Study Desk

You nations, come here and listen; you peoples, pay attention!^(a) Let the earth hear, and all that fills it, the world and all that comes from it.^(b)

The Lord is angry with all the nations— furious with all their armies.^(c) He will set them apart for destruction,^(d) giving them over to slaughter.

Their slain will be thrown out, and the stench of their corpses will rise;^(e) the mountains will flow^[a] with their blood.^(f)

All^[b] the heavenly bodies^(g) will dissolve. The skies will roll up like a scroll,^(h) and their stars will all wither as leaves wither on the vine, and foliage on the fig tree.⁽ⁱ⁾

When My sword has drunk its fill^[c](j) in the heavens, it will then come down on Edom^(k) and on the people I have set apart for destruction.

The Lord 's sword is covered with blood. It drips with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams.^(l) For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,^(m) a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

The wild oxen will be struck^[d] down with them, and young bulls with the mighty bulls. Their land will be soaked with^[e] blood, and their soil will be saturated with fat.

For the Lord has a day of vengeance,⁽ⁿ⁾ a time of paying back Edom for its hostility against Zion.

Edom's streams will be turned into pitch, her soil into sulfur;^(o) her land will become burning pitch.

It will never go out—day or night. Its smoke will go up forever.^(p) It will be desolate, from generation to generation; no one will pass through it forever and ever.^(q)

The desert owl^[f] and the screech owl^[g] will possess it, and the great owl and the raven will dwell there.^(r) The Lord will stretch out a measuring line and a plumb line over her for her destruction and chaos.^(s)

No nobles will be left to proclaim a king, and all her princes will come to nothing.

Her palaces will be overgrown with thorns; her fortified cities, with thistles and briers.^(t) She will become a dwelling for jackals, an abode^[h] for ostriches.^(u)

The desert creatures will meet hyenas, and one wild goat will call to another. Indeed, the screech owl will stay there and will find a resting place for herself.

The sand partridge^[i] will make her nest there; she will lay and hatch her eggs and will gather her brood under her shadow. Indeed, the birds of prey will gather there, each with its mate.^(v)

Search and read the scroll of the Lord :^(w) Not one of them will be missing, none will be lacking its mate, because He has ordered it by my^[j] mouth, and He will gather them by His Spirit.

He has ordained a lot for them; His hand allotted their portion with a measuring line. They will possess it forever;^(x) they will dwell in it from generation to generation.

The wilderness and the dry land will be glad; the desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose.^[a][b](a)

It will blossom abundantly and will also rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon.^(b) They will see the glory of the Lord ,^(c) the splendor of our God.^(d)

Strengthen the weak hands, steady the shaking knees!^(e)

Say to the cowardly: "Be strong; do not fear! Here is your God; vengeance is coming.^(f) God's retribution is coming; He will save you."^(g)

Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped.^(h)

Then the lame will leap like a deer,⁽ⁱ⁾ and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy,^(j) for water will gush in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;^(k)

the parched ground will become a pool of water, and the thirsty land springs of water.^(l) In the haunt of jackals,^(m) in their lairs, there will be grass, reeds, and papyrus.

A road will be there and a way;⁽ⁿ⁾ it will be called the Holy Way.^(o) The unclean will not travel on it,^(p) but it will be for the one who walks the path.^(q) Even the fool will not go astray.

There will be no lion there, and no vicious beast will go up on it; they will not be found there. But the redeemed will walk on it,

and the redeemed of the Lord will return^(r) and come to Zion with singing, crowned with unending joy. Joy and gladness will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.^(s)