Isaiah 34:13

Judgment

¹¹ The desert owl and screech owl will possess it, and the great owl and raven will dwell in it. The LORD will stretch out over Edom a measuring line of chaos and a plumb line of destruction.

¹² No nobles will be left to proclaim a king, and all her princes will come to nothing.

Her towers will be overgrown with thorns, her fortresses with thistles and briers. She will become a haunt for jackals, an abode for ostriches.

¹⁴ The desert creatures will meet with hyenas, and one wild goat will call to another. There the night creature will settle and find her place of repose.

¹⁵ There the owl will make her nest; she will lay and hatch her eggs and gather her brood under her shadow. Even there the birds of prey will gather, each with its mate.

This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: Her towers will be overgrown with thorns, her fortresses with thistles and briers. She will become a haunt for jackals, an abode for ostriches.
KJV: And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls.
WEB: Thorns will come up in its palaces, nettles and thistles in its fortresses; and it will be a habitation of jackals, a court for ostriches.
ASV: And thorns shall come up in its palaces, nettles and thistles in the fortresses thereof; and it shall be a habitation of jackals, a court for ostriches.
DARBY: And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in her fortresses; and it shall be a dwelling-place of wild dogs, a court for ostriches.
BLB: And thorns will come up in her palaces, thistles and briers in her fortresses; and she will be a habitation of jackals, a courtyard for daughters of the ostrich.

ÅB: Torner skal skyte opp i dets palasser, nesler og tistler i dets festninger, og det skal være en bolig for sjakaler, et sted for strutser.
OTB: Torner skal overgro dens festninger, nesler og tistler dens festningsverk; det skal bli en tilholdssted for sjakaler, en bolig for strutser.
B1930: Torner skal skyte op i dets palasser, nesler og tistler i dets festninger, og det skal være en bolig for sjakaler, et sted for strutser.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Jeremiah 9:11
“And I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”
Read in context
Jeremiah 10:22
Listen! The sound of a report is coming— a great commotion from the land to the north. The cities of Judah will be made a desolation, a haunt for jackals.
Read in context
Malachi 1:3
but Esau I have hated, and I have made his mountains a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
Read in context
Psalms 44:19
But You have crushed us in the lair of jackals; You have covered us with deepest darkness.
Read in context
Hosea 9:6
For even if they flee destruction, Egypt will gather them and Memphis will bury them. Their precious silver will be taken over by thistles, and thorns will overrun their tents.
Read in context
Jeremiah 51:37
Babylon will become a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals, an object of horror and scorn, without inhabitant.
Read in context
Isaiah 32:13–14
and for the land of my people, overgrown with thorns and briers— even for every house of merriment in this city of revelry.
Read in context
Isaiah 35:7
The parched ground will become a pool, the thirsty land springs of water. In the haunt where jackals once lay, there will be grass and reeds and papyrus.
Read in context