Isaiah 34:2

Isa 34:2 For the indignation of the LORD [is] upon all nations, and [his] fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter.

Ver. 2. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations.] Is, or shall be, upon all the Church’s enemies, whether of former or latter time; even his "boiling wrath," as the Word signifieth.

He hath utterly destroyed them.] Or, He will make an anathema of them, as Isa 34:5, the "people of my curse," devoted to destruction.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Isa 34:2-3. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations — Not only upon the Assyrians, and those nations which are confederate with them in their expedition against Judea, but upon all other enemies of my people. He hath utterly destroyed them — He will infallibly destroy all of them. Their slain also shall be cast out — Into the fields, where they shall lie unburied, and be left a prey to ravenous beasts and birds. In which words he implies, either that such vast numbers would be slain, that the survivers would not be able to find time or place to bury them, or that they should be held in such contempt and abhorrence that none would be inclined to do them that office: and the mountains — About Jerusalem, where they are supposed to be gathered to fight against her, like the Assyrians; shall be melted with their blood — Shall be covered with their blood, which shall flow down abundantly from them with great force, and dissolve, and carry down with it a part of the soil of the mountains, as great showers of rain frequently do. This sentence upon the nations, which thus exhibits a kind of general judgment, to be executed upon the enemies of God and his people, by the sword of God, is sufficient to strike terror into every hearer.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

34:2 completely destroy: See Lev 27:28-29.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

God hath determined in his counsel, and hath given sentence for their destruction.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

utterly destroyed--rather, "doomed them to an utter curse" [HORSLEY].

delivered--rather, "appointed."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

2. For the indignation of the Lord …] Rather, For Jehovah hath indignation … and fury. It is remarkable that no reason is assigned for Jehovah’s anger.

their armies] their host (R.V.). he hath utterly destroyed them] Lit. he hath made them a devoted thing,—ḥçrem, a technical word for that which is irrevocably devoted to the deity, usually implying utter destruction. Cf. ch. Isa_11:15.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations,.... All the nations of the earth, which have committed fornication with the whore of Rome, or have given in to her false worship, superstition, and idolatry; which is the reason of God's wrath and indignation against them, and of such severe punishment being inflicted on them; see Rev 18:3,

and his fury upon all their armies; the armies of the kings of the earth, gathered together at Armageddon, to make war with Christ, and those that follow him; see Rev 16:14,

he hath utterly destroyed them; not only devoted them to destruction, but actually destroyed them, with "Cherem", an utter destruction; one of the words of which Armageddon is compounded, and so points at the place, as well as the nature and manner, of the destruction:

he hath delivered them to slaughter; to be slain with the sword of him that sitteth on the white horse, which proceeds out of his mouth, Rev 19:21.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

For the indignation of the Lord - Yahweh is about to express his wrath against all the nations which are opposed to his people.

He hath utterly destroyed them - In his purpose, or intention. The prophet represents this as so certain that it may be exhibited as already done.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Upon all nations; not only upon the Assyrians, and those nations which were confederate with them in this expedition, but upon all other enemies of my people whatsoever.

He hath utterly destroyed them; he will infallibly destroy all of them.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

For the indignation of the Lord is upon, etc.; rather, for the Lord hath indignation against all the nations, and wrath against all their host. He hath utterly destroyed; rather, he hath devoted, or put under ban.

Divine indignations.

It is important that we use the words which express the severe side of Divine dealings with great judgment and carefulness. We should resist the tendency of modern times to eliminate all the severer features from the conception of the Divine Being. Dr. Bushnell thus expresses it: "Our age is at the point of apogee from all the robuster notions of Deity." Our fathers made too much of t he Divine "wrath;" but we are in danger of making too little. There is a considerable variety of words that we may use to express this sterner side of the Divine dealing "anger," "indignation," "fury," "vengeance," "judgment," "justice," and the like, but they are all more or less defective. Wrath is the term most commonly used in our translation, and it is really the best, if only we can hold it closely enough to the idea of a moral, in distinction from a merely animal, passion; else, failing in this, it will connect associations of unregulated temper that are painful, and as far as possible from being sacred. It requires in this view, like the safety-lamps of the miners, a gauze of definition round it, to save it from blazing into an explosion too fierce to serve the purposes of light." Indignation is the most unexceptionable word, and it is to one point in connection with it that attention is now invited. It is especially suited to express the feeling of God, because it applies to wrong-doers rather than to wrong actions. It links on to the view that the essence of sin is not a wrong thing done, but the wrong will out of which the doing came. We cannot get up indignation merely at things done; our feeling settles and centers on the bad doers. In all cases of sin we should keep quite clearly before us that the Divine concern is not, supremely, the disturbed circumstances, but the sinners and the sufferers. Divine power can readjust and rearrange all our conditions and circumstances, just as that power can preserve the order, and put straight the broken or deflected order, of creation. It is God"s own condition, laid upon himself, that moral states can only be reached by moral means. Divine indignations, as they concern moral beings, find expression in the persuasions of Divine judgments; these fall on the man himself, or they may fall on his substitute and representative; and so is opened up for treatment the mystery of Divine indignations resting on Christ for us, for our sakes. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

All nations - Not only upon the Assyrians, but on all enemies of my people.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

This verse assigns the reason for the invocation in the one before it. “For (there is) anger to Jehovah.” The English Version has, ‘the indignation of the Lord is’, an idea which would be otherwise expressed in Hebrew. The construction is the same as in Isa 2:12. “Jehovah has anger (or is angry) against all the nations. And wrath (is to Jehovah) against all their host.” Not their armies in particular, but their whole multitude, all that belong to them. (Compare the same expression in Gen 2:1). He has doomed them, or devoted them irrevocably to destruction. For the peculiar usage of the Hebrew verb, see the note on Isa 11:15. “He has given (i.e., appointed and abandoned) them to the slaughter.” The past tense describes the divine determination or decree as really and literally past.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For the indignation, etc. All commentators refer this prophecy to the Messianic period, except R. Moses Hakkohen, who says, that Edom was destroyed in the time of the invasion by the Assyrians, and that all these chapters (xxiv—xxxiv) are connected with each other.

צבאם Their armies.

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.