Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Isaiah 34:8

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Isaiah 34:8. The year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion - "The year of recompense to the defender of the cause of Zion"] As from דון dun, דין din, a judge; so from רוב rub, ריב rib, an advocate, or defender; Judici Sionis: Syriac.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

34:1-35:10 MORE ABOUT JUDGMENT AND SALVATION

Jerusalem’s final triumph over Assyria is followed by further pictures of God’s final judgment on the world and the blessings that will follow. (See notes on the introduction to 24:1-27:13.) God’s enemies in this section are represented by one of Israel’s most ancient enemies, Edom.

Punishment of the wicked (34:1-17)

God calls sinners together to hear his judgment and receive his punishment. This judgment affects people worldwide, and involves the entire physical creation. Nothing in the heavens or on the earth can exist independently of God and nothing can withstand his power (34:1-4). One picture of this judgment is that of a great slaughter of animals, as if for sacrifice. The rebellious will fall by the sword of God’s judgment (5-7). They will suffer a fitting punishment for their persecution and slaughter of God’s people (8).
The scene then shifts to the earthly homeland of these people. Their country will be turned into a place of terrible torment, fear and confusion, a place that no human being would ever want to inhabit (9-11). The glory of its kingdom will be gone, and the ruins of its military defences will be inhabited by all sorts of fearsome animals and dreaded demons (12-15). This judgment has been determined by God, who has recorded the details in a book so that people everywhere might be assured that it is his doing (16-17).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"For Jehovah hath a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion."

This speaks of the absolute certainty of the final judgment. Yes, men can count on it; there will be a Day of the Lord.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance - A time when Yahweh will take vengeance.

The year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion - The time when he will recompense, that is, punish those who have had a controversy with Zion.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

8For it is the day of vengeance of Jehovah. This verse must be viewed as closely connected with the preceding verses, for it points out the object which the Lord has in view in punishing the Edomites with such severity; and that object is, that he wishes to avenge his people and defend their cause. If, therefore, he had not also assigned this reason, the former statements might have appeared to be obscure or inappropriate; for it would, have been an uncertain kind of knowledge if we did not consider that God, in punishing wicked men, testifies his unceasing affection and care to preserve his own people.

What was formerly said about the Edomites must undoubtedly be extended to the enemies of the Church, for all of them were included by the Prophet under a particular class; and, therefore, in adversity our hearts ought to be supported by this consolation:, that the attacks which we now suffer shall come into judgment before God, who justly claims for himself this office. The Prophet does not only mean that it is in his power to punish wicked men whenever he thinks proper, but, that he reigns in heaven, in order to punish every kind of injustice at the proper time.

But we must attend to the words day and year, by which he reminds us that God does not sleep in heaven, though for a little time he does not come forth, but delays his vengeance till a fit season, that believers may in the meantime “possess their souls in patience,” (Luke 21:19,) and may leave him to govern according to his inscrutable wisdom.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 34

Come near, ye nations, to hear; hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. For the indignation ( Isaiah 34:1-2 )

A term that is used in the Old Testament for the Great Tribulation period.

the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations ( Isaiah 34:2 ),

Or the wrath of God, the Great Tribulation.

his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter. Their slain also shall be cast out, and the smell shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood ( Isaiah 34:2-3 ).

Throughout the entire valley of Jezreel, the blood will flow to the horses' bridles we are told in the great battle of Armageddon, as God destroys the armies of man upon the earth.

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 the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree ( Isaiah 34:4 ).

This phrase is used or this symbol is used by Joel and repeated by Christ in Matthew 24:1-51 , but in Joel's prophecy chapter 2, verse Joel 2:30-31, he speaks of the stars of the heaven falling as a fig tree drops its untimely figs. A tremendous meteorite shower that will strike the earth.

Out in the Arizona desert near Winslow, Arizona, there is a huge crater that is called the Meteorite Crater. Now most meteorites burn up in our atmosphere and don't hit the earth. But when one does hit the earth, if they are of any size at all, they leave a tremendous dent upon the earth. That meteorite crater is about a mile across and a couple thousand feet deep there in Arizona. Quite awesome to stand on the rim and look down in.

