Isaiah 34:6

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

it is covered ¹  with fat;

it drips ²  with the blood of young rams and goats

and is covered ³  with the fat of rams’ kidneys.

For the Lord is holding a sacrifice ⁴  in Bozrah, ⁵ 

a bloody ⁶  slaughter in the land of Edom.

Isaiah 63:1

The Victorious Divine Warrior

63:1 Who is this who comes from Edom, ⁷ 

dressed in bright red, coming from Bozrah? ⁸ 

Who ⁹  is this one wearing royal attire, ¹⁰ 

who marches confidently ¹¹  because of his great strength?

“It is I, the one who announces vindication,

and who is able to deliver!” ¹² 

Jeremiah 49:13

49:13 For I solemnly swear,” ¹³  says the Lord, “that Bozrah ¹⁴  will become a pile of ruins. It will become an object of horror and ridicule, an example to be used in curses. ¹⁵  All the towns around it will lie in ruins forever.”

Jeremiah 49:22

49:22 Look! Like an eagle with outspread wings,

a nation will soar up and swoop down on Bozrah.

At that time the soldiers of Edom will be as fearful

as a woman in labor.” ¹⁶ 

Amos 1:12

1:12 So I will set Teman ¹⁷  on fire;

fire ¹⁸  will consume Bozrah’s ¹⁹  fortresses.”

Micah 2:12

The Lord Will Restore His People

2:12 I will certainly gather all of you, O Jacob,

I will certainly assemble those Israelites who remain. ²⁰ 

I will bring them together like sheep in a fold, ²¹ 

like a flock in the middle of a pasture; ²² 

they will be so numerous that they will make a lot of noise. ²³ 

[34:6]  ¹ tn The verb is a rare Hotpaal passive form. See GKC 150 §54.h.

[34:6]  ² tn The words “it drips” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[34:6]  ³ tn The words “and is covered” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[34:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “for there is a sacrifice to the Lord.”

[34:6]  ⁵ sn The Lord’s judgment of Edom is compared to a bloody sacrificial scene.

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

[63:1]  ⁷ sn Edom is here an archetype for the Lord’s enemies. See 34:5.

[63:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “[in] bright red garments, from Bozrah.”

[63:1]  ⁹ tn The interrogative particle is understood by ellipsis; note the first line of the verse.

[63:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “honored in his clothing”; KJV, ASV “glorious in his apparel.”

[63:1]  ¹¹ tc The Hebrew text has צָעָה (tsa’ah), which means “stoop, bend” (51:14). The translation assumes an emendation to צָעַד (tsa’ad, “march”; see BDB 858 s.v. צָעָה).

[63:1]  ¹² tn Heb “I, [the one] speaking in vindication [or “righteousness”], great to deliver.”

[49:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “I swear by myself.” See 22:5 and the study note there.

[49:13]  ¹⁴ sn Bozrah appears to have been the chief city in Edom, its capital city (see its parallelism with Edom in Isa 34:6; 63:1; Jer 49:22). The reference to “its towns” (translated here “all the towns around it”) could then be a reference to all the towns in Edom. It was located about twenty-five miles southeast of the southern end of the Dead Sea apparently in the district of Teman (see the parallelism in Amos 1:12).

[49:13]  ¹⁵ tn See the study note on 24:9 for the rendering of this term.

[49:22]  ¹⁶ sn Compare Jer 48:40-41 for a similar prophecy about Moab. The parallelism here suggests that Bozrah, like Teman in v. 20, is a poetic equivalent for Edom.

[1:12]  ¹⁷ sn Teman was an important region (or perhaps city) in Edom.

[1:12]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “it”; the referent (the fire mentioned in the previous line) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:12]  ¹⁹ sn Bozrah was a city located in northern Edom.

[2:12]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the remnant of Israel.”

[2:12]  ²¹ tc The MT reads בָּצְרָה (batsrah, “Bozrah”) but the form should be emended to בַּצִּרָה (batsirah, “into the fold”). See D. R. Hillers, Micah (Hermeneia), 38.

[2:12]  ²² tc The MT reads “its pasture,” but the final vav (ו) belongs with the following verb. See GKC 413 §127.i.

[2:12]  ²³ tn Heb “and they will be noisy [or perhaps, “excited”] from men.” The subject of the third feminine plural verb תְּהִימֶנָה (tÿhimenah, “they will be noisy”) is probably the feminine singular צֹאן (tso’n, “flock”). (For another example of this collective singular noun with a feminine plural verb, see Gen 30:38.) In the construction מֵאָדָם (me’adam, “from men”) the preposition is probably causal. L. C. Allen translates “bleating in fear of men” (Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah [NICOT], 300), but it is possible to take the causal sense as “because of the large quantity of men.” In this case the sheep metaphor and the underlying reality are mixed.