# Isaiah 34 đź“–: Judgment on the Nations
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> [!info] Table of Contents
> [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]]
> [[#đź“– Verse-by-Verse Commentary]]
> [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]]
> [[#đź§ Chapter Summary]]
> [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]]
> [[#🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application]]
> [[#đź’¬ Discussion Questions]]
> [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]]
> [[#đź”— Related Passages/Cross Reference]]
> [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]]
> [[#đź“‚ Internal Notes]]
## 📜 Scripture Text (NET)
(The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005)
### The Lord Will Judge Edom
[[#Verse 01.]]Â Come near, you nations, and listen!
Pay attention, you people!
The earth and everything it contains must listen,
the world and everything that lives in it.
[[#Verse 02.]] For the Lord is angry at all the nations
and furious with all their armies.
He will annihilate them and slaughter them.
[[#Verse 03.]]Â Their slain will be left unburied,
their corpses will stink;
the hills will soak up their blood.
[[#Verse 04.]]Â All the stars in the sky will fade away,
the sky will roll up like a scroll;
all its stars will wither,
like a leaf withers and falls from a vine
or a fig withers and falls from a tree.
[[#Verse 05.]] He says, “Indeed, my sword has slaughtered heavenly powers.
Look, it now descends on Edom,
on the people I will annihilate in judgment.”
[[#Verse 06.]] The Lord’s sword is dripping with blood,
it is covered with fat;
it drips with the blood of young rams and goats
and is covered with the fat of rams’ kidneys.
For the Lord is holding a sacrifice in Bozrah,
a bloody slaughter in the land of Edom.
[[#Verse 07.]] Wild oxen will be slaughtered along with them,
as well as strong bulls.
Their land is drenched with blood,
their soil is covered with fat.
[[#Verse 08.]] For the Lord has planned a day of revenge,
a time when he will repay Edom for her hostility toward Zion.
[[#Verse 09.]] Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch
and her soil into brimstone;
her land will become burning pitch.
[[#Verse 10.]]Â Night and day it will burn;
its smoke will ascend continually.
Generation after generation it will be a wasteland,
and no one will ever pass through it again.
[[#Verse 11.]] Owls and wild animals will live there,
all kinds of wild birds will settle in it.
The Lord will stretch out over her
the measuring line of ruin
and the plumb line of destruction.
[[#Verse 12.]]Â Her nobles will have nothing left to call a kingdom,
and all her officials will disappear.
[[#Verse 13.]]Â Her fortresses will be overgrown with thorns;
thickets and weeds will grow in her fortified cities.
Jackals will settle there;
ostriches will live there.
[[#Verse 14.]]Â Wild animals and wild dogs will congregate there;
wild goats will bleat to one another.
Yes, nocturnal animals will rest there
and make for themselves a nest.
[[#Verse 15.]] Owls will make nests and lay eggs there;
they will hatch them and protect them.
Yes, hawks will gather there,
each with its mate.
[[#Verse 16.]] Carefully read the scroll of the Lord!
Not one of these creatures will be missing,
none will lack a mate.
For the Lord has issued the decree,
and his own spirit gathers them.
[[#Verse 17.]]Â He assigns them their allotment;
he measures out their assigned place.
They will live there permanently;
they will settle in it through successive generations.
## đź“– Verse-by-Verse Commentary
###### Overall.
###### Verse 01.
###### Verse 02.
###### Verse 03.
###### Verse 04.
###### Verse 05.
###### Verse 06.
###### Verse 07.
###### Verse 08.
###### Verse 09.
###### Verse 10.
###### Verse 11.
###### Verse 12.
###### Verse 13.
###### Verse 14.
###### Verse 15.
###### Verse 16.
###### Verse 17.
## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights
1. Edom descended from Esau, Jacob's brother (Genesis 36:1).
2. Edom refused to let Israel pass through its land during the exodus (Numbers 20:14-21).
3. Edom later cheered the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon (Psalm 137:7; Obadiah 10-14).
4. Bozrah (34:6) was a major Edomite city, often thought to be its capital.
5. Revelation 6:14 uses the image of the sky rolled up like a scroll.
6. The smoke rising forever (34:10) is echoed in Revelation 14:11 and 19:3.
7. The measuring line of chaos and the plumb line of emptiness (34:11) use the Hebrew words *tohu* and *bohu*, the same pair found in Genesis 1:2.
8. The word in 34:14 sometimes translated night creature is *lilith*, which appears only here in the Bible.
9. Edom's land eventually fell to the Nabataeans, and the Edomites moved west into southern Judea, which became known as Idumea.
10. Herod the Great was an Idumean, a descendant of the Edomites.
## đź§ Chapter Summary
> [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way.
## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter
Christ is the One who returns to judge the nations when the heavens roll up like a scroll (34:4). Revelation uses this language for the day of the Lamb's wrath (Revelation 6:14-17), and the King of kings will defeat every enemy of God's people (Revelation 19:11-16).
## 🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application
> [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way.
## đź’¬ Discussion Questions
1. God's judgment on the nations is described in terrifying language (34:1-4). Why is it important to take God's justice seriously?
2. Edom is singled out because of its hostility toward God's people (34:8). What does this teach about how God defends His people?
3. Isaiah tells people to search the scroll of the Lord and read (34:16). Why does God want us to check His Word for ourselves?
## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember
- đź“– verse 2: The Lord is angry with all the nations.
- đź“– verse 4: The sky will roll up like a scroll.
- đź“– verse 16: Search the scroll of the Lord and read it; none of these will be missing.
## đź”— Related Passages/Cross Reference
- đź”— [[Revelation 06#Verse 12.|Revelation 6:12-17]] - The sky rolled up like a scroll.
- đź”— [[Revelation 19#Verse 11.|Revelation 19:11-16]] - The King of kings judges in righteousness.
- đź”— [[Obadiah 01#Verse 10.|Obadiah 10-15]] - The judgment of Edom.
- đź”— [[Malachi 01#Verse 02.|Malachi 1:2-4]] - Esau's land laid waste.
- đź”— [[Acts 17#Verse 11.|Acts 17:11]] - They searched the Scriptures daily.
## 🙏 Devotional Reflection
📝 SOAP: [[Isaiah 34 - SOAP|Search God’s Word to Find God’s Will]]
## đź“‚ Internal Notes