Jehovah has a sword; it must be filled with blood; it must be made greasy with the fat, with the blood of young rams and he-goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For Jehovah has a sacrifice in Bozrah [capital city of Edom or Idumea], and a great slaughtering in the land of Edom.

He had devoted or vowed the Edomites to destruction in justice, and this destruction would reach to the highest-ranking part of the nation of Edom, as pictured by its capital of Bozrah. The slaughter of this enemy nation Jehovah speaks of as a sacrifice, for it is in execution of his judgment and in vindication of him as the Universal Sovereign. The greater ones and the lesser ones Jehovah speaks of as symbolic “wild bulls” and “young bulls” and as “young rams” and “he-goats.” The land of this murder-minded bloodguilty nation must be drenched with their own blood by means of the slaughtering “sword” of Jehovah.