Isaiah 34:8-14
New English Translation
8 For the Lord has planned a day of revenge,[a]
a time when he will repay Edom for her hostility toward Zion.[b]
9 Edom’s[c] streams will be turned into pitch
and her soil into brimstone;
her land will become burning pitch.
10 Night and day it will burn;[d]
its smoke will ascend continually.
Generation after generation it will be a wasteland,
and no one will ever pass through it again.
11 Owls and wild animals[e] will live there,[f]
all kinds of wild birds[g] will settle in it.
The Lord[h] will stretch out over her
the measuring line of ruin
and the plumb line[i] of destruction.[j]
12 Her nobles will have nothing left to call a kingdom,
and all her officials will disappear.[k]
13 Her fortresses will be overgrown with thorns;
thickets and weeds will grow[l] in her fortified cities.
Jackals will settle there;
ostriches will live there.[m]
14 Wild animals and wild dogs will congregate there;[n]
wild goats will bleat to one another.[o]
Yes, nocturnal animals[p] will rest there
and make for themselves a nest.[q]
Footnotes
- Isaiah 34:8 tn Heb “for a day of vengeance [is] for the Lord.”
- Isaiah 34:8 tn Heb “a year of repayment for the strife of Zion.” The translation assumes that רִיב (riv) refers to Edom’s hostility toward Zion. Another option is to understand רִיב (riv) as referring to the Lord’s taking up Zion’s cause. In this case one might translate, “a time when he will repay Edom and vindicate Zion.”
- Isaiah 34:9 tn Heb “her”; the referent (Edom) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Isaiah 34:10 tn Heb “it will not be extinguished.”
- Isaiah 34:11 tn קָאַת (qaʾat) refers to some type of bird (cf. Lev 11:18; Deut 14:17) that was typically found near ruins (see Zeph 2:14). קִפּוֹד (qippod) may also refer to a type of bird (NAB “hoot owl”; NIV “screech owl”; TEV “ravens”), but some have suggested a rodent may be in view (cf. NCV “small animals”; ASV “porcupine”; NASB, NRSV “hedgehog”).
- Isaiah 34:11 tn Heb “will possess it” (so NIV).
- Isaiah 34:11 tn The Hebrew text has יַנְשׁוֹף וְעֹרֵב (yanshof veʿorev). Both the יַנְשׁוֹף (“owl”; see Lev 11:17; Deut 14:16) and עֹרֵב (“raven”; Lev 11:15; Deut 14:14) were types of wild birds.
- Isaiah 34:11 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Isaiah 34:11 tn Heb “stones,” i.e., the stones used in a plumb bob.
- Isaiah 34:11 sn The metaphor in v. 11b emphasizes that God has carefully planned Edom’s demise.
- Isaiah 34:12 tn Heb “will be nothing”; NCV, TEV, NLT “will all be gone.”
- Isaiah 34:13 tn The words “will grow” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
- Isaiah 34:13 tc Heb “and she will be a settlement for wild dogs, a dwelling place for ostriches.” The translation assumes an emendation of חָצִיר (khatsir, “grass”) to חָצֵר (khatser, “settlement”). One of the Qumran scrolls of Isaiah (1QIsaa) supports this emendation (cf. HALOT 344 s.v. II חָצִיר)
- Isaiah 34:14 tn Heb “will meet” (so NIV); NLT “will mingle there.”
- Isaiah 34:14 tn Heb “and a goat will call to its neighbor.”
- Isaiah 34:14 tn The precise meaning of לִילִית (lilit) is unclear, though in this context the word certainly refers to some type of wild animal or bird. The word appears to be related to לַיְלָה (laylah, “night”). Some interpret it as the name of a female night demon, on the basis of an apparent Akkadian cognate used as the name of a demon. Later Jewish legends also identified Lilith as a demon. Cf. NRSV “Lilith.”
- Isaiah 34:14 tn Heb “and will find for themselves a resting place.”
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