In 1906 there was a meteorite that hit in Siberia that leveled the pine trees for miles like they were toothpicks. In fact, so great was the destruction of that meteorite in Siberia that some scientists believe that it was perhaps composed of antimatter. For it is hard to conceive of devastation that extensive from just a plain meteorite. And so they believe that perhaps it was of antimatter. Now, antimatter would be a molecular structure that is opposite to what we generally know as atoms where you have the proton in the heart of the nucleus of the atom with the electrons revolving around it. In the antimatter it would be the electrons in the nucleus with the protons revolving around it. And they believe that if matter and antimatter hit that you have just this tremendous double-charged atomic explosion with matter and antimatter.

And it is something that the physicists have theorized as a possibility that antimatter exists in the universe, as well as matter. And that the combination of the two is devastating. And some have even suggested that that meteorite that hit Siberia about 1906 was of antimatter, and thus explain the tremendous devastation that was caused. But imagine the devastation that will come when there comes the meteorite shower upon the earth that just really begins to create these huge, awesome craters.

Now it is interesting that in about 1986 we are anticipating the return of Haley's Comet. And though it is possible that at this time Haley's Comet will make its turn on the other side of the sun, and it may be that Haley's Comet will not even be visible to those that are here upon the earth. Yet, the big concern of the scientists concerning Haley's Comet is not how close it's going to approach to the earth, but the fact that every time Haley's Comet comes along it leaves all kinds of debris in our solar system. And that as the earth makes its orbit around the sun, it passes through the junk, the debris that is left by the tail of Haley's Comet. The comet's tail is some a hundred million miles long and is just space junk. Just a lot of debris, meteorites and chunks and all out there in the tail of Haley's Comet. It seems to follow the comet around and give that long glow of the tail.

Two times a year the astronomers can predict tremendous meteorite activity. What has the scientists and the government right now concerned is that when Haley's Comet comes around again, it no doubt is going to create-as our earth in its orbit (though we may not even see Haley's Comet)-when we come into the fresh debris from the tail of Haley's Comet, we are going to have an unusually heavy bombardment of meteorites again. The thing that is of grave concern is the delicate balance of the ozone in our atmosphere. Already because of the fluorocarbon gases that have neutralized the ozone and turned it into a nitric oxide, and the blanket has been heavily depleted, what they are fearful of is a further depletion by the unusually heavy bombardment of the meteorites from the tail of Haley's Comet and it may be sufficient to deplete the ozone blanket to the degree that the earth will be subjected at that time to extra heavy ultraviolet radiation from the sun which will cause exposure to the sun to give you a violent burn and ultraviolet radiation rash.

Now last year in one of the water baptismal services where I was out in the water for a prolonged period of time, I got an ultraviolet radiation rash. Because of my length of time there in the water, the exposure to the sun, because the ozone blanket is being depleted constantly. Our atomic testing, atmospheric testing of atomic weapons had an effect upon the ozone blanket. The SST has an effect upon the ozone blanket, as do meteorites and as do the fluorocarbon gases used in the sprays. And though the United States has more or less created laws against the fluorocarbon gases, the other nations of the world haven't and they still use the fluorocarbon aerosprays and all.

With the depletion of the ozone it then creates this condition with the ultraviolet rays of the sun and the burning that you get, which all is interesting from a prophetic standpoint. Because the Bible speaks of this time when there's going to be a heavy meteorite shower. It will be like a fig tree casting forth its untimely figs, the stars of heaven falling. Now not literal stars, but we do call them even today. "Oh, did you see that falling star?" We know that they are meteorites, but they are still today called falling stars. And so he's using the language of the people in describing the stars of the heaven falling to the earth. Not literal stars, but the meteorite showers. And he speaks of this heavy meteorite activity.

But then he also speaks in conjunction with it in Revelation. "And power will be given to the sun to scorch men who dwell upon the earth" ( Revelation 16:8 ). And men will become blistered and all as the result of the scorching of the sun. And so it is very interesting that these things are being anticipated for the year 1986 or so when Haley's Comet again makes its visit into our solar system.

And, of course, right now there is an intensive scientific project to seek to determine what effect the debris of the tail of Haley's Comet will have upon the ozone blanket around the earth. A group of scientists have been commissioned by the president to study this particular phenomenon and its possible effect upon the earth. Who knows? It's just food for thought. Put that in your little computer and work on it.

So, "The host of heaven will be dissolved, 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."

For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea ( Isaiah 34:5 ),

The area of Saudi Arabia today.

and upon the people of my curse, to judgment. 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 ( Isaiah 34:5-6 ),

Which was one of the chief cities of Edom.

and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea. 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. For it is the day of the LORD'S vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion ( Isaiah 34:6-8 ).

