Isaiah · Bible in Basic English
Isaiah 34 Bible in Basic English
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 Come near, you nations, and give ear; take note, you peoples: let the earth and everything in it give ear; the world and all those living in it.
1 Come near, you nations, to hear! Listen, you peoples. Let the earth and all it contains hear, the world, and everything that comes from it.
2 For the Lord is angry with all the nations, and his wrath is burning against all their armies: he has put them to the curse, he has given them to destruction.
2 For Yahweh is enraged against all the nations, and angry with all their armies. He has utterly destroyed them. He has given them over for slaughter.
3 Their dead bodies will be thick on the face of the earth, and their smell will come up, and the mountains will be flowing with their blood, and all the hills will come to nothing.
3 Their slain will also be cast out, and the stench of their dead bodies will come up. The mountains will melt in their blood.
4 And the heavens will be rolled together like the roll of a book: and all their army will be gone, like a dead leaf from the vine, or a dry fruit from the fig-tree.
4 All of the army of the sky will be dissolved. The sky will be rolled up like a scroll, and all its armies will fade away, as a leaf fades from off a vine or a fig tree.
5 For my sword in heaven is full of wrath: see, it is coming down on Edom, in punishment on the people of my curse.
5 For my sword has drunk its fill in the sky. Behold, it will come down on Edom, and on the people of my curse, for judgment.
6 The sword of the Lord is full of blood, it is fat with the best of the meat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the best parts of the sheep: for the Lord has a feast in Bozrah, and much cattle will be put to death in the land of Edom.
6 Yahweh’s sword is filled with blood. It is covered with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams; for Yahweh has a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7 And the strong oxen will go down to death together with the smaller cattle.
7 The wild oxen will come down with them, and the young bulls with the mighty bulls; and their land will be drunken with blood, and their dust made greasy with fat.
8 For it is the day of the Lord's punishment, when he gives payment for the wrongs done to Zion.
8 For Yahweh has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
9 And its streams will be turned into boiling oil, and its dust into burning stone, and all the land will be on fire.
9 Its streams will be turned into pitch, its dust into sulfur, and its land will become burning pitch.
10 It will not be put out day or night; its smoke will go up for ever: it will be waste from generation to generation; no one will go through it for ever.
10 It won’t be quenched night or day. Its smoke will go up forever. From generation to generation, it will lie waste. No one will pass through it forever and ever.
11 But the birds of the waste land will have their place there; it will be a heritage for the bittern and the raven: and it will be measured out with line and weight as a waste land.
11 But the pelican and the porcupine will possess it. The owl and the raven will dwell in it. He will stretch the line of confusion over it, and the plumb line of emptiness.
12 The jackals will be there, and her great ones will be gone; they will say, There is no longer a kingdom there, and all her chiefs will have come to an end.
12 They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, but none shall be there; and all its princes shall be nothing.
13 And thorns will come up in her fair houses, and waste plants in her strong towers: and foxes will make their holes there, and it will be a meeting-place for ostriches.
13 Thorns will come up in its palaces, nettles and thistles in its fortresses; and it will be a habitation of jackals, a court for ostriches.
14 And the beasts of the waste places will come together with the jackals, and the evil spirits will be crying to one another, even the night-spirit will come and make her resting-place there.
14 The wild animals of the desert will meet with the wolves, and the wild goat will cry to his fellow. Yes, the night creature shall settle there, and shall find herself a place of rest.
15 The arrowsnake will make her hole and put her eggs there, and get her young together under her shade: there the hawks will come together by twos.
15 The arrow snake will make her nest there, and lay, hatch, and gather under her shade. Yes, the kites will be gathered there, every one with her mate.
16 See what is recorded in the book of the Lord: all these will be there, not one without the other: the mouth of the Lord has given the order, and his spirit has made them come together.
16 Search in the book of Yahweh, and read: not one of these will be missing. None will lack her mate. For my mouth has commanded, and his Spirit has gathered them.
17 And he has given them their heritage, and by his hand it has been measured out to them: it will be theirs for ever, their resting-place from generation to generation.
17 He has cast the lot for them, and his hand has divided it to them with a measuring line. They shall possess it forever. From generation to generation they will dwell in it.
Cross references (17)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 1 Corinthians 10:26; Isaiah 43:9; Isaiah 1:2; Isaiah 41:1; Micah 6:1–2
- 2 Zephaniah 3:8; Jeremiah 25:15–29; Amos 1:1–2; Joel 3:9–14; Zechariah 14:12–16
- 3 Joel 2:20; Ezekiel 39:4; Isaiah 34:7; 2 Kings 9:35–37; Jeremiah 8:1–2
- 4 Revelation 6:13–14; Matthew 24:29; Ezekiel 32:7–8; Joel 3:15; Psalm 102:25–26
- 5 Jeremiah 46:10; Isaiah 63:1; Malachi 1:4; Amos 1:11–12; Jeremiah 49:7–22
- 6 Isaiah 63:1; Jeremiah 49:13; Jeremiah 51:40; Deuteronomy 32:14; Jeremiah 50:27
- 7 Psalm 68:30; Numbers 23:22; Jeremiah 50:27; Jeremiah 50:11; Numbers 24:8
- 8 Isaiah 63:4; Isaiah 61:2; Isaiah 35:4; Jeremiah 46:10; Psalm 94:1
- 9 Deuteronomy 29:23; Revelation 21:8; Psalm 11:6; Luke 17:29; Revelation 19:20
- 10 Revelation 19:3; Isaiah 66:24; Malachi 1:3–4; Isaiah 13:20; Revelation 18:18
- 11 Lamentations 2:8; 2 Kings 21:13; Zephaniah 2:14; Revelation 18:2; Isaiah 14:23
- 12 Isaiah 3:6–8; Ecclesiastes 10:16–17; Isaiah 41:24; 2 Corinthians 12:11; 1 Corinthians 8:4
- 13 Jeremiah 9:11; Jeremiah 10:22; Malachi 1:3; Psalm 44:19; Hosea 9:6
- 14 Isaiah 13:21–22
- 15 Deuteronomy 14:13
- 16 Psalm 33:9; Joshua 1:8; Matthew 5:18; Isaiah 30:8; Psalm 33:6
- 17 Isaiah 34:10; Acts 17:26; Jeremiah 13:25; Isaiah 17:14; Psalm 78:55
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
Yea, both heaven and earth shall pass away, but Thy Words shall not pass away. Because the scroll shall be rolled together, and the grass over which it was spread shall with its goodliness pass away; but Thy Word remaineth for ever, which now appeareth unto us in the dark image of the clouds, and through the glass of the …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
Listen to Esaias, saying, And the heaven shall be rolled together as a scroll; and all the stars shall fall, as leaves from a vine, and as leaves fall from a fig-tree.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)