Isaiah 34:11
in Isaiah 34The 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.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But the pelican and the porcupine shall possess it; and the owl and the raven shall dwell therein: and he will stretch over it the line of confusion, and the plummet of emptiness.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Isaiah 34
Commentary
10 notes on this verseAs to the free habitation of beasts: the bittern, which is the same as the pelican, shall possess it, as if without fear, and the ibis, a bird hostile to snakes: "ibex, ibicis" is a four-footed beast; "ibis, ibidis" is a bird, and the ibis …
This site's exposition
Edom’s streams will be turned to tar
on Isaiah 34:9-11
Edom's ruin is described as unending, her soil to sulfur, and its smoke will ascend forever. Where a kingdom stood, only wild creatures remain. The LORD will stretch out over Edom a measuring line of chaos, the surveyor's tools that lay out a city here marking out its emptiness.
This site's exposition
a measuring line of chaos
Chaos and destruction translate tohu and bohu, the formless and empty of Genesis 1:2. Edom returns to the earth's condition before God gave it order. Barnes notes that the owls and the raven repeat the picture of Babylon's ruin at Isaiah 13:20-22.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verses 8 and following) For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, the year of retribution in the judgment of Zion. Its streams will be turned into pitch, and its soil into sulfur; its land will become burning pitch. Night and day it will not be extinguished; its smoke will go up forever. From generation to generation it will lie desolate; no one will pass through it forever. The pelican and the hedgehog will possess it, the owl and the raven will dwell in it.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Dwell - It shall be entirely possessed by those creatures which delight in deserts and waste places. Stretch - He shall use the line, or the stone or plummet joined to it, not to build them, but to mark them out to destruction, as workmen commonly use them to mark what they are to pull down.
But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it,....
Sin will soon turn a paradise into a chaos, and sully the beauty of the whole creation. When there is confusion there will soon be emptiness; but both are appointed by the governor of the world, and in exact proportions.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
But the cormorant - This and the following verses contain a description of the desolations of Edom in language remarkably similar to that employed in the account of the destruction of Babylon Isa 13:20-22; Isa 14:23. The word here translated ‘cormorant’ (קאת qâ'ath), occurs in this place and in Zep 2:14, where it is rendered ‘cormorant,’ and in Lev 11:18; Deu 14:17; Psa 102:6, where it is rendered ‘pelican.’ Bochart supposes it is the ardea stellaris, or bitourn, which frequents watery places in deserts, and makes a horrible noise. The pelican is a sea-fowl, and cannot be intended here.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
cormorant--The Hebrew is rendered, in Ps 102:6, "pelican," which is a seafowl, and cannot be meant here: some waterfowl (katta, according to BURCKHARDT) that tenants desert places is intended. bittern--rather, "the hedgehog," or "porcupine" [GESENIUS] (Isa 14:23). owl--from its being enumerated among water birds in Le 11:17;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The cormorant - קאת kaath, the pelican, from the root קיא ki, to vomit, because it is said she swallows shell-fish, and when the heat of her stomach has killed the fish, she vomits the shells, takes out the dead fish, and eats them. The bittern - קפד kippod, the hedge-hog, or porcupine. The owl - ינשוף yanshoph, the bittern, from נשף nashaph, to blow, because of the blowing noise it makes, almost like the lowing of an ox. My old MS. Bible renders the words thus: - The foule in face like an asse, and the yrchoun, and the snyte (snipe.) The line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness “The plummet of emptiness over her scorched plains” - The word חריה choreyha, joined to the 12th verse, embarrasses it, and makes it inexplicable. At least I do not know that any one has yet made out the construction, or given any tolerable explication of it. I join it to the 11th verse, and supply a letter or two, which seem to have been lost. Fifteen MSS. five ancient, and two editions, read חוריה choreyha; the first printed edition of 1486, I think nearer to the truth, חור חריה chor choreyha. I read בחרריה becharereyha, or על חרריה al chorereyha; see Jer 17:6. A MS. has חדיה chodiah, and the Syriac reads חדוה chaduah, gaudium, joining it to the two preceding words; which he likewise reads differently, but without improving the sense. However, his authority is clear for dividing the verses as they are here divided. I read שם shem, as a noun. They shall boast, יקראו yikreu; see Pro 20:6.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
