Isaiah

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.

1Come close and listen, all you nations. Pay attention, all you peoples. Let the earth listen, and everything in it, the whole world and all that grows from it.

2For 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.

2The LORD is angry with all the nations. He is furious with all their armies. He has marked them for destruction and handed them over to be killed.

3Their 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.

3Their dead bodies will be thrown out and left lying there. The smell will rise from them, and the mountains will run with their blood.

4And 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.

4All the stars in the sky will melt away. The sky will be rolled up like a scroll. The stars will drop like dead leaves off a vine, like shriveled figs off a fig tree.

5For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.

5God says: My sword has drunk its fill in the sky. Now watch it come down on Edom, on the people I have marked for destruction.

NoteThe KJV says "Idumea," which is the Greek form of Edom. Edom was the nation just southeast of Judah, and the two had a long history of fighting.

6The 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.

6The LORD's sword is soaked in blood and dripping with fat. It is covered with the blood of lambs and goats and the fat from the kidneys of rams. The LORD has an offering to make in the city of Bozrah, and a great killing in the land of Edom.

7And 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.

7The wild oxen will fall along with them, and the young bulls with the strong ones. Their land will be drenched with blood, and their soil soaked with fat.

NoteThe KJV says "unicorns." The Hebrew word means a wild ox, a huge and powerful animal that no longer exists. It has nothing to do with the one-horned horse of storybooks.

8For it is the day of the LORD’s vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.

8This is the day the LORD pays back what is owed. It is the year He settles the case for Zion.

9And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.

9Edom's streams will turn into tar and her soil into sulfur. Her whole land will become burning tar.

10It 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.

10The fire will not go out, night or day. Its smoke will rise forever. The land will lie empty for all time, and no one will ever travel through it again.

11But 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.

11Desert owls and screech owls will take it over. Great owls and ravens will live there. God will stretch a measuring line over it to mark it out for ruin and emptiness.

12They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing.

12No leaders will be left there to crown a king. All her princes will come to nothing.

13And 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.

13Thorns will grow up through her palaces. Weeds and briers will fill her strong towers. It will become a home for jackals and a place for ostriches.

14The 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.

14Desert creatures will meet up with hyenas, and wild goats will call to each other. The night creature will settle down there and find a place to rest.

NoteThe KJV says "satyr," a word that meant a goat-like creature. The Hebrew word simply means a shaggy wild goat.

15There 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.

15There the owl will build her nest. She will lay her eggs, hatch them, and gather her young under her wings. Birds of prey will gather there too, each one with its mate.

16Seek 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.

16Look in the LORD's book and read it. Not one of these creatures will be missing, and none will be without its mate. God Himself gave the order, and His Spirit will bring them together.

Note"None shall want her mate" means none will lack a mate. In 1611, "want" meant to be missing something, not to wish for it.

17And 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.

17He has divided the land among them, marking out each share with His own hand. They will own it forever and live there from one generation to the next.