Isaiah 13:22

Brenton's Septuagint

and satyrs shall dwell there; and hedgehogs shall make their nests in their houses. It will come soon, and will not tarry.

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
Wild dogs and wolves will howl in the great and beautiful buildings. Babylon will be finished. The end is near, and it will not be delayed."

New Living Translation
Hyenas will howl in its fortresses, and jackals will make dens in its luxurious palaces. Babylon's days are numbered; its time of destruction will soon arrive.

Update Bible Version
And wolves shall cry in their castles, and jackals in the pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.

New Century Version
Wolves will howl within the strong walls, and wild dogs will bark in the beautiful buildings. The end of Babylon is near; its time is almost over."

New English Translation
Wild dogs will yip in her ruined fortresses, jackals will yelp in the once-splendid palaces. Her time is almost up, her days will not be prolonged.

Webster's Bible Translation
And the wild beasts of the isles shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in [their] pleasant palaces: and her time [is] near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.

World English Bible
Wolves shall cry in their castles, and jackals in the pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.

Amplified Bible
Hyenas will howl in their castles, And jackals in their luxurious palaces. Babylon's time has nearly come, And her days will not be prolonged.

English Standard Version
Hyenas will cry in its towers, and jackals in the pleasant palaces; its time is close at hand and its days will not be prolonged.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And bitouris schulen answere there in the housis therof, and fliynge serpentis in the templis of lust.

English Revised Version
And wolves shall cry in their castles, and jackals in the pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.

Berean Standard Bible
Hyenas will howl in her fortresses and jackals in her luxurious palaces. Babylon's time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged.

Contemporary English Version
Hyenas and wolves will howl from Babylon's fortresses and beautiful palaces. Its time is almost up!

American Standard Version
And wolves shall cry in their castles, and jackals in the pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.

Bible in Basic English
And wolves will be answering one another in their towers, and jackals in their houses of pleasure: her time is near, and her days of power will quickly be ended.

Complete Jewish Bible
Jackals will howl in their palaces and wild dogs in their temples of delight. Its time is close at hand, its days will not last long.

Darby Translation
And jackals shall cry to one another in their palaces, and wild dogs in the pleasant castles. And her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And jackals shall howl in their castles, and wild-dogs in the pleasant palaces; and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.

King James Version (1611)
And the wilde beastes of the Ilands shal cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is neere to come, and her dayes shall not be prolonged.

New Life Bible
Hyenas will make noise in their strong towers, and wild dogs in their beautiful houses. The end of her time is near. Her days will be few.

New Revised Standard
Hyenas will cry in its towers, and jackals in the pleasant palaces; its time is close at hand, and its days will not be prolonged.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And Iim shall crie in their palaces, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and the time thereof is readie to come, and the daies thereof shall not be prolonged.

George Lamsa Translation
And the screech-owls shall cry in their palaces, and jackals in their pleasant temples; its time is soon to come, and its days shall not be prolonged.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And jackals shall answer, in their citadels, And wild dogs, in their voluptuous palaces, - And near to come is her time, And, her days, shall not be delayed.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And owls shall answer one another there, in the houses thereof, and sirens in the temples of pleasure.

Revised Standard Version
Hyenas will cry in its towers, and jackals in the pleasant palaces; its time is close at hand and its days will not be prolonged.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Wylde cattes shall crye in the palaces, and dragons shalbe in the pleasaunt houses: And as for Babylons tyme it is at hande, and her dayes shall not be prolonged.

Good News Translation
The towers and palaces will echo with the cries of hyenas and jackals. Babylon's time has come! Her days are almost over."

Christian Standard Bible®
Hyenas will howl in the fortresses,and jackals, in the luxurious palaces.Babylon’s time is almost up;her days are almost over.

Hebrew Names Version
Wolves shall cry in their castles, and jackals in the pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.

King James Version
And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.

Lexham English Bible
And hyenas will answer in its palaces, and jackals in the pleasure palaces; and its time is coming soon, and its days will not be prolonged.

Literal Translation
And hyenas shall cry along with his widows; and jackals in palaces of delight. Yea, her time to come is near, and her days shall not be prolonged.

