peoples, the earth and the world are summoned to hear. The indignation of the Lord is on all nations and his fury on their armies; he has delivered them to slaughter, their slain are cast out and the mountains melt with blood. The host of heaven dissolves, the heavens roll together like a scroll, and their host falls like leaves and figs. The Lord says his sword is bathed in heaven and will come down on Idumea, the people of his curse. The sword is filled with blood and fat, for the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah and a great slaughter in Idumea; unicorns, bullocks and bulls come down with them and the land is soaked with blood. It is the day of the Lord's vengeance and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. The streams turn to pitch, the dust to brimstone, the land to burning pitch never quenched, its smoke rising for ever, and no one passes through it. Cormorant, bittern, owl and raven possess it, and the line of confusion and stones of emptiness are stretched over it. Nobles are called to the kingdom but none are there. Thorns and nettles grow in the palaces, which become a habitation of dragons and a court for owls; wild beasts meet, the satyr cries to his fellow, and the screech owl, the great owl and the vultures nest there, each with her mate. Hearers are told to seek out the book of the Lord and read, because none of these will fail or lack her mate, for his mouth commanded it and his spirit gathered them. He has cast the lot and divided the land to them by line, and they will possess it from generation to generation.

Cited passages: Isaiah 34:1, Isaiah 34:2, Isaiah 34:3, Isaiah 34:4, Isaiah 34:5, Isaiah 34:6, Isaiah 34:7, Isaiah 34:8, Isaiah 34:9, Isaiah 34:10, Isaiah 34:11, Isaiah 34:12, Isaiah 34:13, Isaiah 34:14, Isaiah 34:15, Isaiah 34:16, Isaiah 34:17

Isaiah 34 (KJV)

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

The chapter names Idumea twice and Bozrah once as the place of the Lord's sacrifice and slaughter; it does not explain why Idumea is called the people of my curse beyond the phrase the controversy of Zion. Verse 1 addresses all nations and the whole earth, and verse 2 places the Lord's indignation on all nations, so the judgment on Idumea in verses 5 to 17 is set inside a wider scene, and the text does not say how the two relate in time. The Lord speaks in the first person in verse 5, my sword, and verse 16 mixes my mouth with his spirit in one sentence, an unexplained shift. The book of the Lord in verse 16 is not identified further; the text says only that readers can check the list of creatures against it. The creature names as printed in this source, unicorns, satyr, dragons, cormorant, bittern, screech owl, are the source's wording and the text does not describe the animals. The chapter gives no date, no king and no army other than all their armies. Verse 4's rolled heavens are not tied to any event named in the chapter.

Cited passages: Isaiah 34:5, Isaiah 34:6, Isaiah 34:8, Isaiah 34:2, Isaiah 34:16, Isaiah 34:7, Isaiah 34:14, Isaiah 34:4

Literary context

The chapter opens as a summons to a hearing, with four audiences named in one verse, and then narrows from all nations to one land. Its images move from the sky downward: the host of heaven falls like leaves and figs, and the sword bathed in heaven comes down on Idumea. Sacrifice language, lambs, goats, kidneys of rams, fat and blood, is applied to a slaughter of people, so that the killing is described as an offering. The devastation is then measured in time, for ever, night nor day, from generation to generation, phrases that recur at the end for the creatures' possession, so the same permanence that empties the land fills it with owls. A surveyor's tools, the line of confusion and stones of emptiness and later the lot and the line, give the ruin a legal shape. The list of creatures grows longer as the chapter proceeds, and the last three verses turn from description to command, seek and read, with the assurance that no creature listed will fail. The land soaked with blood and turned to burning pitch is answered directly in chapter 35, where the desert blossoms and the habitation of dragons grows grass and reeds.

Cited passages: Isaiah 34:1, Isaiah 34:4, Isaiah 34:6, Isaiah 34:10, Isaiah 34:17, Isaiah 34:11, Isaiah 34:16, Isaiah 34:13, Isaiah 35:7

Key moments

1. Nations summoned to hear (Isaiah 34:1). The nations, the earth and the world are called near to listen.
2. The heavens rolled as a scroll (Isaiah 34:4). The host of heaven dissolves and falls like leaves and figs.
3. A sword bathed in heaven (Isaiah 34:5). The Lord's sword comes down on Idumea, the people of his curse.
4. Sacrifice in Bozrah (Isaiah 34:6). The Lord's sword is filled with blood and fat for a great slaughter in Idumea.
5. The day of vengeance (Isaiah 34:8). The year of recompences for the controversy of Zion is named.
6. Owls possess the land (Isaiah 34:11). Cormorant, bittern, owl and raven take a land measured with the line of confusion.
7. Seek out the book and read (Isaiah 34:16). Hearers are told that none of the listed creatures will fail or lack her mate.

For reflection

The slaughter in Idumea is described with the words of sacrifice, lambs, goats and the fat of rams. What does it do to a reader to hear killing named as an offering, and why might the text want that heard?