Isaiah 13:21-22

13:21 Wild animals will rest there,

the ruined ¹  houses will be full of hyenas. ² 

Ostriches will live there,

wild goats will skip among the ruins. ³ 

13:22 Wild dogs will yip in her ruined fortresses,

jackals will yelp in the once-splendid palaces. ⁴ 

Her time is almost up, ⁵ 

her days will not be prolonged. ⁶ 

Isaiah 35:7

35:7 The dry soil will become a pool of water,

the parched ground springs of water.

Where jackals once lived and sprawled out,

grass, reeds, and papyrus will grow.

Jeremiah 9:11

9:11 The Lord said, ⁷ 

“I will make Jerusalem ⁸  a heap of ruins.

Jackals will make their home there. ⁹ 

I will destroy the towns of Judah

so that no one will be able to live in them.”

Jeremiah 10:22

10:22 Listen! News is coming even now. ¹⁰ 

The rumble of a great army is heard approaching ¹¹  from a land in the north. ¹² 

It is coming to turn the towns of Judah into rubble,

places where only jackals live.

Jeremiah 49:33

49:33 “Hazor will become a permanent wasteland,

a place where only jackals live. ¹³ 

No one will live there.

No human being will settle in it.” ¹⁴ 

Jeremiah 50:39-40

50:39 Therefore desert creatures and jackals will live there.

Ostriches ¹⁵  will dwell in it too. ¹⁶ 

But no people will ever live there again.

No one will dwell there for all time to come. ¹⁷ 

50:40 I will destroy Babylonia just like I did

Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns.

No one will live there. ¹⁸ 

No human being will settle in it,”

says the Lord. ¹⁹ 

Jeremiah 51:37

51:37 Babylon will become a heap of ruins.

Jackals will make their home there. ²⁰ 

It will become an object of horror and of hissing scorn,

a place where no one lives. ²¹ 

Malachi 1:3

1:3 and rejected Esau. ²²  I turned Esau’s ²³  mountains into a deserted wasteland ²⁴  and gave his territory ²⁵  to the wild jackals.”

Revelation 18:2

18:2 He ²⁶  shouted with a powerful voice:

“Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great!

She ²⁷  has become a lair for demons,

a haunt ²⁸  for every unclean spirit,

a haunt for every unclean bird,

a haunt for every unclean and detested beast. ²⁹ 

Revelation 18:20-24

18:20 (Rejoice over her, O heaven,

and you saints and apostles and prophets,

for God has pronounced judgment ³⁰  against her on your behalf!) ³¹ 

18:21 Then ³²  one powerful angel picked up a stone like a huge millstone, threw it into the sea, and said,

“With this kind of sudden violent force ³³ 

Babylon the great city will be thrown down ³⁴ 

and it will never be found again!

18:22 And the sound of the harpists, musicians,

flute players, and trumpeters

will never be heard in you ³⁵  again.

No ³⁶  craftsman ³⁷  who practices any trade

will ever be found in you again;

the noise of a mill ³⁸  will never be heard in you again.

18:23 Even the light from a lamp

will never shine in you again!

The voices of the bridegroom and his bride

will never be heard in you again.

For your merchants were the tycoons of the world,

because all the nations ³⁹  were deceived by your magic spells! ⁴⁰ 

18:24 The ⁴¹  blood of the saints and prophets was found in her, ⁴² 

along with the blood ⁴³  of all those who had been killed on the earth.”

[13:21]  ¹ tn The word “ruined” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[13:21]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “will skip there.”

[13:22]  ⁴ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “wild dogs will yip among his widows, and jackals in the palaces of pleasure.” The verb “yip” is supplied in the second line; it does double duty in the parallel structure. “His widows” makes little sense in this context; many emend the form (אַלְמנוֹתָיו, ’almnotayv) to the graphically similar אַרְמְנוֹתֶיהָ (’armÿnoteha, “her fortresses”), a reading that is assumed in the present translation. The use of “widows” may represent an intentional wordplay on “fortresses,” indicating that the fortresses are like dejected widows (J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 1:308, n. 1).

[13:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “near to come is her time.”

