23 “I will turn her into a place for owls(A)
    and into swampland;
I will sweep her with the broom of destruction,(B)
    declares the Lord Almighty.(C)

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23 I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts.

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10 It will not be quenched(A) night or day;
    its smoke will rise forever.(B)
From generation to generation(C) it will lie desolate;(D)
    no one will ever pass through it again.
11 The desert owl[a](E) and screech owl[b] will possess it;
    the great owl[c] and the raven(F) will nest there.
God will stretch out over Edom(G)
    the measuring line of chaos(H)
    and the plumb line(I) of desolation.
12 Her nobles will have nothing there to be called a kingdom,
    all her princes(J) will vanish(K) away.
13 Thorns(L) will overrun her citadels,
    nettles and brambles her strongholds.(M)
She will become a haunt for jackals,(N)
    a home for owls.(O)
14 Desert creatures(P) will meet with hyenas,(Q)
    and wild goats will bleat to each other;
there the night creatures(R) will also lie down
    and find for themselves places of rest.
15 The owl will nest there and lay eggs,
    she will hatch them, and care for her young
    under the shadow of her wings;(S)
there also the falcons(T) will gather,
    each with its mate.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 34:11 The precise identification of these birds is uncertain.
  2. Isaiah 34:11 The precise identification of these birds is uncertain.
  3. Isaiah 34:11 The precise identification of these birds is uncertain.

10 It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.

11 But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness.

12 They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing.

13 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.

14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest.

15 There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate.

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29 The land trembles(A) and writhes,
    for the Lord’s purposes(B) against Babylon stand—
to lay waste(C) the land of Babylon
    so that no one will live there.(D)

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29 And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the Lord shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant.

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37 Babylon will be a heap of ruins,
    a haunt(A) of jackals,
an object of horror and scorn,(B)
    a place where no one lives.(C)
38 Her people all roar like young lions,(D)
    they growl like lion cubs.
39 But while they are aroused,
    I will set out a feast for them
    and make them drunk,(E)
so that they shout with laughter—
    then sleep forever(F) and not awake,”
declares the Lord.(G)
40 “I will bring them down
    like lambs to the slaughter,
    like rams and goats.(H)

41 “How Sheshak[a](I) will be captured,(J)
    the boast of the whole earth seized!
How desolate(K) Babylon will be
    among the nations!
42 The sea will rise over Babylon;
    its roaring waves(L) will cover her.
43 Her towns will be desolate,
    a dry and desert(M) land,
a land where no one lives,
    through which no one travels.(N)

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 51:41 Sheshak is a cryptogram for Babylon.

37 And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.

38 They shall roar together like lions: they shall yell as lions' whelps.

39 In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the Lord.

40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he goats.

41 How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!

42 The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.

43 Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.

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62 Then say, ‘Lord, you have said you will destroy this place, so that neither people nor animals will live in it; it will be desolate(A) forever.’

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62 Then shalt thou say, O Lord, thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever.

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