The Meaning of Isaiah 34:7 Explained

Isaiah 34:7

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.

YLT: And come down have reems with them, And bullocks with bulls, And soaked hath been their land from blood, And their dust from fatness is made fat.

Darby: And the buffaloes 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.

ASV: And the wild-oxen shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls: and their land shall be drunken with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

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. 

What does Isaiah 34:7 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 34:7 mean?

And shall come down the wild oxen with them and the young bulls with the mighty [bulls] and shall be soaked their land with blood and their dust with fatness saturated
וְיָרְד֤וּ רְאֵמִים֙ עִמָּ֔ם וּפָרִ֖ים עִם־ אַבִּירִ֑ים וְרִוְּתָ֤ה אַרְצָם֙ מִדָּ֔ם וַעֲפָרָ֖ם מֵחֵ֥לֶב יְדֻשָּֽׁן

וְיָרְד֤וּ  And  shall  come  down 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Conjunctive perfect, third person common plural
Root: יָרַד  
Sense: to go down, descend, decline, march down, sink down.
רְאֵמִים֙  the  wild  oxen 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
Root: רְאֵם  
Sense: probably the great aurochs or wild bulls which are now extinct.
עִמָּ֔ם  with  them 
Parse: Preposition, third person masculine plural
Root: עִם  
Sense: with.
וּפָרִ֖ים  and  the  young  bulls 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, masculine plural
Root: פַּר  
Sense: .
אַבִּירִ֑ים  the  mighty  [bulls] 
Parse: Adjective, masculine plural
Root: אַבִּיר  
Sense: mighty, valiant.
וְרִוְּתָ֤ה  and  shall  be  soaked 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Piel, Conjunctive perfect, third person feminine singular
Root: רָוָה  
Sense: to be satiated or saturated, have or drink one’s fill.
אַרְצָם֙  their  land 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct, third person masculine plural
Root: אֶרֶץ  
Sense: land, earth.
מִדָּ֔ם  with  blood 
Parse: Preposition-m, Noun, masculine singular
Root: דָּם  
Sense: blood.
וַעֲפָרָ֖ם  and  their  dust 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, masculine singular construct, third person masculine plural
Root: עָפָר  
Sense: dry earth, dust, powder, ashes, earth, ground, mortar, rubbish.
מֵחֵ֥לֶב  with  fatness 
Parse: Preposition-m, Noun, masculine singular
Root: חֵלֶב  
Sense: fat.
יְדֻשָּֽׁן  saturated 
Parse: Verb, Pual, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: דָּשֵׁן  
Sense: to be fat, grow fat, become fat, become prosperous, anoint.