Bible Strands
Isaiah 34:2
The LORD is angry with all the nations and furious with all their armies. He will devote them to destruction; He will give them over to slaughter.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The prophet addresses the nations and peoples, commanding the earth and everything in it to listen to a declaration of coming judgment. This opening statement precedes the detailed description of foreign destruction in the surrounding verses.
The words — The Hebrew קֶ֤צֶף (qetsef) and חֵמָ֖ה (chemah) translate as wrath and rage, respectively, directed by Yahweh toward all the nations. The particle כִּי (ki) functions as "for," grounding the subsequent declaration of slaughter in divine anger.
The thread — This motif of God’s wrath against foreign powers appears in Jeremiah 25:15, Zephaniah 3:8, and Isaiah 13:5. These passages similarly depict the gathering or destruction of nations under instruments of divine judgment.
Why it lands — The text explicitly states that Yahweh’s anger targets every nation and army, resulting in their complete destruction and slaughter. It requires the reader to accept the scope and certainty of this judgment before confronting the visceral aftermath described in the surrounding context.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 25:15 This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from My hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it.
- Zephaniah 3:8 Therefore wait for Me,” declares the LORD, “until the day I rise to testify. For My decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them My indignation—all My burning anger. For all the earth will be consumed by the fire of My jealousy.
- Isaiah 13:5 They are coming from faraway lands, from the ends of the heavens—the LORD and the weapons of His wrath—to destroy the whole country.
- Isaiah 30:25 And from every high mountain and every raised hill, streams of water will flow in the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall.
- Isaiah 30:27 Behold, the Name of the LORD comes from afar, with burning anger and dense smoke. His lips are full of fury, and His tongue is like a consuming fire.
- Joel 3:9 Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war; rouse the mighty men; let all the men of war advance and attack!
- Amos 1:1 These are the words of Amos, who was among the sheepherders of Tekoa—what he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake, in the days when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel.
- Zechariah 14:3 Then the LORD will go out to fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle.
- Zechariah 14:12 And this will be the plague with which the LORD strikes all the peoples who have warred against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.
- Isaiah 24:1 Behold, the LORD lays waste the earth and leaves it in ruins. He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants—