1 Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. |
2 For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter. |
3 Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. |
4 And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree. |
5 For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment. |
6 The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea. |
7 And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness. |
8 For it is the day of the LORD's vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. |
9 And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. |
10 It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever. |
11 But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness. |
12 They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing. |
13 And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls. |
14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest. |
15 There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate. |
16 Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them. |
17 And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein. |
34 God's fury and wrath against his church's enemies, Isa 34:1-10.
Their land utterly desolate, Isa 34:11-15.
The certainly hereof, and duration, Isa 34:16-17.
34:2 All nations - Not only upon the Assyrians, but on all enemies of my people.
34:3 Cast out - Into the fields.
34:4 Dissolved - The sun, moon, and stars. So great shall be the confusion and consternation of mankind, as if all the frame of the creation were broken into pieces. It is usual for prophetic writers, both in the Old and New Testament, to represent great and general calamities, in such words and phrases, as properly agree to the day of judgment; as on the contrary, the glorious deliverances of God's people, in such expressions, as properly agree to the resurrection from the dead.
34:5 Bathed - In the blood of these people. Heaven - Where God dwells; in which this is said to be done, because it was there decreed and appointed. Idumea - Upon the Edomites, who, tho' they were nearly related to the Israelites, yet were their implacable enemies. But these are named for all the enemies of God's church, of whom they were an eminent type. The people - Whom I have cursed, and devoted to utter destruction, as the word properly signifies.
34:6 The sword - The metaphor is taken from a great glutton, who is almost insatiable. Rams - By lambs, and goats, and rams, he means people of all ranks and conditions, high and low, rich and poor. Bozrah - A chief city of Edom, and a type of those cities which should be most opposite to God's people.
34:7 The unicorns - It is confessed, this was a beast of great strength and fierceness; and it is used in this place to signify their princes and potentates, who shall be humbled and cast down. Them - With the lambs, and goats, and rams. Fatness - With the fat of the slain sacrifices, mingled with it.
34:8 For - This is the time which God hath fixed, to avenge the cause of his persecuted people.
34:9 The land - Idumea shall be dealt with, as Sodom and Gomorrah were.
34:10 For ever - It shall remain as a spectacle of God's vengeance to all succeeding ages.
34:11 Dwell - It shall be entirely possessed by those creatures which delight in deserts and waste places. Stretch - He shall use the line, or the stone or plummet joined to it, not to build them, but to mark them out to destruction, as workmen commonly use them to mark what they are to pull down.
34:12 None - They shall not find any willing to undertake the government. Nothing - Shall have no courage or strength left in them.
34:16 Seek - When this judgment is executed, if you pursue this prophecy, you will find, that all things exactly come to pass, as I have told you. His - My spirit, (such sudden changes of persons being frequent here) hath brought all these creatures together, as he formerly brought the creatures to Adam, and to Noah, by an instinct which he put into them.
34:17 Divided - He hath divided the land to them, as it were by lot and line, as Canaan was divided among the Israelites.
35 The joyful flourishing of Christ's kingdom, Isa 35:1-2.
The weak he strengthens and comforts, Isa 35:3-4.
His miracles, Isa 35:5-6.
The prosperity and peace of his people, Isa 35:7-10.
35:1 The solitary place - Emmanuel's land, or the seat of God's church and people, which formerly was despised like a wilderness, and which the rage of their enemies had brought to desolation, shall flourish exceedingly.
35:2 The excellency - The wilderness shall be as pleasant and fruitful as Lebanon, and Carmel, and Sharon.They - The inhabitants of the wilderness aforesaid.The glory - The glorious discoveries of God's power and goodness.
35:3 Strengthen - Ye ministers of God, comfort and encourage God's people, who are now ready to faint.
35:4 Your God - Tho' he seems to be departed, he will come to you, and abide with you. He will shortly come in the flesh, to execute vengeance upon the enemies of God.
35:5 Then - The poor Gentiles, who before were blind and deaf, shall now have the eyes and ears of their minds opened to see God's works, and to hear and receive his word.
35:7 Streams - The most dry and barren places shall be made moist and fruitful; which is principally meant of the plentiful effusion of God's grace upon such persons and nations, as had been wholly destitute of it.Rushes - Those dry and parched deserts, in which dragons have their abode, shall yield abundance of grass, and reeds, and rushes, which grow only in moist ground.
35:8 A way - The high - way and the way are not to be taken for two different ways, but for one and the same way, even a causey, which is raised ground, and a way. Holiness - The people (walking in it) shall be all righteous. For those - But this way shall be appropriated to those persons above - mentioned; the weak, and blind, and lame, whom God will lead and save. Though fools - The way shall be so plain and strait, that even the most foolish travellers cannot easily mistake it.