It will be called the Land of Nothing, and all its nobles will soon be gone.
Parallel translations
- WEB They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, but none shall be there; and all its princes shall be nothing.
- KJV They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing.
- BSB No nobles will be left to proclaim a king, and all her princes will come to nothing.
- NKJV They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, But none shall be there, and all its princes shall be nothing.
- NASB Its nobles—there is no one there Whom they may proclaim king— And all its officials will be nothing.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Edom's nobility and rulers come to nothing, its kingdom left without leaders.
Overview
The nation that once boasted princes and nobles will have none to call upon; its leadership is reduced to nothing. The collapse of human authority underlines that earthly power cannot endure under God's judgment. It magnifies the contrast with God's everlasting kingdom, which alone stands secure.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Isa 3:6–8Indeed a man shall take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying, “You have clothing, you be our ruler, and let this ruin be under your hand.”
- Eccl 10:16–17Woe to you, land, when your king is a child, and your princes eat in the morning!
- Jer 39:6Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes. The king of Babylon also killed all the nobles of Judah.
- 1 Cor 8:4Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no other God but one.
- 2 Cor 12:11I have become foolish in boasting. You compelled me, for I ought to have been commended by you, for in nothing was I inferior to the very best apostles, though I am nothing.
- 1 Cor 13:2If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don’t have love, I am nothing.
- Isa 41:24Behold, you are of nothing, and your work is of nothing. He who chooses you is an abomination.
- Isa 41:11–12Behold, all those who are incensed against you will be disappointed and confounded. Those who strive with you will be like nothing, and shall perish.
- Jer 27:20which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon didn’t take, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem;
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 34:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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