[13:22]  ⁶ sn When was the prophecy of Babylon’s fall fulfilled? Some argue that the prophecy was fulfilled in 689 b.c. when the Assyrians under Sennacherib sacked and desecrated the city (this event is alluded to in 23:13). This may have been an initial phase in the fulfillment of the prophecy, but the reference to the involvement of the Medes (v. 17) and the suggestion that Babylon’s demise will bring about the restoration of Israel (14:1-2) indicate that the fall of Babylon to the Medes and Persians in 538 b.c. is the primary focus of the prophecy. (After all, the Lord did reveal to Isaiah that the Chaldeans [not the Assyrians] would someday conquer Jerusalem and take the people into exile [see 39:5-7].) However, the vivid picture of destruction in vv. 15-22 raises a problem. The Medes and Persians did not destroy the city; in fact Cyrus’ takeover of Babylon, though preceded by a military campaign, was relatively peaceful and even welcomed by some Babylonian religious officials. How then does one explain the prophecy’s description of the city’s violent fall? As noted above, the events of 689 b.c. and 538 b.c. may have been merged in the prophecy. However, it is more likely that the language is stylized and exaggerated for rhetorical effect. See Isa 34:11-15; Jer 50:39-40 (describing Babylon’s fall in 538 b.c.); 51:36-37 (describing Babylon’s fall in 538 b.c.); Zeph 2:13-15; the extra-biblical Sefire treaty curses; and Ashurbanipal’s description of the destruction of Elam in his royal annals. In other words, the events of 538 b.c. essentially, though not necessarily literally, fulfill the prophecy.

[9:11]  ⁷ tn The words “the Lord said” are not in the text, but it is obvious from the content that he is the speaker. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:11]  ⁸ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[9:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “a heap of ruins, a haunt for jackals.”

[10:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “The sound of a report, behold, it is coming.”

[10:22]  ¹¹ tn Heb “ coming, even a great quaking.”

[10:22]  ¹² sn Compare Jer 6:22.

[49:33]  ¹³ sn Compare Jer 9:11.

[49:33]  ¹⁴ sn Compare Jer 49:18 and 50:40 where the same thing is said about Edom and Babylon.

[50:39]  ¹⁵ tn The identification of this bird has been called into question by G. R. Driver, “Birds in the Old Testament,” PEQ 87 (1955): 137-38. He refers to this bird as an owl. That identification, however, is not reflected in any of the lexicons including the most recent, which still gives “ostrich” (HALOT 402 s.v. יַעֲנָה) as does W. S. McCullough, “Ostrich,” IDB 3:611. REB, NIV, NCV, and God’s Word all identify this bird as “owl/desert owl.”

[50:39]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Therefore desert creatures will live with jackals and ostriches will live in it.”

[50:39]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “It will never again be inhabited nor dwelt in unto generation and generation.” For the meaning of this last phrase compare the usage in Ps 100:5 and Isaiah 13:20. Since the first half of the verse has spoken of animals living there, it is necessary to add “people” and turn the passive verbs into active ones.

[50:40]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “‘Like [when] God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns,’ oracle of the Lord, ‘no man will live there.’” The Lord is speaking so the first person has been substituted for “God.” The sentence has again been broken up to better conform with contemporary English style.

[50:40]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[51:37]  ²⁰ tn Heb “a heap of ruins, a haunt for jackals.” Compare 9:11.

[51:37]  ²¹ tn Heb “without an inhabitant.”

[1:3]  ²² 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).

[1:3]  ²³ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:3]  ²⁴ tn Heb “I set his mountains as a desolation.”

[1:3]  ²⁵ tn Or “inheritance” (so NIV, NLT).

[18:2]  ²⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style

[18:2]  ²⁷ tn Or “It” (the subject is embedded in the verb in Greek; the verb only indicates that it is third person). Since the city has been personified as the great prostitute, the feminine pronoun was used in the translation.

[18:2]  ²⁸ tn Here BDAG 1067 s.v. φυλακή 3 states, “a place where guarding is done, prison…Of the nether world or its place of punishment (πνεῦμα 2 and 4c) 1 Pt 3:19 (BReicke, The Disobedient Spirits and Christian Baptism ’46, 116f). It is in a φ. in the latter sense that Satan will be rendered harmless during the millennium Rv 20:7. The fallen city of Babylon becomes a φυλακή haunt for all kinds of unclean spirits and birds 18:2ab.”

