Isaiah 34:12

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

⁹Her streams will be turned to tar, and her soil to sulfur; her land will become a blazing pitch. ¹⁰It will not be quenched-day or night. Its smoke will ascend forever. From generation to generation it will lie desolate; no one will ever pass through it again. ¹¹The desert owl and screech owl will possess it, and the great owl and raven will dwell in it. The LORD will stretch out over Edom a measuring line of chaos and a plumb line of destruction. ¹²No nobles will be left to proclaim a king, and all her princes will come to nothing.¹³Her towers will be overgrown with thorns, her fortresses with thistles and briers. She will become a haunt for jackals, an abode for ostriches. ¹⁴The desert creatures will meet with hyenas, and one wild goat will call to another. There the nocturnal creature will settle and find her place of repose. ¹⁵There the owl will make her nest; she will lay and hatch her eggs and gather her brood under her shadow. Even there the birds of prey will gather, each with its mate. ¹⁶Search and read the scroll of the LORD: Not one of these will go missing, not one will lack her mate, because He has ordered it by His mouth, and He will gather them by His Spirit. ¹⁷He has allotted their portion; His hand has distributed it by measure. They will possess it forever; they will dwell in it from generation to generation.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

call: Isaiah 3:6-8, Ecclesiastes 10:16, Ecclesiastes 10:17

nothing: Isaiah 41:24, 1 Corinthians 8:4, 1 Corinthians 13:2, 2 Corinthians 12:11

Reciprocal: Judges 10:18 - What man

Cross-References

Genesis 24:53
Then he brought out jewels of silver and gold, and articles of clothing, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious gifts to her brother and her mother.

Genesis 29:18
Since Jacob loved Rachel, he answered, "I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel."

Genesis 31:41
Thus for twenty years I have served in your household-fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks-and you have changed my wages ten times!

Genesis 34:16
Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters for ourselves. We will dwell among you and become one people.

Genesis 34:17
But if you will not agree to be circumcised, then we will take our sister and go."

Genesis 34:25
Three days later, while they were still in pain, two of Jacob's sons (Dinah's brothers Simeon and Levi) took their swords, went into the unsuspecting city, and slaughtered every male.

Genesis 34:27
Jacob's other sons came upon the slaughter and looted the city, because their sister had been defiled.

Genesis 34:28
They took their flocks and herds and donkeys, and everything else in the city or in the field.

Genesis 34:29
They carried off all their possessions and women and children, and they plundered everything in their houses.

2 Samuel 3:14
Then David sent messengers to say to Ish-bosheth son of Saul, "Give me back my wife, Michal, whom I betrothed to myself for a hundred Philistine foreskins."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none [shall be] there,.... They shall call them to take upon them the kingdom and government, and there shall be none to do it, or that will care to do it; or rather there will be no kingdom to take unto them. The words may be rendered either, "as for the nobles thereof, not there a kingdom shall they be called" p; or, "the nobles shall call"; or, "they shall call the nobles", and "there shall be no kingdom" q; the kingdom of the beast, as it is called, Revelation 16:10 shall be no more; and though the cardinals, who are like to nobles, may call for it, and expect it, or be called to it, yet to no purpose; this kingdom will not only be full of darkness, but utterly destroyed:

and all her princes shall be nothing; shall come to nothing; the above mentioned cardinals, who are clothed and live like princes, these shall be no more; the same with the merchants of the earth, which like the merchants of Tyre are princes, Revelation 18:3.

p חריה ואין שם מלוכה יקראו "nobiles ejus, et non ibi regnum vocabuntur", Forerius. q "Ingenuos ejus vocabunt, et non erit ibi regnum", Tigurine version.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom - A more correct rendering of this would be, ‘As to the nobles, they shall call them, but there shall be there no kingdom.’ The idea is, that the kingdom would be desolate; there would be no people to rule. Or, there will be no nobles there who shall survive the destruction, and who can undertake the government of the state. The idea is taken from a government or constitution where the monarch is chosen from the ranks of the nobility. Idumea was formerly governed, as we have seen (see the Introduction to the chapter), by dukes or princes; and it is probable that when it became a monarchy it was a part of the constitution that the sovereign should be chosen from their ranks. The idea here is, that none would be left who could be called to the throne; or if any were left, they would be unwilling to undertake the government of a country where all was disorder and confusion.

And all her princes shall be nothing - Long since Idumea has ceased to be a kingdom, and there are neither nobles nor princes there, nor are there any remains of an organized and independent government.