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God's Wrath against Nations

¹ Come near, ^(C1)you nations, to hear; and listen, O peoples!
^(C2)Let the earth and all that is in it hear, and the world and all that comes forth from it.

² For the LORD is ^(C1)angry at all the nations,
And His wrath is against all their armies;
He has ^(F1)(C2)utterly doomed them,
He has given them over to ^(C3)slaughter.

³ So their slain will be ^(C1)thrown out,
And the ^(C2)stench of their corpses will rise,
And the mountains will flow with their ^(C3)blood.

^4 (C1)All the host of heaven will be dissolved,
And the ^(C2)skies will be rolled up like a scroll;
All their hosts the stars and the planets will also wither away
As a leaf withers from the vine,
And as a fig withers from the fig tree. ^(VR1)

⁵ For ^(C1)My sword is satiated with blood in heaven;
Indeed, it will come down for judgment on ^(C2)Edom
And on the people whom I have ^(C3)doomed for destruction. ^(VR1)

⁶ The sword of the LORD is filled with blood from sacrifices,
It drips with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats,
With the fat of the kidneys of rams.
For the LORD has a sacrifice in ^(C1)Bozrah (Edom's capital city)
And a great slaughter in the land of ^(C2)Edom.

^7 (C1)Wild oxen will also fall with them
And the ^(C2)young bulls with the strong bulls;
And their land will be ^(C3)soaked with blood,
And their dust made greasy with fat.

⁸ For the LORD has a day of ^(C1)vengeance,
A year of retribution for the cause of Zion.

⁹ The streams of Edom will be turned into pitch,
And its dust into ^(C1)brimstone,
And its land will become burning pitch.

¹⁰ The burning will ^(C1)not be quenched night or day;
Its ^(C2)smoke will go up forever.
From ^(C3)generation to generation it will lie in ruins;
^(C4)No one will ever again pass through it. ^(VR1)

¹¹ But the ^(C1)pelican and the porcupine will take possession of it;
The owl and the raven will dwell in it.
And He will stretch over it (Edom) the ^(C2)measuring line of desolation
And the plumb line of emptiness.

¹² Its nobles—there is ^(C1)no one there
Whom they may proclaim king—
And all its princes will be ^(C2)nothing.

¹³ Thorns will come up in its ^(C1)fortified palaces,
Nettles and brambles in its fortified cities;
It will be a haunt for ^(C2)jackals,
An abode for ostriches.

¹⁴ The ^(C1)creatures of the desert will encounter jackals
And the ^(F1)hairy ^(C1)goat will call to its kind;
Indeed, ^(F2)Lilith (night demon) will settle there
And find herself a place of rest.

¹⁵ There the arrow snake will make her nest and lay her eggs,
And hatch them and gather her young under her protection;
Indeed, ^(C1)the birds of prey will be gathered there to breed,
Every one with its own kind.

¹⁶ Seek from the ^(C1)book of the LORD, and read:

Not one of these creatures will be missing;
None will lack its mate.
For His ^(C2)mouth has commanded,
And His Spirit has gathered them.

¹⁷ The LORD has cast the ^(C1)lot for them,
And His hand has divided and apportioned ^(F1)Edom to the wild beasts by ^(C2)measuring-line.
They will possess it forever;
From ^(C3)generation to generation they will dwell in it.