Young's Literal Translation
And Aiim have responded in his forsaken habitations, And dragons in palaces of delight, And near to come [is] her time, And her days are not drawn out!

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The litle Oules shall crie in the palaces, one after another, & Dragos shalbe in the pleasaut perlours. And as for Babilons tyme, it is at honde, & hir dayes maye not be longe absent.

New American Standard Bible
Hyenas will howl in their fortified towers And jackals in their luxurious palaces. Her fateful time also will soon come, And her days will not be prolonged.

New King James Version
The hyenas will howl in their citadels, And jackals in their pleasant palaces. Her time is near to come, And her days will not be prolonged."

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Hyenas will howl in their fortified towers And jackals in their luxurious palaces. Her fateful time also will soon come And her days will not be prolonged.

Legacy Standard Bible
And hyenas will howl in their fortified towersAnd jackals in their luxurious palaces.Her fateful time also will soon comeAnd her days will not be prolonged.

Contextual Overview

¹⁹ And Babylon, which is called glorious by the king of the Chaldeans, shall be as when God overthrew Sodoma, and Gomorrha. ²⁰ It shall never be inhabited, neither shall any enter into it for many generations: neither shall the Arabians pass through it; nor shall shepherds at all rest in it. ²¹ But wild beasts shall rest there; and the houses shall be filled with howling; and monsters shall rest there, and devils shall dance there, ²² and satyrs shall dwell there; and hedgehogs shall make their nests in their houses. It will come soon, and will not tarry.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the wild beasts: Heb. Iim

desolate houses: or, palaces, dragons. Isaiah 35:7

her time: Deuteronomy 32:35, Jeremiah 51:33, Ezekiel 7:7-10, Habakkuk 2:3, 2 Peter 2:3, 2 Peter 3:9, 2 Peter 3:10

Reciprocal: Leviticus 11:16 - General Job 30:29 - a brother Isaiah 14:23 - make Isaiah 25:2 - palace Isaiah 34:13 - an habitation Isaiah 34:14 - the wild beasts of the island Jeremiah 9:11 - a den Jeremiah 48:16 - near Malachi 1:3 - the Acts 28:4 - beast

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses,.... The Targum and Syriac version, "in their palaces", and so the Vulgate Latin; or "with their widows", such as have lost their mates: what creatures are here meant is very uncertain; we in general call them the wild beasts of the islands, because the word is sometimes used for islands; the Targum renders it "cats", wild ones; the Syriac version, "sirens"; and the Arabic, the "hyaenae"; the Septuagint version, "onocentaurs"; and the Vulgate Latin version, "owls", which live in desolate houses, and cry or answer to one another, which is the sense of the phrase here:

and dragons in [their] pleasant palaces; where they delight to be, though otherwise very dismal. The Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, "hedgehogs": the Syriac version, "wild dogs"; and the Vulgate Latin version, "sirens"; the word is commonly used for "whales", and sometimes for serpents, which seems to be the sense here; and to this agrees the account that R. Benjamin Tudelensis r gives of Babylon, who, when he was there, about five or six hundred years ago, saw the palace of Nebuchadnezzar in ruins, but men were afraid to enter into it, because of serpents and scorpions, which were within it. Rauwolff, a German traveller, about the year 1574, reports of the tower of Babylon, that it was so ruinous, so low, and so full of venomous creatures, which lodge in holes made by them in the rubbish, that no one durst approach nearer to it than within half a league, excepting during two months in the winter, when these animals never stir out of their holes s:

and her time [is] near to come; that is, the time of the destruction of Babylon, as the Targum expresses it; which, though two hundred years or more from the time of this prophecy, yet but a short time with God; and when this was made known to the Jews in captivity, for whose comfort it is written, it was not afar off:

and her days shall not be prolonged; the days of her prosperity and happiness, but should be shortened.

r Itinerarium, p. 76. s Vid. Prideaux's Connection, par. 1. p. 569.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And the wild beasts of the islands - (איים 'ı̂yı̂ym); see the notes at Isaiah 11:11; Isaiah 41:1, on the word rendered ‘islands.’ The word denotes islands, or coasts, and as those coasts and islands were unknown and unexplored, the word seems to have denoted unknown and uninhabited regions in general. Boehart supposes that by the word here used is denoted a species of wolves, the jackal, or the “thoes.” It is known as a wild animal, exceedingly fierce, and is also distinguished by alternate howlings in the night (“see” Bochart’s “Hieroz.” i. 3. 12). The word wolf probably will not express an erroneous idea here. The Chaldee renders it, ‘Cats.’