from generation to generation From that generation until the last generation. Another explanation is that this is Moses’ curse (Ex.:16): “The Lord has a war against Amalek from generation to generation.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
As for its nobles, there are none who proclaim the kingdom Its princes stand, and none of them calls upon himself the name of ruling and kingdom.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וִירֵשׁ֙וּהָ֙ | vireshuha | and they will take possession of it | H3423 → | 231 times |
| קָאַ֣ת | kaat | desert owl | H6893 → | |
| וְקִפּ֔וֹד | vekipod | and hedgehog | H7090 → | |
| וְיַנְשׁ֥וֹף | veyanshof | and great owl | H3244 → | |
| וְעֹרֵ֖ב | veorev | and raven | H6158 → | |
| יִשְׁכְּנוּ־ | yishkenu- | they will dwell | H7931 → | 129 times |
| בָ֑הּ | vah | in it | ||
| וְנָטָ֥ה | venatah | and he will stretch out | H5186 → | 214 times |
| עָלֶ֛יהָ | ʾaleiha | over it | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| קַֽו־ | kav- | a measuring-line of | H6957 → | 21 times |
| תֹ֖הוּ | tohu | formlessness | H8414 → | 20 times |
| וְאַבְנֵי־ | veavnei- | and stones of | H68 → | 273 times |
| בֹֽהוּ׃ | vohu | emptiness | H922 → |
וִירֵשׁ֙וּהָ֙and they will take possession of it
vireshuhaH3423 →231 times
קָאַ֣תdesert owl
kaatH6893 →
וְקִפּ֔וֹדand hedgehog
vekipodH7090 →
וְיַנְשׁ֥וֹףand great owl
veyanshofH3244 →
וְעֹרֵ֖בand raven
veorevH6158 →
יִשְׁכְּנוּ־they will dwell
yishkenu-H7931 →129 times
בָ֑הּin it
vah
וְנָטָ֥הand he will stretch out
venatahH5186 →214 times
עָלֶ֛יהָover it
ʾaleihaH5921 →5755 times
קַֽו־a measuring-line of
kav-H6957 →21 times
תֹ֖הוּformlessness
tohuH8414 →20 times
וְאַבְנֵי־and stones of
veavnei-H68 →273 times
בֹֽהוּ׃emptiness
vohuH922 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
2 Kings 21:13I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab, and I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes out a bowl—wiping…
it leads to
- Amos 7:7–8
This is what He showed me: Behold, the Lord was standing by a wall true to plumb, with a plumb line in His hand.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Lamentations 2:8
The LORD determined to destroy the wall of the Daughter of Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not withdraw His hand from destroying. He made the ramparts and walls lament; together…
- Amos 7:7–8
Through
Revelation 18:2And he cried out in a mighty voice: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a lair for demons and a haunt for every unclean spirit, every unclean bird, and every detestable…
it leads to
- Revelation 14:8
Then a second angel followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, who has made all the nations drink the wine of the passion of her immorality.”
- Jeremiah 51:8
Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been shattered. Wail for her; get her balm for her pain; perhaps she can be healed.
- Jeremiah 51:37
Babylon will become a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals, an object of horror and scorn, without inhabitant.
- Jeremiah 50:39–40
So the desert creatures and hyenas will live there and ostriches will dwell there. It will never again be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation.
- Jeremiah 51:60–64
Jeremiah had written on a single scroll about all the disaster that would come upon Babylon—all these words that had been written concerning Babylon.
- Revelation 14:8
Through
Lamentations 2:8The LORD determined to destroy the wall of the Daughter of Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not withdraw His hand from destroying. He made the ramparts and walls lament; together…
it leads to
- 2 Kings 21:13
I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab, and I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes out a bowl—wiping…
- 2 Kings 21:13
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Isaiah
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.