The Lord Will Judge the Nations
1Nations, come near and listen to me!
Pay attention to what I’m about to say.
Let the earth and everything in it listen.
Let the world and everything that comes out of it pay attention.
2The Lord is angry with all the nations.
His anger is against all their armies.
He will totally destroy them.
He will have them killed.
3Those who are killed won’t be buried.
Their dead bodies will be thrown on the ground.
They will stink.
Their blood will cover the mountains.
4All the stars in the sky will vanish.
The heavens will be rolled up like a scroll.
All the stars in the sky will fall like dried-up leaves from a vine.
They will drop like wrinkled figs from a fig tree.
5The sword of the Lord will finish its deadly work in the sky.
Then it will come down to strike Edom.
He will totally destroy that nation.
6His sword will be red with blood.
It will be covered with fat.
The blood will flow like the blood
of lambs and goats being sacrificed.
The fat will be like the fat
taken from the kidneys of rams.
That’s because the Lord will offer a sacrifice
in the city of Bozrah.
He will kill many people in the land of Edom.
7The people and their leaders will be killed
like wild oxen and young bulls.
Their land will be wet with their blood.
The dust will be covered with their fat.
8That’s because the Lord has set aside a day to pay Edom back.
He has set aside a year to pay them back. He will pay them back for what they did to Zion.
9The streams of Edom will be turned into tar.
Its dust will be turned into blazing sulfur.
Its land will become burning tar.
10The fire will keep burning night and day.
It can’t be put out.
Its smoke will go up forever.
Edom will lie empty for all time to come.
No one will ever travel through it again.
11The desert owl and screech owl will make it their home.
The great owl and the raven will build their nests there.
God will use his measuring line
to show how completely Edom will be destroyed.
He will use his plumb line
to show how empty Edom will become.
12Edom’s nobles won’t have anything left there
that can be called a kingdom.
All its princes will vanish.
13Thorns will cover its forts.
Bushes and weeds will cover its safest places.
It will become a home for wild dogs.
It will become a place where owls live.
14Desert creatures will meet with hyenas.
Wild goats will call out to each other.
Night creatures will also lie down there.
They will find places where they can rest.
15Owls will make their nests and lay their eggs there.
And they will hatch them.
They will take care of their little ones
under the shadow of their wings.
Male and female falcons will also gather there.
16Look in the book of the Lord. Here is what you will read there.
None of those animals will be missing.
Male and female alike will be there.
The Lord himself has commanded it.
And his Spirit will gather them together.
17The Lord will decide what part of the land goes to each animal.
Then he will give each one its share.
It will belong to them forever.
And they will live there for all time to come.
審判列國
1列國啊，近前來聽吧！
列邦啊，留心聽吧！
大地和地上的萬物、世界和世上的一切都要聽。
2因為耶和華向列國發怒，
向他們的軍隊發烈怒。
祂要毀滅他們，殺盡他們。
3他們必曝屍在外，
臭氣燻天，
血浸山嶺。
4天上的萬象必融化，
穹蒼像書卷捲起；
星辰隕落，
像凋零的葡萄葉，
又像枯落的無花果。
5耶和華的刀劍在天上飽飲了血後，
必降下來懲罰以東——祂決意要毀滅的民族。
6祂的刀沾滿了血和脂肪，
如同羊羔、公山羊的血和公綿羊腎臟上的脂肪。
因為耶和華要在波斯拉獻祭，
在以東大行殺戮。
7他們像野牛、牛犢和公牛一樣倒下。
他們的土地被血浸透，
土壤被脂肪覆蓋。
8因為這是耶和華報應的日子，
是祂為錫安報仇之年。
9以東的河流要變為瀝青，
土壤要變成硫磺，
大地要成為燃燒的瀝青，
10晝夜燃燒，濃煙滾滾，
永不止息。
以東必世世代代荒廢，
人蹤絕跡。
11鵜鶘和刺蝟必佔據那裡，
貓頭鷹和烏鴉必在那裡做窩。
耶和華要用準繩和線錘丈量以東，
使它空虛混沌。
12以東沒有一個顯貴可以做王，
那裡所有的首領全都消失。
13那裡的宮殿荊棘叢生，
蒺藜、刺草遍佈堅城，
成了野狗的巢穴和鴕鳥的住處。
14在那裡，豺狼和曠野的其他走獸出沒，
野山羊對叫，
夜間的怪物棲息，
找到安歇之處。
15貓頭鷹要在那裡做窩，
產卵，孵化，
把幼鳥保護在翅膀底下，
鷙鳥也成雙成對地聚集在那裡。
16你們要去查考、閱讀耶和華的書卷：
以上的動物一個也不會少，
無一缺少配偶。
因為這是耶和華親口說的，
祂的靈必把牠們聚在一起。
17祂親手為牠們抽籤，
用準繩為牠們分地。
牠們必永遠佔據那裡，
世世代代住在那裡。
