Isaiah 13:19-21

13:19 Babylon, the most admired ¹  of kingdoms,

the Chaldeans’ source of honor and pride, ² 

will be destroyed by God

just as Sodom and Gomorrah were. ³ 

13:20 No one will live there again;

no one will ever reside there again. ⁴ 

No bedouin ⁵  will camp ⁶  there,

no shepherds will rest their flocks ⁷  there.

13:21 Wild animals will rest there,

the ruined ⁸  houses will be full of hyenas. ⁹ 

Ostriches will live there,

wild goats will skip among the ruins. ¹⁰ 

[13:19]  ¹ tn Or “most beautiful” (NCV, TEV).

[13:19]  ² tn Heb “the beauty of the pride of the Chaldeans.”

[13:19]  ³ tn Heb “and Babylon…will be like the overthrow by God of Sodom and Gomorrah.” On מַהְפֵּכַת (mahpekhat, “overthrow”) see the note on the word “destruction” in 1:7.

[13:20]  ⁴ 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.

[13:20]  ⁵ tn Or “Arab” (NAB, NASB, NIV); cf. CEV, NLT “nomads.”

[13:20]  ⁶ tn יַהֵל (yahel) is probably a corrupted form of יֶאֱהַל (ye’ehal). See GKC 186 §68.k.

[13:20]  ⁷ 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.

[13:21]  ⁸ tn The word “ruined” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[13:21]  ⁹ tn The precise referent of this word in uncertain. See HALOT 29 s.v. *אֹחַ. Various English versions translate as “owls” (e.g., NAB, NASB), “wild dogs” (NCV); “jackals” (NIV); “howling creatures” (NRSV, NLT).

[13:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “will skip there.”