Isaiah 34:13
in Isaiah 34Her towers will be overgrown with thorns, her fortresses with thistles and briers. She will become a haunt for jackals, an abode for ostriches.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
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.
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.
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This verse in Isaiah 34
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
And thorns ... - (see the note at Isa 5:6) It shall be an habitation of dragons - On the meaning of the word ‘dragons,’ see the note at Isa 13:22. Court for owls - A place of resort, a residence of owls. The word rendered ‘court’ (חציר châtsı̂yr) means a dwelling-place, a habitation, as well as an enclosure or court.
This site's exposition
call the nobles thereof to the kingdom
on Isaiah 34:12-15
The kingdom's ruling class is gone: they shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing, thorns and nettles standing where palaces stood. The wild beasts of the desert meet the wild beasts of the island there, the satyr cries to his fellow, and the screech owl and the great owl make their nests and hatch their young undisturbed, every creature finding its mate in a land no man contests. Clarke and Wesley both take the catalogue of unclean birds and beasts as the covenant curses of Leviticus and Deuteronomy landing on the ground once occupied by Israel's oldest rival.
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 Medieval Church2 voices
And thorns and nettles shall grow up in its houses, which they built so carefully, and the thistle, a kind of plant with many thorns, which sticks to cloaks, having broad leaves: nettles shall inherit their beloved silver, the bur shall be in their tabernacles …
Which conduct the Lord by the Prophet well reproves, under the character of Babylon, saying; "Thorns and nettles shall spring up in her houses, and the bramble in the fortresses thereof." For what do we understand by 'nettles,' but the irritations of thoughts, and what by 'thorns,' but the piercings of sins? Nettles therefore and thorns spring up in the houses of Babylon, because in the disorder of a reprobate mind there arise longings of thoughts which exasperate, and sinful deeds which wound. But they who act thus have others also more wicked than themselves as their defenders.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And thorns shall come up in her palaces,....
It shall be a habitation for dragons, which are poisonous and hurtful. And in their lofty rooms of state, Where cringing sycophants did wait, Dragons shall hiss and hungry wolves shall howl;
2 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
They shall become the residence and rendezvous of fearful frightful beasts and birds, which usually frequent such melancholy places, because there they may be undisturbed, and, when they are frightened thither, they help to frighten men thence. This circumstance of the desolation, being apt to strike a horror upon the mind, is much enlarged upon here,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
And thorns shall come up in her palaces - ועלו בארמנותיה vealu bearmenotheyha; so read all the ancient versions. A court for owls - יענה yaanah, the ostrich, from ענה anah, to cry, because of the noise it makes. “They roar, “says Dr. Shaw, “sometimes like a lion - sometimes like a bull. I have often heard them groan as if in the utmost distress.”
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
And its palaces shall grow thorns So is the nature of ruins to grow thorns and briers, and that is ‘kimosh’ and that is ‘choach’; they are all types of thorns, e.g., ortias, (nettles,) and the like.
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
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְעָלְתָ֤ה | vealtah | and it will grow up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| אַרְמְנֹתֶ֙יהָ֙ | ʾarmenoteiha | fortresses its | H759 → | 32 times |
| סִירִ֔ים | sirim | thorns | H5518 → | |
| קִמּ֥וֹשׂ | kimos | nettle[s] | H7057 → | |
| וָח֖וֹחַ | vachoach | and thornbush[es] | H2336 → | |
| בְּמִבְצָרֶ֑יהָ | bemivtzareiha | [will be] on fortifications its | H4013 → | 37 times |
| וְהָיְתָה֙ | vehayetah | and it will be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| נְוֵ֣ה | neveh | a habitation of | H5116 → | 35 times |
| תַנִּ֔ים | tanim | jackals | H8577 → | 28 times |
| חָצִ֖יר | chatzir | grass | H2681 → | |
| לִבְנ֥וֹת | livnot | for daughters of | H1323 → | 588 times |
| יַעֲנָֽה׃ | yaanah | an ostrich | H3284 → | 8 times |
וְעָלְתָ֤הand it will grow up
vealtahH5927 →890 times
אַרְמְנֹתֶ֙יהָ֙fortresses its
ʾarmenoteihaH759 →32 times
סִירִ֔יםthorns
sirimH5518 →
קִמּ֥וֹשׂnettle[s]
kimosH7057 →
וָח֖וֹחַand thornbush[es]
vachoachH2336 →
בְּמִבְצָרֶ֑יהָ[will be] on fortifications its
bemivtzareihaH4013 →37 times
וְהָיְתָה֙and it will be
vehayetahH1961 →3559 times
נְוֵ֣הa habitation of
nevehH5116 →35 times
תַנִּ֔יםjackals
tanimH8577 →28 times
חָצִ֖ירgrass
chatzirH2681 →
לִבְנ֥וֹתfor daughters of
livnotH1323 →588 times
יַעֲנָֽה׃an ostrich
yaanahH3284 →8 times
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
Zephaniah 2:9Therefore, as surely as I live,” declares the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, “surely Moab will be like Sodom and the Ammonites like Gomorrah—a place of weeds and salt pits, a perpetual…
it leads to
- Isaiah 15:1–9
This is the burden against Moab: Ar in Moab is ruined, destroyed in a night! Kir in Moab is devastated, destroyed in a night!
- Isaiah 11:14
They will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines to the west; together they will plunder the sons of the east. They will lay their hands on Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites…
- Deuteronomy 29:23
All its soil will be a burning waste of sulfur and salt, unsown and unproductive, with no plant growing on it, just like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the…
- Isaiah 25:10
For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain. But Moab will be trampled in his place as straw is trodden into the dung pile.
- Isaiah 15:1–9
Through
Psalms 44:19But You have crushed us in the lair of jackals; You have covered us with deepest darkness.
it leads to
- Psalms 23:4
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
- Job 3:5
May darkness and gloom reclaim it, and a cloud settle over it; may the blackness of the day overwhelm it.
- Psalms 23:4
Through
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.”
it leads to
- Isaiah 25:2
Indeed, You have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin. The fortress of strangers is a city no more; it will never be rebuilt.
- Isaiah 25:2
Through
Jeremiah 10:22Listen! 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.
it leads to
- 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.”
- Jeremiah 9:11
About Isaiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book 33; 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.