Chapter 34
34:1 Come near, you Gentiles, and hear, and hearken, you people: let the earth hear, and its fullness, the world, and every thing that comes forth of it.
34:2 For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he has killed them, and delivered them to slaughter.
34:3 Their slain shall be cast forth, and out of their carcasses shall rise a stink: the mountains shall be melted with their blood.
34:4 And all the host of the heavens shall pine away, and the heavens shall be folded together as a book: and all their host shall fall down as the leaf falls from the vine, and from the fig tree.
34:5 For my sword is inebriated in heaven: behold it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my slaughter unto judgment.
34:6 The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made thick with the blood of lambs and buck goats, with the blood of rams full of marrow: for there is a victim of the Lord in Bosra and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
34:7 And the unicorns shall go down with them, and the bulls with the mighty: their land shall be soaked with blood, and their ground with the fat of fat ones.
34:8 For it is the day of the vengeance of the Lord, the year of recompenses of the judgment of Zion.
34:9 And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the ground thereof into brimstone: and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.
34:10 Night and day it shall not be quenched, 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.
34:11 The bittern and hedgehog shall possess it: and the ibis and the raven shall dwell in it: and a line shall be stretched out upon it, to bring it to nothing, and a plummet, unto desolation.
34:12 The nobles thereof shall not be there: they shall call rather upon the king, and all the princes thereof shall be nothing.
34:13 And thorns and nettles shall grow up in its houses, and the thistle in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be the habitation of dragons, and the pasture of ostriches.
34:14 And demons and onocentaurs shall meet, and the hairy ones shall cry out one to another, there has the lamia lain down, and found rest for herself.
34:15 There has the hedgehog had its hole, and brought up its young ones, and has dug round about, and cherished them in the shadow thereof: thither are the kites gathered together one to another.
34:16 Search diligently in the book of the Lord, and read: not one of them was wanting, one has not sought for the other: for that which proceeds out of my mouth, he has commanded, and his spirit it has gathered them.
34:17 And he has cast the lot for them, and his hand has divided it to them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation they shall dwell therein.
734 . Come near, you Gentiles . In this part, he threatens those who were assistants to the Assyrians,
and first, he threatens all of them together;
second, he threatens the Idumeans in particular, where it says, behold it shall come down upon Idumea (Isa 34:5).
Concerning the first, he does two things.
First, he stirs up attention, setting out the order of attention, so that those approaching might come near, those nearby might hear, and those who hear might listen, below: give ear, you islands, and hearken, you people from afar (Isa 49:1). And he sets out the universality of those called together: let the earth hear ; and the world , as to those of middle rank, using the container to signify what it contains; the fullness , as to the great; every thing that comes forth of it , as to the lowly: he shows that he is prepared to announce to all, not that all are able to hear: the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof (Ps 23[24]:1).
735 . Second, he sets out the threatening: for the indignation , as to three things.
First, as to the destruction of their people, setting out the indignation of the judge, namely, God: the indignation of the Lord , above: this is the hand that is stretched out upon all nations (Isa 14:26); above: to destroy the nations unto nothing (Isa 30:28); the killing of men: he has killed them , by his authority, he delivered them , as if to say, he delivered them to others to be killed, as to executors: behold I will deliver the men, every one into his neighbor’s hand (Zech 11:6). And the throwing out of their corpses: their slain shall be cast forth , without burial: his stench shall ascend (Joel 2:20).
Second, as to the end of their tyrants: the mountains , that is, the tyrants, shall be melted with their blood , that is, because of the fault of shedding blood, below: the mountains would melt away at your presence (Isa 64:1).
Third, as to the destruction of their idols; and concerning this he does three things.
736 . And first, he shows that the help of idols will cease in wars: and all the host of the heavens , namely, of the air, that is, the demons; or, literally, the spirits, which, according to the opinion of the gentiles, governed the stars, shall pine away , above: the idols of Egypt shall be moved (Isa 19:1); and in counsels, namely, inasmuch as they divined from the stars; and the heavens shall be folded together , that is: just as no one can read what is in a closed book, so they will not be able to foresee in the heavens the evils coming to them: the heaven departed as a book folded up (Rev 6:14).
Second, he shows that worship of idols will cease: and all their host shall fall down , or the ease with which these prophecies will be fulfilled: the stars from heaven fell upon the earth (Rev 6:13).
Third, he shows the effect of both: for my sword , that is, my vengeance, is inebriated in heaven , that is, I have carried out vengeance on the demons abundantly: I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh (Deut 32:42).
737 . Behold it shall come down upon Idumea . Here he threatens the Idumeans in particular, who came with the enemies against Jerusalem, as it says in Obadiah 1:11: when strangers carried away his army captive . And concerning this, he does three things:
first, he threatens the slaughter of their men;
second, the destruction of their land: and the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch (Isa 34:9);
third, he sets out the confirmation of both of these threats, where it says, search diligently in the book of the Lord (Isa 34:16).
738 . Concerning the first, he does three things.
First, he describes the fairness of the punishment: behold it shall come down upon Idumea , to crush them; the people of my slaughter , deserving to be slaughtered by me: I have brought the destruction of Esau upon him (Jer 49:8).
