Yesaya 13:19-20

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.

Yesaya 34:9-13

34:9 Edom’s ⁸  streams will be turned into pitch

and her soil into brimstone;

her land will become burning pitch.

34:10 Night and day it will burn; ⁹ 

its smoke will ascend continually.

Generation after generation it will be a wasteland

and no one will ever pass through it again.

34:11 Owls and wild animals ¹⁰  will live there, ¹¹ 

all kinds of wild birds ¹²  will settle in it.

The Lord ¹³  will stretch out over her

the measuring line of ruin

and the plumb line ¹⁴  of destruction. ¹⁵ 

34:12 Her nobles will have nothing left to call a kingdom

and all her officials will disappear. ¹⁶ 

34:13 Her fortresses will be overgrown with thorns;

thickets and weeds will grow ¹⁷  in her fortified cities.

Jackals will settle there;

ostriches will live there. ¹⁸ 

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

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

[13:19]  sn The Chaldeans were a group of tribes who lived in southern Mesopotamia. The established the so-called neo-Babylonian empire in the late seventh century b.c. Their most famous king, Nebuchadnezzar, conquered Judah in 605 b.c. and destroyed Jerusalem in 586 b.c.

[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.

[34:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “her”; the referent (Edom) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “it will not be extinguished.”

[34:11]  ¹⁰ tn קָאַת (qa’at) refers to some type of bird (cf. Lev 11:18; Deut 14:17) that was typically found near ruins (see Zeph 2:14). קִפּוֹד (qippod) may also refer to a type of bird (NAB “hoot owl”; NIV “screech owl”; TEV “ravens”), but some have suggested a rodent may be in view (cf. NCV “small animals”; ASV “porcupine”; NASB, NRSV “hedgehog”).

[34:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “will possess it” (so NIV).

[34:11]  ¹² tn The Hebrew text has יַנְשׁוֹף וְעֹרֵב (yanshof vÿ’orev). Both the יַנְשׁוֹף (“owl”; see Lev 11:17; Deut 14:16) and עֹרֵב (“raven”; Lev 11:15; Deut 14:14) were types of wild birds.

[34:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “stones,” i.e., the stones used in a plumb bob.

[34:11]  ¹⁵ sn The metaphor in v. 11b emphasizes that God has carefully planned Edom’s demise.

[34:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “will be nothing”; NCV, TEV, NLT “will all be gone.”

[34:13]  ¹⁷ tn The words “will grow” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[34:13]  ¹⁸ tc Heb “and she will be a settlement for wild dogs, a dwelling place for ostriches.” The translation assumes an emendation of חָצִיר (khatsir, “grass”) to חָצֵר (khatser, “settlement”). One of the Qumran scrolls of Isaiah (1QIsa^a) supports this emendation (cf. HALOT 344 s.v. II חָצִיר)