Isaiah 34:9
in Isaiah 34Edom’s streams will be turned to tar, and her soil to sulfur; her land will become a blazing pitch.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.
KJV
And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.
⋯
This verse in Isaiah 34
Commentary
6 notes on this verseAnd 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 the third vial will be poured, by which the rivers and fountains of waters will become blood; and which refers to this very time, when blood shall be given to the whore of Rome to drink, Rev 16:
This site's exposition
the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch
on Isaiah 34:9-11
Edom's ruin is described as unending: the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and it shall not be quenched night nor day, the smoke going up for ever from generation to generation. Where a kingdom stood, only wild creatures remain, the cormorant and the bittern, the owl and the raven, and the Lord himself stretches over it the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness, a surveyor's measuring line turned to mark out desolation rather than a city. Delitzsch reads the surveying image as a deliberate reversal, the same line that lays out a kingdom's borders now laying out its emptiness.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verses 8 and following) For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, the year of retribution in the judgment of Zion. Its streams will be turned into pitch, and its soil into sulfur; its land will become burning pitch. Night and day it will not be extinguished; its smoke will go up forever. From generation to generation it will lie desolate; no one will pass through it forever. The pelican and the hedgehog will possess it, the owl and the raven will dwell in it.
The Medieval Church1 voice
739. And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch. Here he sets out the threat as to the destruction of the land. And concerning this he does three things: first, he foretells the destruction; second, the desolation of the destroyed land: it shall lie …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
As long as there are provoking sinners on earth, from one generation to another, an increase of sinful men, to augment the fierce anger of the Lord ( Num. xxxii. 14 ), there will be a righteous God in heaven to punish them for it.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
And the streams thereof - The idea here is, that there would be as great and awful a destruction as if the streams everywhere should become pitch or resin, which would be set on fire, and which would fill the land with flame. This image is very striking, as we may see by supposing the rivers and streams in any land to flow not with water, but with heated pitch, turpentine, or tar, and that this was all suddenly kindled into a flame. It cannot be supposed that this is to be taken literally.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
from generation to generation From that generation until the last generation. Another explanation is that this is Moses’ curse (Ex.:16): “The Lord has a war against Amalek from generation to generation.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
9 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְנֶהֶפְכ֤וּ | venehefkhu | and they will be changed | H2015 → | 94 times |
| נְחָלֶ֙יהָ֙ | nechaleiha | torrents its | H5158 → | 141 times |
| לְזֶ֔פֶת | lezefet | into pitch | H2203 → | |
| וַעֲפָרָ֖הּ | vaafarah | and dust its | H6083 → | 110 times |
| לְגָפְרִ֑ית | legaferit | into sulfur | H1614 → | |
| וְהָיְתָ֣ה | vehayetah | and it will become | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| אַרְצָ֔הּ | ʾartzah | land its | H776 → | 2504 times |
| לְזֶ֖פֶת | lezefet | <into> pitch | H2203 → | |
| בֹּעֵרָֽה׃ | boerah | burning | H1197 → | 94 times |
וְנֶהֶפְכ֤וּand they will be changed
venehefkhuH2015 →94 times
נְחָלֶ֙יהָ֙torrents its
nechaleihaH5158 →141 times
לְזֶ֔פֶתinto pitch
lezefetH2203 →
וַעֲפָרָ֖הּand dust its
vaafarahH6083 →110 times
לְגָפְרִ֑יתinto sulfur
legaferitH1614 →
וְהָיְתָ֣הand it will become
vehayetahH1961 →3559 times
אַרְצָ֔הּland its
ʾartzahH776 →2504 times
לְזֶ֖פֶת<into> pitch
lezefetH2203 →
בֹּעֵרָֽה׃burning
boerahH1197 →94 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Revelation 21:8But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This…
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 6:9–10
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual…
- Revelation 2:11
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who overcomes will not be harmed by the second death.
- Ephesians 5:5–6
For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure, or greedy person (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
- Revelation 22:15
But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
- Revelation 20:14–15
Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the lake of fire.
- 1 Corinthians 6:9–10
Through
Psalms 11:6On the wicked He will rain down fiery coals and sulfur; a scorching wind will be their portion.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 38:22
I will execute judgment upon him with plague and bloodshed. I will pour out torrents of rain, hailstones, fire, and sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him.
- Genesis 19:24
Then the LORD rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens.
- Ezekiel 13:13
Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: In My wrath I will release a windstorm, and in My anger torrents of rain and hail will fall with destructive fury.
- Ezekiel 38:22
About Isaiah
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.