ISAIAH 34 [†] Draw near,  v O nations, to hear,

and give attention, O peoples!

Let the earth hear, and all that fills it;

the world, and all that comes from it.

2[^][†] For the LORD is enraged against all the nations,

and furious against all their host;

he has  w devoted them to destruction, [1] has given them over for slaughter.

3 Their slain shall be cast out,

and  x the stench of their corpses shall rise;

 y the mountains shall flow with their blood.

4[^][†]  z All the host of heaven shall rot away,

and the skies roll up like a scroll.

All their host shall fall,

as leaves fall from the vine,

like leaves falling from the fig tree.

5[†] For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens;

behold, it descends for judgment upon  a Edom,

upon the people  b I have devoted to destruction.

6 The LORD has a sword; it is sated with blood;

it is gorged with fat,

with the blood of lambs and goats,

with the fat of the kidneys of rams.

 c For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah,

a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

7  d Wild oxen shall  e fall with them,

and  f young steers with  f the mighty bulls.

Their land shall drink its fill of blood,

and their soil shall be gorged with fat.

8[†]  g For the LORD has a day of vengeance,

a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

9[†]  h And the streams of Edom [2] shall be turned into pitch,

and her soil into sulfur;

her land shall become burning pitch.

10 Night and day  i it shall not be quenched;

 j its smoke shall go up forever.

 k From generation to generation it shall lie waste;

none shall pass through it forever and ever.

11[†]  l But the hawk and the porcupine [3] shall possess it,

the owl and the raven shall dwell in it.

 m He shall stretch the line of  n confusion [4] over it,

and the plumb line of emptiness.

12 Its nobles—there is no one there to call it a kingdom,

and all its princes shall be nothing.

13[†]  o Thorns shall grow over its strongholds,

nettles and thistles in its fortresses.

It shall be the haunt of  p jackals,

an abode for ostriches. [5]

14  q And wild animals shall meet with hyenas;

the wild goat shall cry to his fellow;

indeed, there the night bird [6] settles

and finds for herself a resting place.

15 There the owl nests and lays

and hatches and gathers her young in her shadow;

indeed, there  r the hawks are gathered,

each one with her mate.

16[†] Seek and read from the book of the LORD:

Not one of these shall be missing;

none shall be without her mate.

For the mouth of the LORD has commanded,

and his Spirit has gathered them.

17[†]  s He has cast the lot for them;

his hand has portioned it out to them with the line;

they shall possess it forever;

from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.