Isaiah 34:5-6 ASV

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 34:5-17

Edom as an example 34:5-17The prophet now introduced Edom, as a case in point, whose end would be typical of the whole earth (cf. Isaiah 11:14; Isaiah 63:1-6). If Edom alone had been in view, Isaiah probably would have dealt with it as he did the other nations in the oracles earlier in the book (chs. 13-23). But why Edom? The Old Testament consistently treats Edom as the antithesis of Israel (cf. Obad.). Isaac told Esau that he would live in an infertile area (Genesis 27:39-40)."Recollecting... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 34:6-7

Using sacrificial imagery, the Lord will seek what is peculiarly His in judgment. He will take what He alone has a right to take. Sin is a matter of life and death. All sin must be atoned for with sacrificial blood (cf. Leviticus 4:1-12; Isaiah 53). Those who repudiate the sacrifice of Christ for their sins will forfeit their own lives as sacrifices to God. A sacrifice is necessary, therefore, third, if the demands of divine holiness are to be met. No rebel would be spared. Bozrah... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 34:1-10

Sentence on the Nations. Blessings in Store for God’s PeopleThese chapters are now generally considered non-Isaianic and referred to the period of the exile, on two grounds: (a) the literary style is unlike Isaiah’s. (b) The strong feeling against Edom points to a date subsequent to the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, when the Edomites exulted in the city’s fall and sided against the Jews, conduct which provoked bitter resentment (Obadiah 1:10-16; Lamentations 4:21-22; Psalms... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 34:1-17

4. Cp. 1 Isaiah 3:10. 5. Shall be bathed] RV ’hath drunk its fill.’ Idumea] RV ’Edom.’6. Bozrah] a strongly fortified city of Edom (Isaiah 63:1; Amos 1:12; Jeremiah 49:13). See the same imagery Jeremiah 46:10. The men slain by divine vengeance are compared to beasts offered in sacrifice.7. Unicorns] RV ’wild-oxen.’ Come down] i.e. to the shambles. 8. Controversy] ’quarrel.’ The calamity of Edom is a punishment from Jehovah for its hostility to Zion.9, 10. Imagery suggested by the fate of Sodom... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 34:5

(5) My sword shall be bathed in heaven . . .—Literally, hath drunk to the full. The words find an echo in Deuteronomy 32:41-42, and Jeremiah 46:10. There, however, the sword is soaked, or made drunk with blood. Here it is “bathed in heaven,” and this seems to require a different meaning. We read in Greek poets, of the “dippings” by which steel was tempered. May not the “bathing” of Isaiah have a like significance?It shall come down upon Idumea . . .—Better, for Edom, . . . here and in the next... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 34:6

(6) The Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah . . .—Two cities of this name appear in history; one in the Haurân, more or less conspicuous in ecclesiastical history, and the other, of which Isaiah now speaks, in Edom. It was a strongly fortified city, and is named again and again. (Comp. Isaiah 63:1; Amos 1:12; Jeremiah 49:13; Jeremiah 49:22.) The image both of the sword and the sacrifice appears in Jeremiah 46:10. read more

Arno Clemens Gaebelein

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - Isaiah 34:1-17

CHAPTER 34 The Day of Jehovah 1. Addressed to the world: Jews and Gentiles involved (Isaiah 34:1 ) 2. The shaking of the earth and the heavens (Isaiah 34:2-8 ) 3. The day of vengeance (Isaiah 34:9-17 ) This is one of the darkest chapters in the Bible. A worldwide judgment is described such as has never taken place in the history of the world. The indignation of the Lord is then upon all nations and upon their armies. Like chapter 33, it tells of the great judgments to come. read more

John Calvin

Geneva Study Bible - Isaiah 34:5

34:5 For my sword shall be {d} bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Edom, and upon the people of {e} my curse, to judgment.(d) I have determined in my secret counsel and in the heavens to destroy them till my sword is weary with shedding blood.(e) They had an opinion of holiness, because they came from the patriarch Isaac, but in effect were cursed by God, and enemies to his Church as the papists are. read more

John Calvin

Geneva Study Bible - Isaiah 34:6

34:6 The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, [and] with the blood of {f} lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD hath a sacrifice in {g} Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.(f) That is, both of young and old, poor and rich of his enemies.(g) That famous city will be consumed as a sacrifice burnt to ashes. read more

James Gray

James Gray's Concise Bible Commentary - Isaiah 34:1-17

JUDAH AND EGYPT These chapters make a unit since, with the exception of the opening part of chapter 28, they chiefly deal with Judah’s futile alliance with Egypt. Isaiah 28:0 Israel, or the kingdom of the ten tribes, is addressed under the name of her leading tribe “Ephraim” (Isaiah 28:1 ). Her great sin is strong drink. “The head of the fat valley” is Samaria the capital, which is soon to be overthrown by the Assyrians (Isaiah 28:2-4 ). Observe, however, the usual forecast of the end of the... read more