Background
Chapters 34 and 35 are a matched pair, the dark and the bright sides of the same day. Chapter 34 describes the Lord’s judgment on the nations, represented by Edom (also called Idumea). Chapter 35 describes the redemption of Zion, with the desert blossoming and the ransomed returning home with songs.
Edom was the nation descended from Esau, Jacob’s twin brother, living south of the Dead Sea. The two nations had a long history of hostility, and Edom took gleeful advantage when Jerusalem fell to Babylon (Ps. 137:7; Obad. 1:10–14). In the prophets, Edom became a symbol of all the nations that oppose God’s people.
The Lord uses the same symbolism in modern revelation. He speaks of the day when He “shall come down in judgment upon Idumea, or the world” (D&C 1:36).
The thread through the chapter
Isaiah 34 is about the undoing of a world that set itself against God, and it is written in the language of creation run in reverse.
It begins with a summons to “all nations” (verse 1). The Lord’s anger is against all their armies (verse 2). Then the cosmos itself begins to dissolve: “the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll,” and the stars fall like withered leaves or unripe figs (verse 4).
Then the focus narrows to Edom/Idumea (verses 5–7). The Lord’s sword, “bathed in heaven,” comes down on the land, and Isaiah describes the judgment as a great sacrifice in Bozrah, Edom’s chief city. It is “the day of the LORD’s vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion” (verse 8).
The rest of the chapter (verses 9–17) describes a land returned to chaos. Streams turn to pitch, smoke rises forever, and the Lord stretches over it “the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness” (verse 11). Those are the same two Hebrew words, tohu and bohu, used for the earth “without form, and void” before creation (Gen. 1:2). The palaces become homes for owls, jackals, and vultures.
And then, an unexpected line: “Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read” (verse 16). Every creature listed will be there, just as God said. His word is precise and certain.
The world that fought against Zion is uncreated. But this is only half the story. The next chapter turns the wilderness into a garden.
Tap any highlighted phrase to open a note beneath its versein the margin.
The nations summoned
Come near, you nations, and listen! Pay attention, you peoples! Let the earth hear, and everything in it, the world and all that comes from it. The Lord is angry with all nations; His wrath is on all their armies. He will totally destroy them and hand them over to slaughter. Their dead will be thrown out, their corpses will stink, and the mountains will be soaked with their blood. All the stars in the sky will dissolve, and the heavens will be rolled up like a scroll. All the stars will fall like withered leaves from a vine or shriveled figs from a fig tree.
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.
The sword comes down on Edom
My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens. Look, it comes down in judgment on Edom, the people I have totally condemned. The Lord’s sword is covered with blood and fat, the blood of lambs and goats, the fat of rams’ kidneys. For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah and a great slaughter in Edom. Wild oxen will fall with them, bull calves and great bulls. Their land will be drenched with blood, and the dust soaked with fat. For the Lord has a day of vengeance, a year of retribution to uphold Zion’s cause.
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.
A land returned to chaos
Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch and its dust into burning sulfur; its land will become blazing pitch. It will not be quenched night or day; its smoke will rise forever. From generation to generation it will lie desolate; no one will ever pass through it again. The desert owl and the screech owl will possess it; the great owl and the raven will nest there. God will stretch out over Edom the measuring line of chaos and the plumb line of emptiness. Its nobles will have nothing there to call a kingdom, and all its princes will vanish. Thorns will overrun its citadels, nettles and brambles its strongholds. It will become a haunt for jackals and a home for owls. Desert creatures will meet with hyenas, and wild goats will bleat to each other. There the night creature will settle and find a place to rest. The owl will nest there, lay eggs, hatch them, and care for her young under the shadow of her wings. There the vultures will gather, each with its mate. Look in the scroll of the Lord and read: none of these will be missing, not one will lack its mate. For it is His mouth that has given the order, and His Spirit will gather them together. He assigns them their portions; His hand distributes the land to them by measure. They will possess it forever and live there from generation to generation.
9 And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.
10 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.
11 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.
12 They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing.
13 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.
14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also 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.
15 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.
16 Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them.
17 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 shall they dwell therein.
Seeing Christ in Isaiah 34
The one who comes in judgment on Edom is Jesus Christ, whom Isaiah will later see coming “from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah” (Isa. 63:1; D&C 133:46–51). He is the Judge of all nations (verse 1; John 5:22). The phrase “the day of the LORD’s vengeance” (verse 8) was so clearly His that at Nazareth He deliberately stopped reading before it, because His first coming was for mercy (Luke 4:18–20).
Isaiah 34 is dark, but it exists so that Isaiah 35 can follow. The same Lord who uncreates the world that opposes Him re-creates the desert into a garden for His redeemed.
Liken it to yourself
- Edom descends from Esau, who traded his birthright for a meal. What “birthright” might I be tempted to trade for something immediate?
- Verse 16 invites me to “seek… out of the book of the LORD, and read.” How could I search the scriptures this week more like an investigator checking the record, and less like a casual reader?
- The Lord keeps His word down to the last owl. What promise from the Lord do I need to trust more fully?
Worth exploring next
- Idumea. Read D&C 1:35–36, then Isaiah 34 and Isa. 63:1–6. How does the Doctrine and Covenants shape how we read these chapters?
- The day of vengeance. Compare Isa. 34:8, Isa. 61:1–2, Isa. 63:4, and Luke 4:16–21. Why might Jesus have stopped where He did?
- Chapters 34 and 35 together. Read both chapters in one sitting. Notice how the wilderness of chapter 34 becomes the blossoming desert of chapter 35.
Sources & further reading
- “Edom”, Bible Dictionary.
- “Idumea”, Bible Dictionary.
- Chapter 15: Prophecies of the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times (Isaiah 24–35), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).
- John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, New International Commentary on the Old Testament, 2 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986–1998.