Isaiah 34:7-9
The Voice
7 And great wild cattle will be slaughtered
along with them—bulls, oxen, and steers—
Until their land is soggy with blood and oozes with their fat.
8 For the Eternal has determined a time for retaliation,
a time to vindicate Zion, ravaged by Babylon and Edom.
The Edomites take advantage of Judah during the Babylonian conquest. Like parasites they eat away at the land, the strength, and the resources of Judah. Edom is a place of incorrigible violence, filled with devastating evils. In a word, Edom has become like Sodom and Gomorrah. God cannot let that stand, so He comes to vindicate His covenant people. The image Isaiah paints here of Edom and its grim future is hellish. The great, bustling civilization of Edom is reduced to nothing and eventually annihilated; its land becomes a wasteland, the haunt of fearsome desert creatures.
9 Edom’s waters will be made thick and black as oily pitch.
Its dust will turn to brimstone, and the land will ignite with burning pitch.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
