Isaiah 13:20

13:20 No one will live there again;

no one will ever reside there again. ¹ 

No bedouin ²  will camp ³  there,

no shepherds will rest their flocks ⁴  there.

Ezekiel 29:11

29:11 No human foot will pass through it, and no animal’s foot will pass through it; it will be uninhabited for forty years.

Malachi 1:3-4

1:3 and rejected Esau. ⁵  I turned Esau’s ⁶  mountains into a deserted wasteland ⁷  and gave his territory ⁸  to the wild jackals.”

1:4 Edom ⁹  says, “Though we are devastated, we will once again build the ruined places.” So the Lord who rules over all ¹⁰  responds, “They indeed may build, but I will overthrow. They will be known as ¹¹  the land of evil, the people with whom the Lord is permanently displeased.

¹ tn Heb “she will not be inhabited forever, and she will not be dwelt in to generation and generation (i.e., forever).” The Lord declares that Babylon, personified as a woman, will not be inhabited. In other words, her people will be destroyed and the Chaldean empire will come to a permanent end.

² tn Or “Arab” (NAB, NASB, NIV); cf. CEV, NLT “nomads.”

³ tn יַהֵל (yahel) is probably a corrupted form of יֶאֱהַל (ye’ehal). See GKC 186 §68.k.

⁴ tn The words “their flocks” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The Hebrew text does not supply the object here, but see Jer 33:12.

⁵ tn Heb “and I loved Jacob, but Esau I hated.” The context indicates this is technical covenant vocabulary in which “love” and “hate” are synonymous with “choose” and “reject” respectively (see Deut 7:8; Jer 31:3; Hos 3:1; 9:15; 11:1).

⁶ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷ tn Heb “I set his mountains as a desolation.”

⁸ tn Or “inheritance” (so NIV, NLT).

⁹ sn Edom, a “brother” nation to Israel, became almost paradigmatic of hostility toward Israel and God (see Num 20:14-21; Deut 2:8; Jer 49:7-22; Ezek 25:12-14; Amos 1:11-12; Obad 10-12).

¹⁰ sn The epithet Lord who rules over all occurs frequently as a divine title throughout Malachi (24 times total). This name (יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת, yÿhvah tsÿva’ot), traditionally translated “Lord of hosts” (so KJV, NAB, NASB; cf. NIV NLT “Lord Almighty”; NCV, CEV “Lord All-Powerful”), emphasizes the majestic sovereignty of the Lord, an especially important concept in the postexilic world of great human empires and rulers. For a thorough study of the divine title, see T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 123-57.

¹¹ tn Heb “and they will call them.” The third person plural subject is indefinite; one could translate, “and people will call them.”