God's vengeance, His year of recompense for the controversy of Zion or Jerusalem. Now it is interesting, of course, that Saudi Arabia has been the main financier of the armaments for the Arab states to attack Israel. Saudi Arabia is the main financier for the PLO and their arms. And Saudi Arabia has been the financial backer behind the attacks against Israel. God speaks about the day of the vengeance and the recompense for Zion.

And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch [or into oil], and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land shall become burning pitch ( Isaiah 34:9 ).

I wonder what would be the effect there in Saudi Arabia where the oil is so close to the surface and there's such a tremendous abundance of oil. What would be the effect of an atomic bomb dropped in that area? Igniting the oils that are under the ground and what would be the effect of something like that. It said.

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. 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. They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing ( Isaiah 34:10-12 ).

Of course, Saudi Arabia is ruled by four thousand princes actually. This big family and all of the relations are the ones that are gaining from the wealth, not the general public there.

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. The wild beasts of the desert shall 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. 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. Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: not one of these things shall fail ( Isaiah 34:13-16 ),

"When this comes to pass," Isaiah says, "get out this book." When these things... when this area is burning with this fire and all, just get out this book and read it and you'll realize that God has written in advance and not one thing that God wrote of is going to fail. He's challenging you. So it's interesting we still have the book of Isaiah. We'll still be able to get it out and read when these things come to pass. So, "Seek out the book of the Lord and read it. No one of these shall fail." No one. Now the vultures you'll see, every one has a mate. You'll say, "Isn't that weird?" Every vulture has its mate, just like Isaiah said. Not one is lacking. It's unreal.

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 ( Isaiah 34:17 ) "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Edom as an example 34:5-17

The prophet now introduced Edom, as a case in point, whose end would be typical of the whole earth (cf. Isaiah 11:14; Isaiah 63:1-6). If Edom alone had been in view, Isaiah probably would have dealt with it as he did the other nations in the oracles earlier in the book (chs. 13-23). But why Edom? The Old Testament consistently treats Edom as the antithesis of Israel (cf. Obad.). Isaac told Esau that he would live in an infertile area (Genesis 27:39-40).

"Recollecting Isaiah 29:22 and the establishing of the family of Jacob, the overthrow of the people of Esau makes the end the exact fulfilment [sic] of what was promised at the beginning (Genesis 25:23)." [Note: Motyer, p. 269. See pp. 268-69 for a concise and illuminating review of biblical references to Edom.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

A fourth reason for this slaughter is that the Lord will take vengeance on those who have trodden down Zion. He will act for His people against those who have cursed them (cf. Genesis 12:3). Even though we do not know when this will happen, God has a timetable for this judgment and will keep to it.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

For [it is] the day of the Lord's vengeance,.... The time which he has appointed to take vengeance on antichrist, his 1260 days, or years; being up, in which he is to reign; these being expired, the time is come for the Lord to avenge the blood of his saints; see

Revelation 18:20:

[and] the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion; the church of God, which has been for many ages abused and injured by the antichristian powers, for which the Lord will have a controversy with them; he will appear in favour of his people, and plead the cause of Zion, and recompense their enemies for all the injuries they have done them; then they that have led into captivity shall go into captivity, and they that have killed with the sword shall be killed with it,

Revelation 13:10 this will be a time of double recompence; and therefore perhaps the word is used in the plural number; it will be the time of rewarding antichrist as he has rewarded others; and it will be the time of the dead, that they shall be judged, and rewards given to God's servants the prophets, Revelation 18:6. The Targum is,

"the year of recompence, to take vengeance of judgment for the injury of Zion.''

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      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.

      Here we have a prophecy, as elsewhere we have a history, of the wars of the Lord, which we are sure are all both righteous and successful. This world, as it is his creature, he does good to; but as it is in the interest of Satan, who is called the god of this world, he fights against it.

