Bible Strands
Isaiah 34:8
For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The prophet Isaiah pronounces Yahweh’s declaration against Edom, immediately following descriptions of their slaughter and desolation. The text positions this pronouncement as the theological rationale for the coming devastation.
The words — נָקָם (na.Kam) translates literally to vengeance, while שִׁלּוּמִים (shi.lu.Mim) means recompense or retributions. These terms frame the coming judgment as a settled divine accounting rather than arbitrary violence.
The thread — This pairing of a day of vengeance and a year of recompense appears in Isaiah 63:4, Isaiah 61:2, and Psalms 94:1. Each reference ties Yahweh’s judicial action to the defense of Zion or the execution of divine justice.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that historical judgment operates under a fixed divine timeline rather than human whim. It requires the reader to accept that Yahweh’s accounting for Zion’s cause will be executed precisely and completely.
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 it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 63:4 For the day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redemption had come.
- Isaiah 61:2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of our God’s vengeance, to comfort all who mourn,
- Psalms 94:1 O LORD, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth.
- Isaiah 35:4 Say to those with anxious hearts: “Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance. With divine retribution He will come to save you.”
- Jeremiah 46:10 For that day belongs to the Lord GOD of Hosts, a day of vengeance against His foes. The sword will devour until it is satisfied, until it is quenched with their blood. For the Lord GOD of Hosts will hold a sacrifice in the land of the north by the River Euphrates.
- Deuteronomy 32:35 Vengeance is Mine; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly.”
- Isaiah 26:21 For behold, the LORD is coming out of His dwelling to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth will reveal her bloodshed and will no longer conceal her slain.
- Isaiah 49:26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine. Then all mankind will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
- Revelation 6:10 And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge those who dwell upon the earth and avenge our blood?”
- Revelation 18:20 Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced for you His judgment against her.