1 Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it.
2 For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter.
3 Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.
4 And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.
5 For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.
6 The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.
7 And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.
8 For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.
9 And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.
10 It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.
11 But the cormorant 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 confusion, and the stones of emptiness.
12 They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing.
13 And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls.
14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest.
15 There 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.
16 Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them.
17 And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein.
<html><b>And all the host of heaven shall melt</b> They shall be frightened when I cast down the princes of the heathens.([Mss. yield:] the princes of the nations.) ([Warsaw edition:] of Assyria and Babylon.) <b>shall be rolled</b> (וְנָגֹלּוּ) an expression of rolling. And the heavens shall be rolled like a scroll. Jonathan renders: And they shall be erased from beneath the heavens, as it is stated about them in the Book. But I explain it according to the context, for now, the kingdoms of the Ishmaelites (the nations [ms.]) (the wicked [Warsaw ed.]) have fortune and light. When they are erased and destroyed, it will be as though the world has darkened for them, as though the sun and the light are rolled up like the rolling of a scroll. <b>withers</b> (יִבּוֹל) withers. <b>and as a withered [fig] from a fig tree</b> The withered fruit of a tree is called נוֹבְלוֹת. This is what our Rabbis (Ber. 40b) explained: What are ‘noveloth’? Fruit ripened in the heater, that become ripe in the heater. After they are picked, he gathers them and they become heated and ripen.</html>
<html><b>For My sword has become sated in the heaven</b> To slay the heavenly princes, and afterward it shall descend on the nation Ishmael ([mss. and Kli Paz:] Edom) ([Warsaw ed.:] Babylonians) below, for no nation suffers until its prince suffers in heaven. <b>the nation with whom I contend</b> (עַם חֶרמִי), the nation with whom I battle. This is a Mishnaic expression: (Keth. 17b) They taught this in connection with time of strife (חֵרוּם). Comp. (I Kings 20:42) “The man with whom I contend (אִישׁ חֶרְמִי),” referring to Ahab.</html>
<html><b>lambs and goats</b> princes and governors. <b>in Bozrah</b> It is from the land of Moab, but since it supplied a king for Edom, as it is stated (Gen. 36:33): “And Jobab son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead,” it will, therefore, suffer with them. This is found in Pesikta.</html>
<html><b>wild oxen with them</b> Kings with governors, wild oxen with the goats mentioned above. <b>fat bulls</b> (אַבִּירִים) fat and large bulls, as it is stated (Ps. 22:13): “Fat bulls (אַבִּירֵי) of Bashan surrounded me.”</html>
<html><b>retribution for the plea of Zion</b> That He will mete out punishment (lit., pay a reward) for the plea of Zion, who cries before Him to judge her from those who harm her.</html>
<html><b>And its streams shall turn</b> (I.e., the streams) of the heathens. ([Mss. yield:] of Edom.)</html>
<html><b>from generation to generation</b> From that generation until the last generation. Another explanation is that this is Moses’ curse (Ex. 17:16): “The Lord has a war against Amalek from generation to generation.” From Moses’ generation to Saul’s generation, and from there to Mordecai’s generation, and from there to the generation of the King Messiah.</html>
<html><b>owl</b> (קִפֹּד) a bird that flies at night (chouette in French), an owl. <b>a line of waste</b> A judgment of desolation. <b>and weights of destruction</b> Weights of the judgment of destruction. (אַבְנֵי, lit., stones.) Comp. (Deut. 25:15) “a whole weight (אֶבֶן).”</html>
<html><b>As for its nobles, there are none who proclaim the kingdom</b> Its princes stand, and none of them calls upon himself the name of ruling and kingdom. <b>nothing</b> Destruction.</html>
<html><b>And its palaces shall grow thorns</b> So is the nature of ruins to grow thorns and briers, and that is ‘kimosh’ and that is ‘choach’; they are all types of thorns, e.g., ortias, (nettles,) and the like. <b>the habitat of jackals</b> (תַּנִּים) That is a desert, which is usually frequented by ‘tannim,’ which is a species of wild animal.</html>
<html><b>And martens shall meet cats</b> And martens shall meet with cats. In this matter Jonathan rendered it. תַּמְוָן is נִמִּיּוֹת (martrines in O.F.), martens. <b>and a satyr</b> A demon. <b>rests</b> (הִרְגִּיעָה) an expression related to מַרְגּוֹעַ, rest. <b>lilith</b> The name of a female demon.</html>
<html><b>has made its nest</b> (קִנְּנָה) an expression related to ‘a bird’s nest’ (קַן) (Deut. 22:6). <b>owl</b> (קִפּוֹז) that is the owl (קִפֹּד). <b>and she has laid</b> She laid eggs. <b>and hatched</b> This is the emerging of the chicks from the egg. Comp. (below 59:5) The eggs of the viper have hatched. <b>and gathered</b> This is the call that the bird calls with its throat to draw the chicks after it, gloussera in French. Comp. (Jer. 17:11) “A cuckoo gathers (דָגָר) what it did not lay.” <b>vultures</b> (דַיּוֹת) voltojjrs in O.F. <b>each one to her friend</b> (lit., each one her friend,) like to her friend.</html>
<html><b>Seek out of the Book of the Lord</b> Read out of the Book of Genesis; when He brought the Flood, He decreed that all the creatures gather in the Ark, male and female, and none of them was missing. How much more will this be so when He decrees this upon them, to gather to drink blood and to eat flesh and fat! <b>did not miss</b> (פָקָדוּ) Comp. (Num. 31:49) “Not a man was missing (נִפְקַד) of us.” <b>for My mouth it has commanded</b> that they come. <b>and the breath</b> of My mouth <b>it gathered them.</b> The antecedent of ‘its breath’ is ‘My mouth.’ Comp. (Ps. 33:6) “And with the breath of His mouth all their host.” Here too, the breath of My mouth it gathered them.</html>
<html><b>And He cast…for them</b> Now the prophet says concerning the Holy One, blessed be He, “And He cast lots for them,” for all those beasts and fowl, that these shall fall to their share.</html>