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Isaiah

About this book
Chapter 34

1 Come near, you nations, and listen! Pay attention, you people! The earth and everything it contains must listen, the world and everything that lives in it. 2 For the Lord is angry at all the nations and furious with all their armies. He will annihilate them and slaughter them. 3 Their slain will be left unburied, their corpses will stink; the hills will soak up their blood. 4 All the stars in the sky will fade away,⁠ the sky will roll up like a scroll;⁠ all its stars will wither, like a leaf withers and falls from a vine or a fig withers and falls from a tree.⁠ 5 He says, “Indeed, my sword has slaughtered heavenly powers. Look, it now descends on Edom, on the people I will annihilate in judgment.” 6 The Lord’s sword is dripping with blood, it is covered with fat; it drips with the blood of young rams and goats and is covered with the fat of rams’ kidneys. For the Lord is holding a sacrifice in Bozrah,⁠ a bloody slaughter in the land of Edom.⁠ 7 Wild oxen will be slaughtered along with them, as well as strong bulls. Their land is drenched with blood, their soil is covered with fat. 8 For the Lord has planned a day of revenge, a time when he will repay Edom for her hostility toward Zion.⁠ 9 Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch⁠ and her soil into brimstone; her land will become burning pitch. 10 Night and day it will burn; its smoke will ascend continually.⁠ Generation after generation it will be a wasteland, and no one will ever pass through it again.⁠ 11 Owls and wild animals will live there, all kinds of wild birds will settle in it.⁠ The Lord will stretch out over her the measuring line of ruin and the plumb line of destruction. 12 Her nobles will have nothing left to call a kingdom, and all her officials will disappear. 13 Her fortresses will be overgrown with thorns; thickets and weeds will grow in her fortified cities. Jackals will settle there; ostriches will live there. 14 Wild animals and wild dogs will congregate there; wild goats will bleat to one another.⁠ Yes, nocturnal animals will rest there and make for themselves a nest. 15 Owls will make nests and lay eggs there; they will hatch them and protect them. Yes, hawks will gather there, each with its mate. 16 Carefully read the scroll of the Lord! Not one of these creatures will be missing, none will lack a mate. For the Lord has issued the decree, and his own Spirit gathers them. 17 He assigns them their allotment; he measures out their assigned place. They will live there permanently; they will settle in it through successive generations.

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 34:8 and Obadiah 1:15

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Obadiah declares a coming day of judgment against the nations for what they did to Judah. Isaiah 34 focuses this same theme on Edom, describing a day of vengeance and recompense for the cause of Zion.

Passages

Isaiah 34:8

Hebrew Bible
5 He says, “Indeed, my sword has slaughtered heavenly powers. Look, it now descends on Edom, on the people I will annihilate in judgment.” 6 The Lord’s sword is dripping with blood, it is covered with fat; it drips with the blood of young rams and goats and is covered with the fat of rams’ kidneys. For the Lord is holding a sacrifice in Bozrah, a bloody slaughter in the land of Edom. 7 Wild oxen will be slaughtered along with them, as well as strong bulls. Their land is drenched with blood, their soil is covered with fat. 8 For the Lord has planned a day of revenge, a time when he will repay Edom for her hostility toward Zion. 9 Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch and her soil into brimstone; her land will become burning pitch. 10 Night and day it will burn; its smoke will ascend continually. Generation after generation it will be a wasteland, and no one will ever pass through it again.
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

Obadiah 1:15

Hebrew Bible
13 You should not have entered the city of my people when they experienced distress. You should not have joined in gloating over their misfortune when they suffered distress. You should not have looted their wealth when they endured distress. 14 You should not have stood at the fork in the road to slaughter those trying to escape. You should not have captured their refugees when they suffered adversity. 15 “For the day of the Lord is approaching for all the nations! Just as you have done, so it will be done to you. You will get exactly what your deeds deserve. 16 For just as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so all the nations will drink continually. They will drink, and they will gulp down; they will be as though they had never been. 17 But on Mount Zion there will be a remnant of those who escape, and it will be a holy place once again. The descendants of Jacob will conquer those who had conquered them.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Obadiah

References

"... In chapter 34, the prophet begins by describing Yhwh's judgment of all the nations with sacrificial language (34:1–3). Drawing on the same vocabulary he used earlier in the chapter, Isaiah goes on to graphically depict the bloodbath that Edom will endure (34:6–7). The reason given for this judgment is stated plainly: "For a day of vengeance belongs to Yhwh, a year of recompense for Zion's lawsuit" (34:8). From this reconstruction we see, first, that Yhwh's "universal" wrath in 34:1–3 winnows down to focus on Edom in 34:5–10, arguably because Edom's experiences are a sample of all the nations' experiences. Second, Edom is presented explicitly as a parallel for the heavens in 34:5, where one would most naturally expect to find "earth," suggesting Isaiah may see the two as almost indistinct. ..."
Daniel Forbes, “The Intertextual Impact of Obadiah on the Writing Prophets” (MA diss., The Master's College, 2014), 57–59.
"... In these twin prophecies Yahweh causes a bloodbath in Bozrah, Edom. The majestic one exacts revenge: "Yahweh will have a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion" (Isaiah 34:8) and "the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of recompense has come" (63:4). According to chapter 34, the sword of Yahweh will descend from heaven, exterminate the citizens of Edom, and wild creatures will possess the land, a wasteland of pitch and brimstone. These prophecies call to mind Revelation 19:11–15, in which the righteous one will descend from heaven to wage war and tread the winepress of his wrath. ..."
Mark A. Hassler, “The Setting of Obadiah: When Does the Oracle Concerning Edom Transpire?” JETS 59.2 (2016): 252.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Isaiah 34:8 and Obadiah 1:15

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