Ezekiel 21:30

21:30 Return it to its sheath! ¹ 

In the place where you were created, ² 

in your native land, I will judge you.

Isaiah 34:3-7

34:3 Their slain will be left unburied, ³ 

their corpses will stink; ⁴ 

the hills will soak up their blood. ⁵ 

34:4 All the stars in the sky will fade away, ⁶ 

the sky will roll up like a scroll;

all its stars will wither,

like a leaf withers and falls from a vine

or a fig withers and falls from a tree. ⁷ 

34:5 He says, ⁸  “Indeed, my sword has slaughtered heavenly powers. ⁹ 

Look, it now descends on Edom, ¹⁰ 

on the people I will annihilate in judgment.”

34:6 The Lord’s sword is dripping with blood,

it is covered ¹¹  with fat;

it drips ¹²  with the blood of young rams and goats

and is covered ¹³  with the fat of rams’ kidneys.

For the Lord is holding a sacrifice ¹⁴  in Bozrah, ¹⁵ 

a bloody ¹⁶  slaughter in the land of Edom.

34:7 Wild oxen will be slaughtered ¹⁷  along with them,

as well as strong bulls. ¹⁸ 

Their land is drenched with blood,

their soil is covered with fat.

[21:30]  ¹ sn Once the Babylonian king’s sword (vv. 19-20) has carried out its assigned task, the Lord commands it to halt and announces that Babylon itself will also experience his judgment. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:28.

[21:30]  ² tn In the Hebrew text of vv. 30-32 the second person verbal and pronominal forms are feminine singular. This may indicate that the personified Babylonian sword is being addressed. The Hebrew word for “sword” (see v. 28) is feminine. However, it may refer to the Ammonites.

[34:3]  ³ tn Heb “will be cast aside”; NASB, NIV “thrown out.”

[34:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “[as for] their corpses, their stench will arise.”

[34:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “hills will dissolve from their blood.”

[34:4]  ⁶ tc Heb “and all the host of heaven will rot.” The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a inserts “and the valleys will be split open,” but this reading may be influenced by Mic 1:4. On the other hand, the statement, if original, could have been omitted by homoioarcton, a scribe’s eye jumping from the conjunction prefixed to “the valleys” to the conjunction prefixed to the verb “rot.”

[34:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “like the withering of a leaf from a vine, and like the withering from a fig tree.”

[34:5]  ⁸ tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The Lord speaks at this point.

[34:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “indeed [or “for”] my sword is drenched in the heavens.” The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has תראה (“[my sword] appeared [in the heavens]”), but this is apparently an attempt to make sense out of a difficult metaphor. Cf. NIV “My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens.”

[34:5]  ¹⁰ sn Edom is mentioned here as epitomizing the hostile nations that oppose God.

[34:6]  ¹¹ tn The verb is a rare Hotpaal passive form. See GKC 150 §54.h.

[34:6]  ¹² tn The words “it drips” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[34:6]  ¹³ tn The words “and is covered” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[34:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “for there is a sacrifice to the Lord.”

[34:6]  ¹⁵ sn The Lord’s judgment of Edom is compared to a bloody sacrificial scene.

[34:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “great” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[34:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “will go down”; NAB “shall be struck down.”

[34:7]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and bulls along with strong ones.” Perhaps this refers to the leaders.