The Nations Will Be Judged

1Everyone of every nation,

the entire earth,

and all its creatures,

come here and listen!

2The Lord is terribly angry

with the nations;

he has condemned them

to be slaughtered.

3Their dead bodies will be left

to rot and stink;

their blood will flow

down the mountains.

4 Each star+ will disappear—

the sky will roll up

like a scroll.+

Everything in the sky

will dry up and wilt

like leaves on a vine

or fruit on a tree.

Trouble for Edom

5 After the sword of the Lord

has done what it wants

to the skies above,+

it will come down on Edom,

the nation that the Lord

has doomed for destruction.

6The sword of the Lord

is covered with blood

from lambs and goats,

together with fat

from kidneys of rams.

This is because the Lord

will slaughter many people

and make a sacrifice of them

in the city of Bozrah

and everywhere else

in Edom.

7Edom's leaders are wild oxen.

They are powerful bulls,

but they will die

with the others.

Their country will be soaked

with their own blood,

and its soil made fertile

with their own fat.

8The Lord has chosen

the year and the day,

when he will take revenge

and come to Zion's defense.

9Edom's streams will turn into tar

and its soil into sulfur—

then the whole country

will go up in flames.

10 It will burn night and day

and never stop smoking.

Edom will be a desert,

generation after generation;

no one will ever travel

through that land.

11Owls, hawks, and wild animals+

will make it their home.

God will leave it in ruins,

merely a pile of rocks.

The End of Edom

12Edom will be called

“Kingdom of Nothing.”

Its rulers will also be nothing.

13Its palaces and fortresses

will be covered with thorns;

only wolves and ostriches

will make their home there.

14Wildcats and hyenas

will hunt together,

demons will scream to demons,

and creatures of the night

will live among the ruins.

15Owls will nest there

to raise their young

among its shadows,+

while families of vultures

circle around.

16In The Book of the Lord+

you can search and find

where it is written,

“The Lord brought together

all of his creatures

by the power of his Spirit.

Not one is missing.”

17The Lord has decided

where they each should live;

they will be there forever,

generation after generation.