Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.
Parallel translations
- WEB Their slain will also be cast out, and the stench of their dead bodies will come up; and the mountains will melt in their blood.
- BSB Their slain will be left unburied, and the stench of their corpses will rise; the mountains will flow with their blood.
- NKJV Also their slain shall be thrown out; Their stench shall rise from their corpses, And the mountains shall be melted with their blood.
- NASB So their slain will be thrown out, And their corpses will give off their stench, And the mountains will be drenched with their blood.
- NLT Their dead will be left unburied, and the stench of rotting bodies will fill the land. The mountains will flow with their blood.
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
The judgment is graphic and total, with the slain unburied and the land soaked in their blood.
Overview
The vivid imagery of corpses, stench, and blood-drenched mountains conveys the severity and certainty of God's judgment on the nations. Such language, common in prophetic oracles, is meant to shock hearers into recognizing the weight of divine wrath against sin. It warns of the real consequences of rebellion and magnifies the mercy offered in the gospel.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Joel 2:20But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.
- Ezek 39:4Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
- Isa 34:7And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.
- Ezek 14:19Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:
- Ezek 39:11And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.
- Amos 4:10I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
- 2 Kgs 9:35–37And they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands.
- Ezek 38:22And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
- Isa 14:19–20But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.
- Jer 22:19He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
- Jer 8:1–2At that time, saith the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves:
- Rev 14:20And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
- Rev 16:3–4And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.
- Ezek 32:5–6And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and fill the valleys with thy height.
- Ezek 35:6Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: sith thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee.
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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 34:3 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.