The Meaning of Isaiah 34:10 Explained

Isaiah 34:10

KJV: It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.

YLT: By night and by day she is not quenched, To the age go up doth her smoke, From generation to generation she is waste, For ever and ever, none is passing into her.

Darby: it shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.

ASV: It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever; from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

It shall not be quenched  night  nor day;  the smoke  thereof shall go up  for ever:  from generation  to generation  it shall lie waste;  none shall pass through  it for ever  and ever. 

What does Isaiah 34:10 Mean?

Context Summary

Isaiah 34:1-17 - Reaping The Whirlwind
This chapter is one prolonged description of the judgments which were to befall the nations at the hand of Assyria and Babylon. The imagery employed is borrowed from the destruction of the cities of the plain. Streams of pitch; dust of brimstone; the ever-ascending smoke of a furnace; the scream of the eagle, hawk, and owl; the invasion of palaces by the thistle; the howl of the wolf; the call of the jackal; the arrow-snakes nest; the kite with its mate-such are the illustrations employed to depict the scorching desolations which were impending. Edom is especially mentioned as suffering these awful desolations because of her long-standing hatred of Israel. See Psalms 137:7; Ezekiel 36:5; Lamentations 4:21-22. These terrible and graphic predictions have been literally fulfilled, but they foreshadow those further and eternal disasters which must overtake willful and designed rejection of the divine purposes and laws. Are not all nations at this hour standing before the Son of man and being judged? See Matthew 25:31. [source]

Chapter Summary: Isaiah 34

1  The judgments wherewith God revenges his church
11  The desolation of her enemies
16  The certainty of the prophecy

What do the individual words in Isaiah 34:10 mean?

Night or day not it shall be quenched forever Shall ascend Its smoke from generation to generation it shall lie waste forever and ever No one shall pass through it
לַ֤יְלָה וְיוֹמָם֙ לֹ֣א תִכְבֶּ֔ה לְעוֹלָ֖ם יַעֲלֶ֣ה עֲשָׁנָ֑הּ מִדּ֤וֹר לָדוֹר֙ תֶּחֱרָ֔ב לְנֵ֣צַח נְצָחִ֔ים אֵ֥ין עֹבֵ֖ר בָּֽהּ

לַ֤יְלָה  Night 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: לַיִל 
Sense: night.
וְיוֹמָם֙  or  day 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Adverb
Root: יׄומָם  
Sense: by day, in the daytime subst.
תִכְבֶּ֔ה  it  shall  be  quenched 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person feminine singular
Root: כָּבָה  
Sense: to quench, put out, be put out, be quenched, be extinguished.
לְעוֹלָ֖ם  forever 
Parse: Preposition-l, Noun, masculine singular
Root: עֹולָם  
Sense: long duration, antiquity, futurity, for ever, ever, everlasting, evermore, perpetual, old, ancient, world.
יַעֲלֶ֣ה  Shall  ascend 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: סָלַק 
Sense: to go up, ascend, climb.
עֲשָׁנָ֑הּ  Its  smoke 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, third person feminine singular
Root: עָשָׁן  
Sense: smoke.
מִדּ֤וֹר  from  generation 
Parse: Preposition-m, Noun, masculine singular
Root: דֹּור 
Sense: period, generation, habitation, dwelling.
לָדוֹר֙  to  generation 
Parse: Preposition-l, Noun, masculine singular
Root: דֹּור 
Sense: period, generation, habitation, dwelling.
תֶּחֱרָ֔ב  it  shall  lie  waste 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person feminine singular
Root: חָרֵב 
Sense: to be waste, lay waste, make desolate, be desolate, be in ruins.
לְנֵ֣צַח  forever 
Parse: Preposition-l, Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: נֵצַח  
Sense: eminence, perpetuity, strength, victory, enduring, everlastingness.
נְצָחִ֔ים  and  ever 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
Root: נֵצַח  
Sense: eminence, perpetuity, strength, victory, enduring, everlastingness.
אֵ֥ין  No  one 
Parse: Adverb
Root: אַיִן 
Sense: nothing, not, nought n.
עֹבֵ֖ר  shall  pass 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Participle, masculine singular
Root: עָבַר 
Sense: to pass over or by or through, alienate, bring, carry, do away, take, take away, transgress.
בָּֽהּ  through  it 
Parse: Preposition, third person feminine singular