19 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Isaiah 34 This chapter is a prophecy of the destruction of all the antichristian nations of the world, and particularly of Rome, signified by Idumea; which is introduced with a call to a general attention to it, it being a very awful and solemn affair, Isaiah 34:1 utter and universal destruction is declared, as the effect of God's...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people,.... Not the people of the Jews, as some, whose utter destruction, after their rejection of the Messiah, is here thought to be prophesied of; and much less are these people called upon to hear the Gospel preached to them, as Cocceius thinks; for not good, but bad news they are called to...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
In this chapter we have the fatal doom of all the nations that are enemies to God's church and people, though Edom only is mentioned, because of the old enmity of Esau to Jacob, which was typical, as much as that more ancient enmity of Cain to Abel, and flowed from the original enmity of the serpent to the seed of the woman. It is probable that...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For the indignation of the Lord [is] upon all nations,.... All the nations of the earth, which have committed fornication with the whore of Rome, or have given in to her false worship, superstition, and idolatry; which is the reason of God's wrath and indignation against them, and of such severe punishment being inflicted on them; see Revelation...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Their slain also shall be cast out,.... Upon the open fields, and there lie unburied, and become meat for the fowls of heaven, who are invited to them as to a supper, even the supper of the great God, Revelation 19:17: and their stink shall come up out of their carcasses; so that they shall become loathsome and abominable to the living, and none...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And all the hosts of heaven shall be dissolved,.... "Pine away" (i), as with sickness, grow languid, become obscure, lose their light, and be turned into blood and darkness; this figure is used to express the horror of this calamity, as if the very heavens themselves, and the sun, and moon, and stars, were affected with it; see Isaiah 13:10 and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For my sword shall be bathed in heaven,.... That is, the sword of the Lord, as it is called in the next verse Isaiah 34:6, and it is he that is speaking; it designs the vengeance of the Lord, the punishment he will inflict on the wicked, said to be "bathed in heaven", because determined and prepared there; the allusion may be to the bathing of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The sword of the Lord is filled with blood,.... Multitudes being slain by it; the "Lord" here is that divine Person that is described as a warrior, as a General of an army, with a sharp sword, by whom many are slain, such a number as that it is filled with the blood of them, Revelation 19:11: it is made fat with fatness: not only filled with the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the unicorns shall come down with them,.... With the lambs, goats, and rams; that is, either the rhinoceros, as some, there being no such creature as the unicorn; or the buffaloes, as (m) others; these "shall fall", as the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions render it, they shall be slain, as well as the rest; meaning, that along with the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For [it is] the day of the Lord's vengeance,.... The time which he has appointed to take vengeance on antichrist, his 1260 days, or years; being up, in which he is to reign; these being expired, the time is come for the Lord to avenge the blood of his saints; see Revelation 18:20: [and] the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion; the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch,.... The Septuagint render it, "the valleys"; the word signifying both rivers and valleys, most render it rivers or streams. The Targum is express, "the rivers of Rome shall be turned into pitch;'' by which may be meant the maritime places belonging to the Romish jurisdiction, the same on which...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
It shall not be quenched night nor day,.... It will be long burning, and shall not be extinguished until it is utterly consumed. The burning of Rome will continue long, especially the smoke of it; the kings of the earth, and others, are represented as standing and looking at it, and lamenting for it, Revelation 18:9: the smoke thereof shall go up...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it,.... The word for "cormorant" is rendered a "pelican", in Psalms 102:6 they were both unclean fowls according to the law, of which see Leviticus 11:17 and [See comments on Isaiah 14:23]: the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it; which were likewise unclean creatures; and these, with the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none [shall be] there,.... They shall call them to take upon them the kingdom and government, and there shall be none to do it, or that will care to do it; or rather there will be no kingdom to take unto them. The words may be rendered either, "as for the nobles thereof, not there a kingdom...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And thorns shall come up in her palaces,.... Where their kings and princes dwelt, and kept their courts, popes and cardinals; here will be the tokens of God's curse, as thorns are, these being the people of his curse, as in Isaiah 34:5: nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof; alluding to "Bozrah" which signifies a fortress; referring to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the islands,.... In Rome, and take up their abode there; of these creatures, the first of which the Targum renders monstrous ones, and the latter wild cats, [See comments on Isaiah 13:22]: and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; or the "hairy" one (r); from which word the goat...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
There shall the great owl make her nest,.... Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, say that "kippoz" here is the same with "kippod", rendered "bittern" in Isaiah 34:11 but Aben Ezra takes them to be two different birds; it is hard to say what is designed by it. Bochart thinks that one kind of serpent is here meant, so called from its leaping up, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read,.... Joseph Kimchi interprets this of the book of the law of Moses; which being consulted, it will appear that punishment was threatened to be inflicted on the enemies of God's people, particularly the Edomites. Jarchi thinks the book of Genesis is intended; in which we may read how every creature,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he hath cast the lot for them,.... The Targum adds, "by his word:'' and his hand hath divided it unto them by line; the same adds, "by his will.'' The allusion is to the dividing of the land of Canaan by lot and line, to the children of Israel, for their inheritance and possession; and in like manner, it is suggested, shall Rome and its...