Isaiah Chapter 34 verse 9 Holy Bible
And the streams of `Edom' shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.
read chapter 34 in ASV
And its streams will be turned into boiling oil, and its dust into burning stone, and all the land will be on fire.
read chapter 34 in BBE
And the torrents thereof shall be turned into pitch, and its dust into brimstone; yea, the land thereof shall become burning pitch:
read chapter 34 in DARBY
And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.
read chapter 34 in KJV
read chapter 34 in WBT
The streams of [Edom] shall be turned into pitch, and the dust of it into sulfur, and the land of it shall become burning pitch.
read chapter 34 in WEB
And turned have been her streams to pitch, And her dust to brimstone, And her land hath become burning pitch.
read chapter 34 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 9. - And the streams thereof; i.e. "the streams of the land of Edom." Though Edom has no perennial rivers, it has numerous torrent-courses to carry off the winter rains (see 2 Kings 3:20-22). These should run with pitch, instead of water. The general idea is that Edom should be visited with a destruction like that of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24; comp. Jeremiah 49:18). But the prophet scarcely intends his words to be taken literally; he is making Edom a type or representation of God's enemies, and the gist of his teaching is that a dreadful vengeance, an utter destruction, will come upon all who set themselves up against the Most High. In the next verse he declares that the vengeance will be eternal (comp. Isaiah 66:24).
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(9, 10) The streams thereof shall be turned into pitch . . .--The imagery of the punishment which is to fall on Edom is suggested partly by the scenery of the Dead Sea, partly by the volcanic character of Edom itself, with its extinct craters and streams of lava. (Comp. Jeremiah 49:18.) The prophet sees the destruction, as continuing not merely in its results, but in its process, the smoke of the burning craters rising up perpetually, and making the land uninhabitable.
