Even men as strong as wild oxen will die— the young men alongside the veterans. The land will be soaked with blood and the soil enriched with fat.
Parallel translations
- WEB The wild oxen will come down with them, and the young bulls with the mighty bulls; and their land will be drunken with blood, and their dust made greasy with fat.
- KJV And 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.
- BSB And the wild oxen will fall with them, the young bulls with the strong ones. Their land will be drenched with blood, and their soil will be soaked with fat.
- NKJV The wild oxen shall come down with them, And the young bulls with the mighty bulls; Their land shall be soaked with blood, And their dust saturated with fatness.”
- NASB Wild oxen will also fall with them And young bulls with strong ones; So their land will be soaked with blood, And their dust become greasy with fat.
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
Even the strongest of Edom fall, and the land is drenched with blood in God's judgment.
Overview
Wild oxen and mighty bulls, images of power and pride, are brought down along with the rest, saturating the land with blood and fat. No strength can withstand the Lord's verdict. The verse reinforces that human might offers no defense against God's judgment, underscoring the need to be on the Lord's side rather than against him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Ps 68:30Rebuke the wild animal of the reeds, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the peoples. Being humbled, may it bring bars of silver. Scatter the nations that delight in war.
- Num 23:22God brings them out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox.
- Jer 50:27Kill all her bulls. Let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their visitation.
- Job 39:9–10“Will the wild ox be content to serve you? Or will he stay by your feeding trough?
- Ps 92:10But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox. I am anointed with fresh oil.
- Deut 33:17The firstborn of his herd, majesty is his. His horns are the horns of the wild ox. With them he will push all the peoples, to the ends of the earth. They are the ten thousands of Ephraim. They are the thousands of Manasseh.”
- Num 24:8God brings him out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox. He shall eat up the nations his adversaries, shall break their bones in pieces, and pierce them with his arrows.
- Jer 50:11“Because you are glad, because you rejoice, O you who plunder my heritage, because you are wanton as a heifer that treads out the grain, and neigh as strong horses;
- Jer 46:21Also her hired men in the middle of her are like calves of the stall; for they also are turned back. They have fled away together. They didn’t stand, for the day of their calamity has come on them, the time of their visitation.
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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 34:7 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.