²⁰ It will ^(A)never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation;
Nor will the ^(B)Arab pitch his tent there,
Nor will shepherds make their flocks lie down there.
²¹ But ^(C)desert creatures will lie down there,
And their houses will be full of ^[a]owls;
Ostriches also will live there, and ^[b]shaggy goats will frolic there.
^22 [c]Hyenas will howl in their fortified towers
And jackals in their luxurious ^(D)palaces.
Her fateful time also ^[d]will soon come
And her days will not be prolonged.

³⁷ “^(A)Babylon will become a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals,
An ^(B)object of horror and hissing, without inhabitants.

¹³ And He will ^(A)stretch out His hand against the north
And destroy ^(B)Assyria,
And He will make ^(C)Nineveh a desolation,
Parched like the wilderness.
¹⁴ Flocks will lie down in her midst,
^[a]All beasts which range in herds;
Both the ^[b](D)pelican and the hedgehog
Will lodge in ^[c]the tops of her pillars;
^[d]Birds will sing in the window,
Desolation will be on the threshold;
For He has laid bare the cedar work.
¹⁵ This is the ^(E)exultant city
Which ^(F)dwells securely,
Who says in her heart,
“^(G)I am, and there is no one besides me.”
How she has become a ^(H)desolation,
A resting place for beasts!
^(I)Everyone who passes by her will hiss
And wave his hand in contempt.