[18:2]  ²⁹ tc There are several problems in this verse. It seems that according to the ms evidence the first two phrases (i.e., “and a haunt for every unclean spirit, and a haunt for every unclean bird” [καὶ φυλακὴ παντὸς πνεύματος ἀκαθάρτου καὶ φυλακὴ παντὸς ὀρνέου ἀκαθάρτου, kai fulakh panto" pneumato" akaqartou kai fulakh panto" orneou akaqartou]) are to be regarded as authentic, though there are some ms discrepancies. The similar beginnings (καὶ φυλακὴ παντός) and endings (ἀκαθάρτου) of each phrase would easily account for some mss omitting one or the other phrase. The third phrase (“a haunt for every unclean animal” [καὶ φυλακὴ παντὸς θηρίου ἀκαθάρτου, kai fulakh panto" qhriou akaqartou]), however, is more problematic since it is missing in several important mss (א C 051 Ï). The passage as a whole, including the third phrase, seems to be an allusion to Isa 13:21 and 34:11. It seems reasonable, in such a case, to assume that since there is good ms evidence to support the third phrase (A 1611 2329 al), it probably dropped out of certain mss because of its similarity to the two preceding clauses. It is the presence of all three phrases in the original that most likely gave rise to the divergent ms evidence extant today.

[18:20]  ³⁰ tn On the phrase “pronounced judgment” BDAG 567 s.v. κρίμα 4.b states, “The OT is the source of the expr. κρίνειν τὸ κρ. (cp. Zech 7:9; 8:16; Ezk 44:24) ἔκρινεν ὁ θεὸς τὸ κρίμα ὑμῶν ἐξ αὐτῆς God has pronounced judgment for you against her or God has pronounced on her the judgment she wished to impose on you (HHoltzmann, Hdb. 1893 ad loc.) Rv 18:20.”

[18:20]  ³¹ tn Grk “God has judged a judgment of you of her.” Verse 20 is set in parentheses because in it the saints, etc. are addressed directly in the second person.

[18:21]  ³² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[18:21]  ³³ tn On ὅρμημα ({ormhma) BDAG 724 s.v. states, “violent rush, onset ὁρμήματι βληθήσεται Βαβυλών Babylon will be thrown down with violence Rv 18:21.” L&N 68.82 refers to the suddenness of the force or violence.

[18:21]  ³⁴ sn Thrown down is a play on both the words and the action. The angel’s action with the stone illustrates the kind of sudden violent force with which the city will be overthrown.

[18:22]  ³⁵ tn The shift to a second person pronoun here corresponds to the Greek text.

[18:22]  ³⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[18:22]  ³⁷ tn On this term BDAG 1001 s.v. τεχνίτης states, “craftsperson, artisan, designer…Of a silversmith Ac 19:24, 25 v.l., 38….Of a potter 2 Cl 8:2 (metaph., cp. Ath. 15:2). πᾶς τεχνίτης πάσης τέχνης Rv 18:22.”

[18:22]  ³⁸ tn This is a different Greek word (μύλος, mulos) from the one for the millstone in v. 21 (μύλινος, mulinos). See L&N 7.68.

[18:23]  ³⁹ tn Or “all the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).

[18:23]  ⁴⁰ tn On the term φαρμακεία (farmakeia, “magic spells”) see L&N 53.100: “the use of magic, often involving drugs and the casting of spells upon people – ‘to practice magic, to cast spells upon, to engage in sorcery, magic, sorcery.’ φαρμακεία: ἐν τῇ φαρμακείᾳ σου ἐπλανήθησαν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ‘with your magic spells you deceived all the peoples (of the world)’ Re 18:23.”

[18:24]  ⁴¹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[18:24]  ⁴² tn The shift in pronouns from second to third person corresponds to the Greek text.

[18:24]  ⁴³ tn Grk “and of all.” The phrase “along with the blood” has been repeated from the previous clause for stylistic reasons.