Isaiah 34:9-12

34:9 Edom’s ¹  streams will be turned into pitch

and her soil into brimstone;

her land will become burning pitch.

34:10 Night and day it will burn; ² 

its smoke will ascend continually.

Generation after generation it will be a wasteland

and no one will ever pass through it again.

34:11 Owls and wild animals ³  will live there, ⁴ 

all kinds of wild birds ⁵  will settle in it.

The Lord ⁶  will stretch out over her

the measuring line of ruin

and the plumb line ⁷  of destruction. ⁸ 

34:12 Her nobles will have nothing left to call a kingdom

and all her officials will disappear. ⁹ 

[34:9]  ¹ tn Heb “her”; the referent (Edom) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:10]  ² tn Heb “it will not be extinguished.”

[34:11]  ³ tn קָאַת (qa’at) refers to some type of bird (cf. Lev 11:18; Deut 14:17) that was typically found near ruins (see Zeph 2:14). קִפּוֹד (qippod) may also refer to a type of bird (NAB “hoot owl”; NIV “screech owl”; TEV “ravens”), but some have suggested a rodent may be in view (cf. NCV “small animals”; ASV “porcupine”; NASB, NRSV “hedgehog”).

[34:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “will possess it” (so NIV).

[34:11]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text has יַנְשׁוֹף וְעֹרֵב (yanshof vÿ’orev). Both the יַנְשׁוֹף (“owl”; see Lev 11:17; Deut 14:16) and עֹרֵב (“raven”; Lev 11:15; Deut 14:14) were types of wild birds.

[34:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “stones,” i.e., the stones used in a plumb bob.

[34:11]  ⁸ sn The metaphor in v. 11b emphasizes that God has carefully planned Edom’s demise.

[34:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “will be nothing”; NCV, TEV, NLT “will all be gone.”