      I. Here is the trumpet sounded and the war proclaimed, Isaiah 34:1; Isaiah 34:1. All nations must hear and hearken, not only because what God is about to do is well worthy their remark (as Isaiah 33:13; Isaiah 33:13), but because they are all concerned in it; it is with them that God has a quarrel; it is against them that God is coming forth in wrath. Let them all take notice that the great God is angry with them; his indignation is upon all nations, and therefore let all nations come near to hear. The trumpet is blown in the city (Amos 3:6), and the watchmen on the walls cry, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet,Jeremiah 6:17. Let the earth hear, and the fulness thereof, for it is the Lord's (Psalms 24:1) and ought to hearken to its Maker and Master. The world must hear, and all things that come forth of it, the children of men, that are of the earth earthy, come out of it, and must return to it; or the inanimate products of the earth are called to, as more likely to hearken than sinners, whose hearts are hardened against the calls of God. Hear, O you mountains! the Lord's controversy,Micah 6:2. It is so just a controversy that all the world may be safely appealed to concerning the equity of it.

      II. Here is the manifesto published, setting forth,

      1. Whom he makes war against (Isaiah 34:2; Isaiah 34:2): The indignation of the Lord is upon all nations; they are all in confederacy against God and religion, all in the interests of the devil, and therefore he is angry with them all, even with all the nations that forget him. He has long suffered all nations to walk in their own ways (Acts 14:16), but now he will no longer keep silence. As they have all had the benefit of his patience, so they must all expect now to feel his resentments. His fury is in a special manner upon all their armies, (1.) Because with them they have done mischief to the people of God; those are they that have made bloody work with them, and therefore they must be sure to have blood given them to drink. (2.) Because with them they hope to make their part good against the justice and power of God they trust to them as their defence, and therefore on them, in the first place, God's fury will come. Armies before God's fury are but as dry stubble before a consuming fire, though ever so numerous and courageous.

      2. Whom he makes war for, and what are the grounds and reasons of the war (Isaiah 34:8; Isaiah 34:8): It is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and he it is to whom vengeance belongs, and who is never unrighteous in taking vengeance,Romans 3:5. As there is a day of the Lord's patience, so there will be a day of his vengeance; for, though he bear long, he will not bear always. It is the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. Zion is the holy city, the city of our solemnities, a type and figure of the church of God in the world. Zion has a just quarrel with her neighbours for the wrongs they have done her, for all their treacherous and barbarous usage of her, profaning her holy things, laying waste her palaces, and slaying her sons. She has left it to God to plead her cause, and he will do so when the time, even the set time, to favour Zion shall have come; then he will recompense to her persecutors and oppressors all the mischiefs they have done her. The controversy will be decided, that Zion has been wronged, and therein Zion's God has been himself abused. Judgment will be given upon this decision, and execution done. Note, There is a time prefixed in the divine counsels for the deliverance of the church and the destruction of her enemies, a year of the redeemed, which will come, a year of recompences for the controversy of Zion; and we must patiently wait till then, and judge nothing before the time.

