Isaiah 34:13

13 And thorns will come up in her fair houses, and waste plants in her strong towers: and foxes will make their holes there, and it will be a meeting-place for ostriches.

Isaiah 34:13 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 34:13

And thorns shall come up in her palaces
Where their kings and princes dwelt, and kept their courts, popes and cardinals; here will be the tokens of God's curse, as thorns are, these being the people of his curse, as in ( Isaiah 34:5 ) : nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof;
alluding to "Bozrah" which signifies a fortress; referring to the towers and fortifications of the city of Rome, and all other fortified cities within its jurisdiction: and it shall be a habitation of dragons;
literally, as it figuratively had been the seat of the old dragon, the devil, and of the beast to whom the dragon gave his power, seat, and authority; and who, though he looked like a lamb, spoke like a dragon, ( Revelation 12:3 ) ( Revelation 13:2 Revelation 13:11 ) : [and] a court for owls;
or, "daughters of the owl"; or "ostriches", as some render it.

Isaiah 34:13 In-Context

11 But the birds of the waste land will have their place there; it will be a heritage for the bittern and the raven: and it will be measured out with line and weight as a waste land.

12 The jackals will be there, and her great ones will be gone; they will say, There is no longer a kingdom there, and all her chiefs will have come to an end.

13 And thorns will come up in her fair houses, and waste plants in her strong towers: and foxes will make their holes there, and it will be a meeting-place for ostriches.

14 And the beasts of the waste places will come together with the jackals, and the evil spirits will be crying to one another, even the night-spirit will come and make her resting-place there.

15 The arrowsnake will make her hole and put her eggs there, and get her young together under her shade: there the hawks will come together by twos.