Isaiah 34:6
in Isaiah 34The sword of the LORD is bathed in blood. It drips with fat—with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The sword of Jehovah is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams; for Jehovah hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
KJV
The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.
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This verse in Isaiah 34
Commentary
11 notes on this verseThe Lord hath a sacrifice “For Jehovah celebrateth a sacrifice” - Ezekiel, Eze 39:16, Eze 39:17, has manifestly imitated this place of Isaiah.
This site's exposition
My sword has drunk its fill
on Isaiah 34:5-8
The oracle narrows to Edom by name, upon the people I have devoted to destruction. The slaughter is described as a sacrifice in Bozrah, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion. Behind it stands Edom's old hostility toward Judah, the violence against your brother Jacob in Obadiah 1:10.
This site's exposition
For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah
Blood and fat were the portions of every sacrifice reserved for God, and the slain of Edom are laid on his altar. Lambs, goats and rams stand for her people of every rank. Clarke notes that Ezekiel 39:17 takes up this same picture of the Lord's sacrifice.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Chapter 34, Verse 1, etc.) Come near, you nations, and listen; pay attention, you peoples! Let the earth and all that fills it hear, the world and all that springs from it. For the Lord's indignation is against all the nations, and His fury is against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them and given them over to slaughter. Their slain will be thrown out, and the stench of their corpses will rise; the mountains will be drenched with their blood.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Second, he describes the killing as to those of middle rank, setting out the diversity of those killed: the sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made thick with the blood of lambs and buck goats, with the blood of rams, through …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
The sword - The metaphor is taken from a great glutton, who is almost insatiable. Rams - By lambs, and goats, and rams, he means people of all ranks and conditions, high and low, rich and poor. Bozrah - A chief city of Edom, and a type of those cities which should be most opposite to God's people.
): The sword of the Lord, when it comes down with commission, does vast execution; it is filled, satiated, surfeited, with blood, the blood of the slain, and made fat with their fatness. When the day of God's abused mercy and patience is over the sword of his justice gives no quarter, spares none.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
The sword of the Lord is filled with blood,....
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And thus would the whole earth have been soaked with the blood of sinners if Jesus Christ, the great propitiation, had not shed his blood for us; but those who reject him, and will not make a covenant with God by that sacrifice, will themselves fall as victims to divine wrath. Damned sinners are everlasting sacrifices, Mark ix.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The image of a sacrifice is continued. blood . . . fat--the parts especially devoted to God in a sacrifice (2Sa 1:22). lambs . . . goats--sacrificial animals: the Idumeans, of all classes, doomed to slaughter, are meant (Zep 1:7).
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The sword of the Lord is filled with blood - The idea here is taken from the notion of sacrifice, and is, that God would devote to sacrifice, or to destruction, the inhabitants of Idumea. With reference to that, he says, that his sword, the instrument of slaughter, would be satiated with blood. “It is made fat with fatness.” The allusion here is to the sacrifices which were made for sin, in which the blood. and the fat were devoted to God as an offering (see Lev. 7) With the blood of lambs and goats - These were the animals which were usually offered in sacrifice to God among the Jews. and to speak of a sacrifice was the same as to speak of the offering of rams, lambs, bullocks, etc. Yet it is evident that they denote here the people of Idumea, and that these terms are used to keep up the image of a sacrifice. The idea of sacrifice was always connected with that of slaughter, as the animals were slaughtered before they were offered. So here, the idea is, that there would be a great slaughter in Idumea; that it would be so far of the nature of a sacrifice that they would be devoted to God and to his cause. It is not probable that any particular classes of people are denoted by the different animals mentioned here, as the animals here mentioned include all, or nearly all those usually offered in sacrifice, the expressions denote simply that all classes of people in Idumea would be devoted to the slaughter. Grotius, however, supposes that the following classes are intended by the animals specified, to wit, by the lambs, the people in general; by the goats, the priests; by the rams, the opulent inhabitants. For the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah - Bozrah is mentioned here as one of the chief cities of Idumea. It was a city of great antiquity, and was known among the Greeks and Romans by the name of Bostra. […]
The words behind it
20 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| חֶ֣רֶב | cherev | a sword | H2719 → | 413 times |
| לַיהוָ֞ה | layahweh | [belongs] to Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| מָלְאָ֥ה | malah | it is full | H4390 → | 249 times |
| דָם֙ | dam | blood | H1818 → | 360 times |
| הֻדַּ֣שְׁנָה | hudashnah | it has fattened itself | H1878 → | |
| מֵחֵ֔לֶב | mechelev | from fat | H2459 → | 92 times |
| מִדַּ֤ם | midam | from [the] blood of | H1818 → | 360 times |
| כָּרִים֙ | karim | lambs | H3733 → | 16 times |
| וְעַתּוּדִ֔ים | veatudim | and goats | H6260 → | 29 times |
| מֵחֵ֖לֶב | mechelev | from [the] fat of | H2459 → | 92 times |
| כִּלְי֣וֹת | kilyot | [the] kidneys of | H3629 → | |
| אֵילִ֑ים | ʾeilim | rams | H352 → | 187 times |
| כִּ֣י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| זֶ֤בַח | zevach | a sacrifice | H2077 → | 162 times |
| לַֽיהוָה֙ | layahweh | [belongs] to Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| בְּבָצְרָ֔ה | bevatzerah | in Bozrah | H1224 → | |
| וְטֶ֥בַח | vetevach | and a slaughter | H2874 → | 12 times |
| גָּד֖וֹל | gadol | great | H1419 → | 526 times |
| בְּאֶ֥רֶץ | beeretz | in [the] land of | H776 → | 2504 times |
| אֱדֽוֹם׃ | ʾedom | Edom | H123 → | 99 times |
חֶ֣רֶבa sword
cherevH2719 →413 times
לַיהוָ֞ה[belongs] to Yahweh
layahwehH3068 →6520 times
מָלְאָ֥הit is full
malahH4390 →249 times
דָם֙blood
damH1818 →360 times
הֻדַּ֣שְׁנָהit has fattened itself
hudashnahH1878 →
מֵחֵ֔לֶבfrom fat
mechelevH2459 →92 times
מִדַּ֤םfrom [the] blood of
midamH1818 →360 times
כָּרִים֙lambs
karimH3733 →16 times
וְעַתּוּדִ֔יםand goats
veatudimH6260 →29 times
מֵחֵ֖לֶבfrom [the] fat of
mechelevH2459 →92 times
כִּלְי֣וֹת[the] kidneys of
kilyotH3629 →
אֵילִ֑יםrams
ʾeilimH352 →187 times
כִּ֣יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
זֶ֤בַחa sacrifice
zevachH2077 →162 times
לַֽיהוָה֙[belongs] to Yahweh
layahwehH3068 →6520 times
בְּבָצְרָ֔הin Bozrah
bevatzerahH1224 →
וְטֶ֥בַחand a slaughter
vetevachH2874 →12 times
גָּד֖וֹלgreat
gadolH1419 →526 times
בְּאֶ֥רֶץin [the] land of
beeretzH776 →2504 times
אֱדֽוֹם׃Edom
ʾedomH123 →99 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
Isaiah 63:1Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah with crimson-stained garments? Who is this robed in splendor, marching in the greatness of His strength? “It is I, proclaiming vindication, mighty to save.”
it leads to
- Revelation 19:13
He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and His name is The Word of God.
- Isaiah 34:5–6
When My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens, then it will come down upon Edom, upon the people I have devoted to destruction.
- Psalms 137:7
Remember, O LORD, the sons of Edom on the day Jerusalem fell: “Destroy it,” they said, “tear it down to its foundations!”
- Isaiah 63:2–3
Why are Your clothes red, and Your garments like one who treads the winepress?
- Numbers 23:19
God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?
- Revelation 19:13
Through
Deuteronomy 32:14with curds from the herd and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs, with rams from Bashan, and goats, with the choicest grains of wheat. From the juice of the finest grapes…
it leads to
- Genesis 49:11
He ties his donkey to the vine, his colt to the choicest branch. He washes his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.
- Psalms 147:14
He makes peace at your borders; He fills you with the finest wheat.
- Genesis 49:11
Through
Jeremiah 49:13For by Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that Bozrah will become a desolation, a disgrace, a ruin, and a curse, and all her cities will be in ruins forever.”
it leads to
- Genesis 36:33
When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah reigned in his place.
- Genesis 36:33
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Isaiah
Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.