34
1 Come
near, you nations,
to hear!
Listen, you
peoples.
Let the earth and
all it contains
hear,
the world, and
everything that
comes from it.
2 For
the LORD is enraged
against all the
nations,
and angry with
all their armies.
He has utterly
destroyed them.
He has given
them over for
slaughter.
3 Their
slain will also be
cast out,
and the stench of
their dead bodies
will come up.
The mountains
will melt in
their blood.
4 All
of the army
of the sky
will be dissolved.
The sky will
be rolled up
like a scroll,
and all its
armies will fade
away,
as a leaf
fades from off
a vine or
a fig tree.
5 For
my sword has
drunk its fill
in the sky.
Behold, it will
come down on Edom,
and on the
people of my
curse, for
judgment.
6 The
LORD’s sword is
filled with blood.
It is covered
with fat, with
the blood of
lambs and goats,
with the fat
of the kidneys
of rams;
for the LORD
has a sacrifice
in Bozrah,
and a great
slaughter in
the land of Edom.
7 The
wild oxen will
come down with
them,
and the young
bulls with
the mighty bulls;
and their land
will be drunken
with blood,
and their dust
made greasy with
fat.
8 For
the LORD has
a day of
vengeance,
a year of
recompense for the
cause of Zion.
9 Its
streams will be
turned into pitch,
its dust into
sulfur,
and its land will
become burning
pitch.
10 It won’t
be quenched night
or day.
Its smoke will
go up forever.
From generation
to generation, it
will lie waste.
No one will
pass through it
forever and ever.
11 But
the pelican and
the porcupine will
possess it.
The owl and
the raven will
dwell in it.
He will stretch
the line of
confusion over it,
and the plumb
line of emptiness.
12 They
shall call its
nobles to the
kingdom, but none
shall be there;
and all its
princes shall be
nothing.
13 Thorns
will come up
in its palaces,
nettles and
thistles in its
fortresses;
and it will
be a habitation
of jackals,
a court for
ostriches.
14 The wild
animals of the
desert will meet
with the wolves,
and the wild goat
will cry to
his fellow.
Yes, the night creature
shall settle there,
and shall find
herself a place
of rest.
15 The arrow
snake will make her
nest there,
and lay, hatch,
and gather under her
shade.
Yes, the kites will be
gathered there,
every one with her
mate.
16 Search
in the book
of the LORD,
and read:
not one of
these will be
missing.
None will lack
her mate.
For my mouth
has commanded,
and his Spirit
has gathered them.
17 He
has cast the
lot for them,
and his hand
has divided it
to them with
a measuring line.
They shall
possess it forever.
From generation
to generation they
will dwell in
it.