Bible Commentaries
Isaiah 34

Verse 1

34:1 Come near, ye {a} nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is in it; the world, and all things that spring from it.

(a) He prophecies of the destruction of the Edomites and other nations which were enemies to the Church.

Verse 2

34:2 For the indignation of the LORD [is] upon all nations, and [his] fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly {b} destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter.

(b) God has determined in his counsel and has given sentence for their destruction.

Verse 4

34:4 And all the host of heaven {c} shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their hosts shall fall down, as the leaf falleth from the vine, and as a falling [fig] from the fig tree.

(c) He speaks this in respect to man’s judgment, who in great fear and horrible troubles, think that heaven and earth perishes.

Verse 5

34:5 For my sword shall be {d} bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Edom, and upon the people of {e} my curse, to judgment.

(d) I have determined in my secret counsel and in the heavens to destroy them till my sword is weary with shedding blood.

(e) They had an opinion of holiness, because they came from the patriarch Isaac, but in effect were cursed by God, and enemies to his Church as the papists are.

Verse 6

34:6 The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, [and] with the blood of {f} lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD hath a sacrifice in {g} Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

(f) That is, both of young and old, poor and rich of his enemies.

(g) That famous city will be consumed as a sacrifice burnt to ashes.

Verse 7

34:7 And the {h} unicorns shall come down with them, and the bulls with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.

(h) The mighty and rich will be as well destroyed as the inferiors.

Verse 9

34:9 And its streams shall be turned into pitch, and its dust into {i} brimstone, and its land shall become burning pitch.

(i) He alludes to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Genesis 19:24 .

Verse 11

34:11 But the cormorant {k} 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 {l} confusion, and the stones of emptiness.

(k) Read Isaiah 13:21, Zephaniah 2:14 .

(l) In vain will any man go about to build it again.

Verse 12

34:12 {m} They shall call her nobles to the kingdom, but none [shall be] there, and all her princes shall be nothing.

(m) Meaning, here will be neither order nor policy nor state of commonwealth.

Verse 14

34:14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also {n} meet with the wild beasts of the isle, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest.

(n) Read Isaiah 13:21 .

Verse 15

34:15 There {o} 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.

(o) Signifying that Idumea would be a horrible desolation and barren wilderness.

Verse 16

34:16 Seek ye out of the {p} book of the LORD, and read: no one of {q} these shall fail, none shall lack her mate: for my {r} mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them.

(p) That is, in the law where such curses are threatened against the wicked.

(q) That is, beasts and souls.

(r) That is, the mouth of the Lord.

Verse 17

34:17 And he hath cast the {s} lot for them, and his hand hath divided it to them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell in it.

(s) He has given the beasts and souls Idumea for an inheritance.