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Nazarene Commentary 2000©

21^st Century Paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures© –
21^st Century Version of the Christian Scriptures© [NCMM]

THE PROPHET ISAIAH

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR:
A DAY OF VENGEANCE

Summary

YHWH calls together the non-Jews to hear His condemnation. Mountains will dissolve and heaven will be rolled up like shutting a book. Edom will be destroyed by the bloodied sword of YHWH in a great slaughter. Edom’s land will be condemned and the smoke of her destruction rise throughout coming generations. The desolation of this wasteland is described by the birds, animals, and reptiles living there throughout history. It is all God’s doing.

Isaiah 34:1-4 – Rage against Non-Jewish Ethnic Groups

IS34:1 Approach, all you non-Jews, and listen. 1420 Show up, all of you different races. 1421 Let the earth and all that fills it listen – the world and everything it produces. 1422

1420	Approach, all you non-Jews, and listen: Or, BAS: Come near, you nations, and give ear; JPS: to hear, and attend. [Psalm 49:1; 50:1]

1421	Show up, all of you different races: Or, BAS: take note, you peoples; LXX: hearken, ye princes; RHM: races. Compare Isaiah 49:1.

1422

Let the earth and all that fills it listen – the world and everything it produces: Or, BAS: the world and all those living in it; JPS: the fulness thereof, the world, and all things that come forth of it; LXX: the world [OIKOUMENE], and the people that are therein. [Deuteronomy 32:1; Jeremiah 22:29] Compare Psalm 24:1 with 1 Corinthians 10:26.

IS34:2 For Y^eH^oW^aH is angry with all the non-Jewish ethnic groups 1423 – and displeased with all their army. He has condemned all of them to annihilation. 1424 He has turned them over to the slaughter.

1423	YeHoWaH is angry with all the non-Jewish ethnic groups: Or, DAR: the wrath of Jehovah is against all the nations; LXX: the wrath of the Lord is upon all nations [ETHNE]. [Jeremiah 25:15; Joel 3:12; Zephaniah 3:8; Zechariah 14:3]

1424	He has condemned all of them to annihilation: Or, BAS: he has put them to the curse, he has given them to destruction.

IS34:3 Their slain will be disposed of, 1425 and then the awful smell of their corpses will rise. 1426 The mountains will dissolve under their blood. 1427

1425	Their slain will be disposed of: Or, BAS: Their dead bodies will be thick on the face of the earth; DAR: their slain shall be cast out.

1426	Then the awful smell of their corpses will rise: Or, BAS: their smell will come up; DAR: their stink shall come up from their carcases; JPS: the stench of their carcasses shall come up. [Jeremiah 16:4; 25:33; Ezekiel 32:5; Joel 2:20]

1427	Mountains will dissolve under their blood: Or, BAS: the mountains will be flowing with their blood; DAR: the mountains shall be melted with their blood; LXX: mountains shall be made wet with their blood. See the next verse and compare with Revelation 6:15.

IS34:4 Then the heavenly armies will dissolve, the heavens rolled up just like a scroll 1428 [Revelation 6:15] For a certainty all their armies will vanish 1429 – just like a falling leaf disappearing from the vine, and like a leaf that falls from a fig-tree [Revelation 6:14] and then dissolves.

1428

Then the heavenly armies will dissolve, the heavens rolled up just like a scroll: Or, BAS: the heavens will be rolled together like the roll of a book; DAR: all the host of the heavens shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll; LXX: all the powers of the heavens shall melt, and the sky shall be rolled up like a scroll. Return to Isaiah 13:10. [Obadiah 4, 8; Isaiah 51:6] The phrase is used at Revelation 6:15. The word “heavens” may mean the atmosphere or sky, as well as lofty governmental positions.

1429

For a certainty all their armies will vanish: Or, BAS: all their army will be gone, like a dead leaf from the vine, or a dry fruit from the fig-tree; DAR: all their host shall fade away, as a leaf fadeth from off the vine, and as the withered fruit from the fig-tree; LXX: all the stars [ASTRA] shall fall like leaves from a vine, and as leaves fall from a fig-tree. The language of the LXX Greek is very similafr to that of Revelation 6:13] The phrase in the LXX, “the powers of the heavens shall melt” [KAI TAKESONTAI PASAI AI DYNAMEIS TON OURANON] is repeated in a combination of Luke 21:26 [DYNAMEIS TON OURANON] and 2 Peter 3:12, 13 [OURANOI… TEKETAI].

