the Fourth Week of Advent
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New American Standard Bible (1995)
Isaiah 34
God's Wrath against Nations
1 Draw near, (C1)O nations, to hear; and listen, O peoples!
(C2)Let the earth and (F1)all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it.
2 For the LORD'S (C1)indignation is against all the nations,
And His wrath against all their armies;
He has (F1)(C2)utterly destroyed them,
He has given them over to (C3)slaughter.
3 So their slain will be (C1)thrown out,
And their corpses (F1)will give off their (C2)stench,
And the mountains will (F2)be drenched with their (C3)blood.
4 And (C1)all the host of heaven will (F1)wear away,
And the (C2)sky will be rolled up like a scroll;
All their hosts will also wither away
As a leaf withers from the vine,
Or as one withers from the fig tree.
5 For (C1)My sword is satiated in heaven,
Behold it shall descend for judgment upon (C2)Edom
And upon the people whom I have (C3)devoted to destruction.
6 The sword of the LORD is filled with blood,
It is (F1)sated 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
And a great slaughter in the land of (C2)Edom.
7 (C1)Wild oxen will also (F1)fall with them
And (C2)young bulls with strong ones;
Thus their land will be (C3)soaked with blood,
And their dust (F2)become greasy with fat.
8 For the LORD has a day of (C1)vengeance,
A year of recompense for the (F1)cause of Zion.
9 (F1)Its streams will be turned into pitch,
And its loose earth into (C1)brimstone,
And its land will become burning pitch.
10 It will (C1)not be quenched night or day;
Its (C2)smoke will go up forever.
From (C3)generation to generation it will be desolate;
(C4)None will pass through it forever and ever.
11 But (F1)(C1)pelican and hedgehog will possess it,
And (F2)owl and raven will dwell in it;
And He will stretch over it the (C2)line of (F3)desolation
And the (F4)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 towers,
Nettles and thistles in its fortified cities;
It will also be a haunt of (C2)jackals
And an abode of ostriches.
14 The desert (C1)creatures will meet with the (F1)wolves,
The (F2)(C1)hairy goat also will cry to its kind;
Yes, the (F3)night monster will settle there
And will find herself a resting place.
15 The tree snake will make its nest and lay eggs there,
And it will hatch and gather them under its (F1)protection.
Yes, (C1)the (F2)hawks will be gathered there,
Every one with its kind.
16 Seek from the (C1)book of the LORD, and read:
Not one of these will be missing;
None will lack its mate.
For (F1)(C2)His mouth has commanded,
And His Spirit has gathered them.
17 He has cast the (C1)lot for them,
And His hand has divided it to them by (C2)line.
They shall possess it forever;
From (C3)generation to generation they will dwell in it.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation