Isaiah 34:9

New Century Version

Edom's rivers will be like hot tar. Its dirt will be like burning sulfur. Its land will be like burning tar.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch,her soil into sulfur;her land will become burning pitch.

Hebrew Names Version
The streams of [Edom] shall be turned into zehfet, and the dust of it into sulfur, and the land of it shall become burning zehfet.

King James Version
And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.

English Standard Version
And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch, and her soil into sulfur; her land shall become burning pitch.

New American Standard Bible
Its streams will be turned into pitch, And its loose earth into brimstone, And its land will become burning pitch.

Amplified Bible
The streams [of Edom] will be turned into pitch, And its dust into brimstone, And its land will become burning pitch.

World English Bible
The streams of [Edom] shall be turned into pitch, and the dust of it into sulfur, and the land of it shall become burning pitch.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And the riuers thereof shall be turned into pitche, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shalbe burning pitch.

Legacy Standard Bible
And its streams will be turned into pitch,And its dust into brimstone,And its land will become burning pitch.

Berean Standard Bible
Her streams will be turned to tar, and her soil to sulfur; her land will become a blazing pitch.

Contemporary English Version
Edom's streams will turn into tar and its soil into sulfur— then the whole country will go up in flames.

Complete Jewish Bible
Its streams will be changed to tar, its dust to sulfur, its land burning tar

Darby Translation
And the torrents thereof shall be turned into pitch, and its dust into brimstone; yea, the land thereof shall become burning pitch:

Easy-to-Read Version
Edom's rivers will be like hot tar. Edom's ground will be like burning sulfur.

George Lamsa Translation
And its streams shall be turned into pitch and its soil into brimstone, and its land shall become burning pitch.

Good News Translation
The rivers of Edom will turn into tar, and the soil will turn into sulfur. The whole country will burn like tar.

Lexham English Bible
And its streams shall be changed to pitch and its soil to sulfur, and its land shall become like burning pitch.

Literal Translation
And its torrents shall be turned to pitch, and its dust to brimstone; and its land shall become burning pitch.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Thy floudes shalbe turned to pytch, and thine earth to brymstone, & therwith shal the londe be kyndled,

American Standard Version
And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.

Bible in Basic English
And its streams will be turned into boiling oil, and its dust into burning stone, and all the land will be on fire.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.

King James Version (1611)
And the streames thereof shalbe turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And his fluddes shalbe turned to pitch, and his earth to brimstone, and therewith shall the lande be kindled.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And her valleys shall be turned into pitch, and her land into sulphur; and her land shall be as pitch burning night and day;

English Revised Version
And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And the strondis therof schulen be turned in to pitche, and the erthe therof in to brymstoon; and the lond therof schal be in to brennyng pitch, niyt and dai.

Update Bible Version
And the streams of [Edom] shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.

Webster's Bible Translation
And its streams shall be turned into pitch, and its dust into brimstone, and its land shall become burning pitch.

New English Translation
Edom's streams will be turned into pitch and her soil into brimstone; her land will become burning pitch.

New King James Version
Its streams shall be turned into pitch, And its dust into brimstone; Its land shall become burning pitch.

New Living Translation
The streams of Edom will be filled with burning pitch, and the ground will be covered with fire.

New Life Bible
Edom's rivers will be turned into tar, and its dust into sulphur. Her land will become burning tar.

New Revised Standard
And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch, and her soil into sulfur; her land shall become burning pitch.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then shall the torrents thereof be turned into pitch, And the dust thereof, into brimstone, - So shall her land become burning pitch:

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the ground thereof into brimstone: and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.

Revised Standard Version
And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch, and her soil into brimstone; her land shall become burning pitch.

Young's Literal Translation
And turned have been her streams to pitch, And her dust to brimstone, And her land hath become burning pitch.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Its streams will be turned into pitch, And its loose earth into brimstone, And its land will become burning pitch.

Contextual Overview

⁹ Edom's rivers will be like hot tar. Its dirt will be like burning sulfur. Its land will be like burning tar. ¹⁰ The fires will burn night and day; the smoke will rise from Edom forever. Year after year that land will be empty; no one will ever travel through that land again. ¹¹ Birds and small animals will own that land, and owls and ravens will live there. God will make it an empty wasteland; it will have nothing left in it. ¹² The important people will have no one left to rule them; the leaders will all be gone. ¹³ Thorns will take over the strong towers, and wild bushes will grow in the walled cities. It will be a home for wild dogs and a place for owls to live. ¹⁴ Desert animals will live with the hyenas, and wild goats will call to their friends. Night animals will live there and find a place of rest. ¹⁵ Owls will nest there and lay eggs. When they hatch open, the owls will gather their young under their wings. Hawks will gather with their own kind. ¹⁶ Look at the Lord 's scroll and read what is written there: None of these will be missing; none will be without its mate. God has given the command, so his Spirit will gather them together. ¹⁷ God has divided the land among them, and he has given them each their portion. So they will own that land forever and will live there year after year.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Genesis 19:28, Deuteronomy 29:23, Job 18:15, Psalms 11:6, Luke 17:29, Jude 1:7, Revelation 19:20, Revelation 21:8

Reciprocal: Psalms 107:33 - turneth Isaiah 1:7 - burned Isaiah 1:31 - and they Isaiah 30:27 - burning Isaiah 33:14 - everlasting Jeremiah 49:13 - a desolation Jeremiah 49:17 - Edom Jeremiah 49:33 - a dwelling Zephaniah 2:9 - as Gomorrah Malachi 1:3 - laid Revelation 14:10 - be Revelation 18:9 - the smoke

Cross-References

Genesis 6:2
When the sons of God saw that these girls were beautiful, they married any of them they chose.

Genesis 19:14
So Lot went out and said to his future sons-in-law who were pledged to marry his daughters, "Hurry and leave this city! The Lord is about to destroy it!" But they thought Lot was joking.

Genesis 24:3
Make a promise to me before the Lord , the God of heaven and earth. Don't get a wife for my son from the Canaanite girls who live around here.

Genesis 27:46
Then Rebekah said to Isaac, "I am tired of Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of these Hittite women here in this land, I want to die."

Deuteronomy 7:3
Do not marry any of them, or let your daughters marry their sons, or let your sons marry their daughters.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And 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, Revelation 16:4. The allusion, in this and some following clauses, is to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; see

Jeremiah 49:17:

and the dust thereof into brimstone; and so easily take fire:

and the land thereof shall become burning pitch: plainly pointing to the destruction of Rome by fire, Revelation 17:16.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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. The image is evidently taken from the destruction of Sodom and Gamorrah (Genesis 19:25-28), an image which is more fully used in reference to the same subject in Jeremiah 49:17-18 : ‘And Edom shall be a desolation;... as in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the neighbor cities thereof, saith the Lord, no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it.’

And the dust thereof into brimstone - The ruin shall be as entire as if all the soil were turned into brimstone, which should be ignited and left burning.