Isaiah 34:5-7 – Edom Destroyed

IS34:5 [Y^eH^oW^aH says:] “My Sword will be drenched by the heavens. 1430 Behold! It will descend on Edom, on those people devoted to a just eradication. 1431

1430

My Sword will be drenched by the heavens: Or, BAS: my sword in heaven is full of wrath; DAR: my sword is bathed in the heavens; JPS: My sword hath drunk its fill in heaven; LXX: My sword has been made drunk in heaven; NJB: drunk deep in the heavens; RHM: sated in the heavens; TAN: [footnote: be seen]. [Deuteronomy 32:41; Psalm 17:13; Jeremiah 46:10; Ezekiel 21:3; Zephaniah 2:12]

1431

It will descend on Edom, on those people devoted to a just eradication: Or, BAS: it is coming down on Edom, in punishment on the people of my curse; DAR: upon the people of my ban, to judgment; LXX: it shall come down upon Idumea, and with judgement upon the people doomed to destruction. Return to Isaiah 11:14 regarding Edom. Compare also Isaiah 21:11, 12.

IS34:6 Y^eH^oW^aH has a Sword deluged with blood, glutted with fat 1432 – with the blood of bulls and rams – with the fat from the kidneys of rams. For Y^eH^oW^aH prepares a sacrifice in Bozrah, yes, a tremendous slaughter in the land of Edom. 1433

1432	Sword deluged with blood, glutted with fat: Or, BAS: The sword of the Lord is full of blood, it is fat with the best of the meat; DAR: sword of Jehovah is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness.

1433

For YeHoWaH prepares a sacrifice in Bozrah, yes, a tremendous slaughter in the land of Edom: Or, BAS: for the Lord has a feast in Bozrah, and much cattle will be put to death in the land of Edom. [Isaiah 63:1, 3] The name Bozrah means a location that cannot be approached. [Genesis 36:31] It is identified with modern Buzera about 30 miles north of Petra.

IS34:7 Then wild water-buffalo – powerful young bulls – will all descend together with them. So the land of Edom will be saturated in blood, 1434 the dust of their soil enriched with fat.”

1434	Edom will be saturated in blood: Animals are often used to describe certain types of men. [Jeremiah 46:21]

Isaiah 34:8-15 – Edom’s Land Condemned

IS34:8 For Y^eH^oW^aH has prepared a day of revenge, a year of redress, 1435 because of the legal controversy over Zion.

1435

YeHoWaH has prepared a day of revenge, a year of redress: Or, BAS: For it is the day of the Lord’s punishment, when he gives payment for the wrongs done to Zion; DAR: year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion. [Deuteronomy 32:35, 41; Psalm 94:1; Romans 12:13] Edom is punished for failure to come to the aid of their relations, the Israelites.

IS34:9 Then Edom’s torrential ravines will be turned into tar, and the dust of the soil into brimstone. 1436 Thus her land will becoming like burning pitch.

1436

Edom’s torrential ravines will be turned into tar, and the dust of the soil into brimstone: Or, BAS: its streams will be turned into boiling oil, and its dust into burning stone, and all the land will be on fire; LXX: her valleys shall be turned into pitch, and her land into sulphur. [Psalm 11:6; Luke 17:29] Figures of speech here describe the waste and abandonment of the land of Edom. It remains to this day quite desolate with tourists coming on camel to see the great buildings carved out of red sandstone. Water courses have not been turned into tar, nor the dust in brimstone. The metaphors describe complete annihilation.

IS34:10 Neither during night nor day will it ever be extinguished, and throughout future periods of time her smoke will ascend. 1437 [Revelation 14:10, 11] The land will lie in waste generation after generation. 1438 Throughout times immemorial none will travel through it.