Second, he describes the killing as to those of middle rank, setting out the diversity of those killed: the sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made thick with the blood of lambs and buck goats, with the blood of rams , through all of which are to be understood the various ranks of those killed: this is the sword of a great slaughter (Ezek 21:14); and the magnitude of the killing: there is a victim of the Lord in Bosra and a great slaughter in the land of Edom , that is, many animals are killed, as in a banquet of a great king: I slay for you a great victim (Ezek 39:17). And as to the great, setting out their killing: and the unicorns , a fierce animal the size of a cat, with one horn, and thus it signifies the powerful and monarchs, shall go down , into death, above: their strong ones, and their high and glorious ones shall go down into it (Isa 5:14); and the magnitude of the killing, their land shall be soaked with blood : the land was killed with blood (Ps 105[106]:38).
Third, he sets out the reason of the punishment: for it is the day of the vengeance of the Lord, the year of recompenses of the judgment of Zion , namely, that Zion be vindicated against the Idumeans, below: the day of vengeance is in my heart, the year of my redemption is come (Isa 63:4); but, according to the Gloss: the judgment of Zion , that is, against Zion; hence it explains everything that follows as concerning the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans.
739 . And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch . Here he sets out the threat as to the destruction of the land. And concerning this he does three things:
first, he foretells the destruction;
second, the desolation of the destroyed land: it shall lie waste (Isa 34:10);
third, the horror of its desolation: and it shall be the habitation of dragons (Isa 34:13).
Concerning the first, he sets out two things:
first, the destruction: shall be turned into , that is, the whole land shall be so burned up by their enemies, as if the water were pitch and the land brimstone: fire and brimstone, and storms of winds (Ps 10:7[11:6]).
Second, he places the duration of the punishment: it shall not be quenched , that is, the effect of this fire will remain forever; smoke , the sign and memory of preceding fire: her smoke ascends for ever and ever (Rev 19:3); and this is to be understood as being while the cause of the threat remains, namely, sin: for thus all prophecies of this sort are to be explained conditionally inasmuch as the Lord himself explains himself: I will suddenly speak against a nation . . . If that nation against which I have spoken, shall repent of their evil, I also will repent of the evil that I have thought (Jer 18:7–8).
740 . It shall lie waste for ever and ever . Here he sets out the desolation of the land,
and first, he foretells the desolation itself as to inhabitants: it shall lie waste : he has made me desolate (Lam 1:13); as to travelers, none shall pass through it : no man shall abide there, nor son of man inhabit it (Jer 49:33). As to the free habitation of beasts: the bittern , which is the same as the pelican, shall possess it , as if without fear, and the ibis , a bird hostile to snakes: “ibex, ibicis” is a four-footed beast; “ibis, ibidis” is a bird, and the ibis is envious: the highest of them is the house of the heron . . . the rock is a refuge for the irchins (Ps 103[104]:17–18).
Second, he sets out the fairness of the desolation,
and first, the judgment of fairness: and a line shall be stretched upon it , the measure of the punishment against the measure of their fault, a plummet , the rule of the stone-cutter, above: in measure against measure (Isa 27:8);
second, he sets out the manner of judgment: the nobles thereof , in whom they boasted: I will take away out of the midst of you your proud boasters (Zeph 3:11). And thorns and nettles shall grow up in its houses , which they built so carefully, and the thistle , a kind of plant with many thorns, which sticks to cloaks, having broad leaves: nettles shall inherit their beloved silver, the bur shall be in their tabernacles (Hos 9:6), so that as much as she has glorified herself and lived in delicacies, so much torment shall she have (Rev 18:7).
741 . And it shall be the habitation of dragons . Here he shows the horror of the desolation from the monsters which dwelt there: demons , monsters of demons, which appear most in deserts; onocentaur , which is half ass and half ox, or this is the illusion of a demon rather than a natural animal; the hairy ones , an ape, or a wild man, or a demon incubus; lamia , having the feet of a horse and the other members of a woman; cried out one to another , above: wild beasts shall rest there (Isa 13:21).
742 . Search . Here he confirms all that was said by the authority of divine inspiration: search , you who are to come, in the book of the Lord , that is, in this book, which I learned from the Lord; not one of them was wanting , that is, all the monsters I have named will be there; one has not sought for the other , that is, the male for the female; his spirit it has gathered them , namely, the monsters, male and female. And he has cast the lot for them , distributing to each suitable places to stay: heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away (Luke 21:33). Or, if this is explained as concerning Judea, these various monsters are understood to be the various errors of the gentiles, who were placed there as colonists by the Romans.
743 . Man comes near to God (see Isa 34:1),
through the reception of grace: we have access through him (Rom 5:2);
through the contemplation of divine wisdom: come to God and be enlightened (Ps 33:6[35:5]);
through the ministry of obedience: the sons of Sadoc, who among the sons of Levi, come near to the Lord, to minister to him (Ezek 40:6);
through the expectation of firm confidence: come to her as one that ploughs, and sows (Sir 6:19);
through the spirit of concord: you have access in one Spirit to the Father (Eph 2:18).