34:1 Come near, ye a nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people:
let the earth hear, and all that is in it; the world, and
all things that spring from it.
(a) He prophecies of the destruction of the Edomites and
other nations which were enemies to the Church.
34:2 For the indignation of the LORD [is] upon all nations, and
[his] fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly b
destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter.
(b) God has determined in his counsel and has given
sentence for their destruction.
34:4 And all the host of heaven c shall be dissolved, and the
heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their
hosts shall fall down, as the leaf falleth from the vine,
and as a falling [fig] from the fig tree.
(c) He speaks this in respect to man's judgment, who in
great fear and horrible troubles, think that heaven and
earth perishes.
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.
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.
34:7 And the h unicorns shall come down with them, and the
bulls with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with
blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.
(h) The mighty and rich will be as well destroyed as the
inferiors.
34:9 And its streams shall be turned into pitch, and its dust
into i brimstone, and its land shall become burning
pitch.
(i) He alludes to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah,
(Ge 19:24).
34:11 But the cormorant k 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 l confusion, and the
stones of emptiness.
(k) Read (Isa 13:21, Zep 2:14).
(l) In vain will any man go about to build it again.
34:12m They shall call her nobles to the kingdom, but none
[shall be] there, and all her princes shall be nothing.
(m) Meaning, here will be neither order nor policy nor
state of commonwealth.
34:14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also n meet with the
wild beasts of the isle, and the satyr shall cry to his
fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find
for herself a place of rest.
34:15 There o 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.
(o) Signifying that Idumea would be a horrible desolation
and barren wilderness.
34:16 Seek ye out of the p book of the LORD, and read: no one
of q these shall fail, none shall lack her mate: for my
r mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath
gathered them.
(p) That is, in the law where such curses are threatened
against the wicked.
(q) That is, beasts and souls.
(r) That is, the mouth of the Lord.
34:17 And he hath cast the s lot for them, and his hand hath
divided it to them by line: they shall possess it for
ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell in
it.
(s) He has given the beasts and souls Idumea for an
inheritance.