      III. Here are the operations of the war, and the methods of it, settled, with an infallible assurance of success. 1. The sword of the Lord is bathed in heaven; this is all the preparation here made for the war, Isaiah 34:5; Isaiah 34:5. It may probably allude to some custom they had then of bathing their swords in some liquor or other, to harden them or brighten them; it is the same with the furbishing of it, that it may glitter, Ezekiel 21:9-11. God's sword is bathed in heaven, in his counsel and decree, in his justice and power, and then there is not standing before it. 2. It shall come down. What he has determined shall without fail be put in execution. It shall come down from heaven, and the higher the place is, whence it comes, the heavier will it fall. It will come down upon Idumea, the people of God's curse, the people that lie under his curse and are by it doomed to destruction. Miserable, for ever miserable, are those that have by their sins made themselves the people of God's curse; for the sword of the Lord will infallibly attend the curse of the Lord and execute the sentences of it; and those whom he curses are cursed indeed. It shall come down to judgment, to execute judgment upon sinners. Note, God's sword of war is always a sword of justice. It is observed of him out of whose mouth goeth the sharp sword that in righteousness he doth judge and make war,Revelation 19:11; Revelation 19:15. 3. The nations and their armies shall be given up to the sword (Isaiah 34:2; Isaiah 34:2): God has delivered them to the slaughter, and then they cannot deliver themselves, nor can all the friends they have deliver them from it. Those only are slain whom God delivers to the slaughter, for the keys of death are in his hand; and, in delivering them to the slaughter, he has utterly destroyed them; their destruction is as sure, when God has doomed them to it, as if they were destroyed already, utterly destroyed. God has, in effect, delivered all the cruel enemies of his church to the slaughter by that word (Revelation 13:10), He that kills with the sword must be killed by the sword, for the Lord is righteous. 4. Pursuant to the sentence, a terrible slaughter shall be made among them (Isaiah 34:6; Isaiah 34:6): The sword of the Lord, when it comes down with commission, does vast execution; it is filled, satiated, surfeited, with blood, the blood of the slain, and made fat with their fatness. When the day of God's abused mercy and patience is over the sword of his justice gives no quarter, spares none. Men have by sin lost the honour of the human nature and made themselves like the beasts that perish; they are therefore justly denied the compassion and respect that are owing to the human nature and killed as beasts, and no more is made of slaying an army of men than of butchering a flock of lambs or goats and feeding on the fat of the kidneys of rams. Nay, the sword of the Lord shall not only dispatch the lambs and goats, the infantry of their armies, the poor common soldiers, but (Isaiah 34:7; Isaiah 34:7) the unicorns too shall be made to come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls, though they are ever so proud, and strong, and fierce (the great men, and the mighty men, and the chief captainsRevelation 6:15), the sword of the Lord will make as easy a prey of as of the lambs and the goats. The greatest of men are nothing before the wrath of the great God. See what bloody work will be made: The land shall be soaked with blood, as with the rain that comes often upon it and in great abundance; and their dust, their dry and barren land, shall be made fat with the fatness of men slain in their full strength, as with manure. Nay even the mountains, which are hard and rocky, shall be melted with their blood,Isaiah 34:3; Isaiah 34:3. These expressions are hyperbolical (as St. John's vision of blood to the horse-bridles,Revelation 14:20), and are made use of because they sound very dreadful to sense (it makes us even shiver to think of such abundance of human gore), and are therefore proper to express the terror of God's wrath, which is dreadful beyond conception and expression. See what work sin and wrath make even in this world, and think how much more terrible the wrath to come is, which will bring down the unicorns themselves to the bars of the pit. 5. This great slaughter will be a great sacrifice to the justice of God (Isaiah 34:6; Isaiah 34:6): The Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah; there it is that the great Redeemer has his garments dyed with blood,Isaiah 63:1; Isaiah 63:1. Sacrifices were intended for the honour of God, to make it appear that he hates sin and demands satisfaction for it, and that nothing but blood will make atonement; and for these ends the slaughter is made, that in it the wrath of God may be revealed from heaven against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, especially their ungodly unrighteous enmity to his people, which was the sin that the Edomites were notoriously guilty of. In great sacrifices abundance of beasts were killed, hecatombs offered, and their blood poured out before the altar; and so will it be in this day of the Lord's vengeance. And thus would the whole earth have been soaked with the blood of sinners if Jesus Christ, the great propitiation, had not shed his blood for us; but those who reject him, and will not make a covenant with God by that sacrifice, will themselves fall as victims to divine wrath. Damned sinners are everlasting sacrifices, Mark 9:48; Mark 9:49. Those that sacrifice not (which is the character of the ungodly, Ecclesiastes 9:2) must be sacrificed. 6. These slain shall be detestable to mankind, and shall be as much their loathing as ever they were their terror (Isaiah 34:3; Isaiah 34:3): They shall be cast out, and none shall pay them the respect of a decent burial; but their stink shall come up out of their carcases, that all people by the odious smell, as well as by the ghastly sight, may be made to conceive an indignation against sin and a dread of the wrath of God. They lie unburied, that they may remain monuments of divine justice. 7. The effect and consequence of this slaughter shall be universal confusion and desolation, as if the whole frame of nature were dissolved and melted down (Isaiah 34:4; Isaiah 34:4): All the host of heaven shall pine and waste away (so the word is); the sun shall be darkened, and the moon look black, or be turned into blood; the heavens themselves shall be rolled together as a scroll or parchment when we have done with it, and lay it by, or as when it is shrivelled up by the heat of the fire. The stars shall fall as the leaves in autumn; all the beauty, joy, and comfort, of the vanquished nation shall be lost and done away, magistracy and government shall be abolished, and all dominion and rule, but that of the sword of war, shall fall. Conquerors, in those times, affected to lay waste the countries they conquered; and such a complete desolation is here described by such figurative expressions as will yet have a literal and full accomplishment in the dissolution of all things at the end of time, of which last day of judgment the judgments which God does now sometimes remarkably execute on sinful nations are figures, earnests, and forerunners; and by these we should be awakened to think of that, for which reason these expressions are used here and Revelation 6:12; Revelation 6:13. But they are used without a metaphor, 2 Peter 3:10, where we are told that the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the earth shall be burnt up.