1437

Neither during night nor day will it ever be extinguished, and throughout future periods of time her smoke will ascend: Or, BAS: It will not be put out day or night; its smoke will go up for ever: it will be waste from generation to generation; no one will go through it for ever; LXX: it shall never be quenched, and her smoke shall go up: it shall be made desolate throughout her generations. The language is used at Revelation 14:10, 11 to describe the fate of Babylon the Great. Some use Revelation 14:10, 11 as proof of an eternal hell-fire torment. However, the language as figures of speech in Isaiah describe, not a land continually aflame with everlasting smoke rising, but a land completely destroyed. Return to Isaiah 13:20. [Jeremiah 7:20; Ezekiel 20:47] See notes on Revelation 19:3.

1438	The land will lie in waste generation after generation: Or, BAS: it will be waste from generation to generation; no one will go through it for ever; LXX: it shall be made desolate throughout her generations. See notes on Malachi 1:4. [Ezekiel 29:11]

IS34:11 The pelican and porcupine will make it home, and the eagle-owl and the raven will dwell there. 1439 Then a wilderness line will be stretched over it, and the plumb-line of what is wild and waste.

1439	Eagle-owl and the raven will dwell there: A variety of desert dwellers are described to emphasize the wilderness of Edom. Translators vary on the precise creatures. Return to Isaiah 13:21; 14:23.

IS34:12 Absent her nobles no royalty will make a call on her. All her princes will be non-existent. 1440

1440

Absent her nobles no royalty will make a call on her. All her princes will be non-existent: Or, BAS: her great ones will be gone; they will say, There is no longer a kingdom there, and all her chiefs will have come to an end; DAR: her nobles who should proclaim the kingdom, none are there; and all her princes shall be nought. Compare Isaiah 40:23.

IS34:13 Thorns will grow up in her palaces, thistles and nettles in her fortresses. She will become the home of wild dogs, and an enclosed area for ostriches. IS34:14 Wild cats will run into hyenas, and the long-haired goat will call to its mate. 1441 Only nocturnal birds 1442 will nest there, and there find a place of secure rest.

1441

Long-haired goat will call to its mate: Or, BAS: evil spirits will be crying to one another; DAR: the wild goat shall cry to his fellow; JPS: the satyr shall cry to his fellow; NJB: satyr will call to satry; TAN: goat-demons; RHM: shaggy creatures. The LXX uses “devils [DAIMONIA] shall meet with satyrs.” The Hebrew is SA’IYR [Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance #8163, hairy… he-goat] and the word is used of ghost-like creatures of the night.

1442

Nocturnal birds: Or, BAS: the night-spirit; DAR: the lilith; JPS: night-monster; RHM: night-spectre. The Hebrew is LIYLIYTH [Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance #3917, screech-owl… name of a female goddess known as a night demon who haunts the desolate places] and the root is “night.” [Leviticus 17:7; 2 Chronicles 11:15] The language intends to describe the spooky, ghostly wilderness that at night is filled with sounds that cause fright.

IS34:15 There the viper will make her nest and lay her eggs, hatching in Edom’s shade. Only the vultures will gather, each with its mate.

Isaiah 34:16, 17 – YHWH Gathers These to Edom

IS34:16 Go and examine the records of Y^eH^oW^aH 1443 – none of the above are missing, none is without a mate. His mouth 1444 has given the command, and His Spirit 1445 has collected them all together.

1443	Go and examine the records of YeHoWaH: Or, BAS: See what is recorded in the book of the Lord; DAR: Search ye in the book of Jehovah and read.

1444	His mouth: Note the parallel with God’s “spirit.” That is, God’s Spirit [RU’ACH, PNEUMA] is the same as His “mouth” uttering His purpose. [Psalm 33:9]

1445	His Spirit: Or, JPS: breath; LXX: his Spirit gathered them. Twice before YHWH has gathered animals to serve His purpose. Note Genesis 2:19; 6:19.

IS34:17 Yes, He has thrown in His lot with them, and His own hand has allotted to them a land marked out. Throughout future periods of time 1446 they will possess the land of Edom, from generation to generation they will reside there.

1446	Throughout future periods of time: Or, time indefinite, times age-abiding, for ever. The Hebrew and Greek may mean everlasting, always, or for an unknown period of time.