Isaiah 34:12-17

12 There will be no king to rule the country, and the leaders will all be gone.
13 Thorns and thistles will grow up in all the palaces and walled towns, and jackals and owls will live in them.
14 Wild animals will roam there, and demons will call to each other. The night monster will come there looking for a place to rest.
15 Owls will build their nests, lay eggs, hatch their young, and care for them there. Vultures will gather there, one after another.
16 Search in the Lord's book of living creatures and read what it says. Not one of these creatures will be missing, and not one will be without its mate. The Lord has commanded it to be so; he himself will bring them together.
17 It is the Lord who will divide the land among them and give each of them a share. They will live in the land age after age, and it will belong to them forever.

Isaiah 34:12-17 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 34

This chapter is a prophecy of the destruction of all the antichristian nations of the world, and particularly of Rome, signified by Idumea; which is introduced with a call to a general attention to it, it being a very awful and solemn affair, Isa 34:1 utter and universal destruction is declared, as the effect of God's wrath, Isa 34:2 which is expressed by a dreadful scene of blood, to the melting of the mountains with it, and by the dissolution of the heavens, and the hosts of them, Isa 34:3,4 particularly the destruction of Idumea is denounced by the sword of the Lord being on it, and bathed with the blood, both of the common people, and of their princes, signified by various sorts of creatures, Isa 34:5-7 the cause of which is the Lord's vengeance for the controversy of his church and people, injured by Edom or Rome, Isa 34:8 whose desolate and calamitous state is represented as being like that of Sodom, Isa 34:9,10 and should be no more inhabited by men, nor governed by princes, but be the dwelling of wild beasts and unclean birds, Isa 34:11-15 all which is confirmed by the word and Spirit of God, Isa 34:16,17.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. [Verse 12 in Hebrew begins with a word, the meaning of which is unclear.]
  • [b]. night monster: [A female demon, believed to live in desolate places.]
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.