Shall cry - Hebrew, ‘Shall answer, or respond to each other.’ This is known to be the custom of wolves and some other wild animals, who send forth those dismal howls in alternate responses at night. This alternation of the howl or cry gives an additional impressiveness to the loneliness and desolation of forsaken Babylon.

And dragons - (תנין tannı̂yn). This word, in its various forms of “tannim, taninim, tannin, and tannoth,” denotes sometimes “jackals or thoes,” as in Job 30:29; Psalms 44:19; Micah 1:8; Malachi 1:3. But it also denotes a great fish, a whale, a sea monster, a dragon, a serpent. It is translated ‘a whale’ in Genesis 1:21; Job 7:12; Ezekiel 32:2; ‘serpents,’ Exodus 7:9-10, Exodus 7:12; ‘dragons,’ or ‘dragon,’ Deuteronomy 32:33; Nehemiah 2:13; Psalms 44:19; Psalms 74:13; Psalms 91:13; Psalms 148:7; Isaiah 27:1; Isaiah 51:9; Jeremiah 14:6; Jeremiah 51:34; Malachi 1:3, “et al.;” and once ‘sea monsters,’ Lamentations 4:3. A “dragon” properly means a kind of winged serpent much celebrated in the dark ages. Here it may not improperly be rendered “jackal” (“see” Bochart’s “Hieroz.” i. 1. 9, p. 69).

In their pleasant palaces - Hebrew, ‘Their palaces of luxury and pleasure.’ The following testimonies from travelers will show how minutely this was accomplished: ‘There are many dens of wild beasts in various parts.’ ‘There are quantities of porcupine quills.’ ‘In most of the cavities are numberless bats and owls.’ ‘These caverns, over which the chambers of majesty may have been spread, are now the refuge of jackals and other savage animals. The mouths of their entrances are strewed with the bones of sheep and “goats;” and the loathsome smell that issues from most of them is sufficient warning not to proceed into the den.’ - (Sir R. K. Porter’s “Travels,” vol. ii. p. 342.) ‘The mound was full of large holes; we entered some of them, and found them strewed with the carcasses and skeletons of animals recently killed. The ordure of wild beasts was so strong, that prudence got the better of curiosity, for we had no doubt as to the savage nature of the inhabitants. Our guides, indeed, told us that all the ruins abounded in lions and other wild beasts; so literally has the divine prediction been fulfilled, that wild beasts of the deserts should lie there.’ - (Keppel’s “Narrative,” vol. i. pp. 179, 180.)

And her time is near to come - This was spoken about 174 years before the destruction of Babylon. But we are to bear in mind that the prophet is to be supposed to be speaking to the captive Jews “in” Babylon, and speaking to them respecting their release (see Isaiah 14:1-2; compare remarks on the Analysis of this chapter). Thus considered, supposing the prophet to be addressing the Jews in captivity, or ministering consolation to them, the time was near. Or if we suppose him speaking as in his own time, the period when Babylon was to be destroyed was at no great distance.

On this whole prophecy, we may observe:

(1) That it was uttered at least 170 years before it was fulfilled. Of this there is all the proof that can be found in regard to any ancient writings.

(2) When uttered, there was the strongest improbability that it would be fulfilled. This improbability arose from the following circumstances:

(a) The Jews were secure in their own land, and they had no reason to dread the Babylonians; they had no wars with them, and it was improbable that they would be plucked up as a nation and carried there as captives. Such a thing had never occurred, and there were no circumstances that made it probable that it would occur.

(b) The great strength and security of Babylon rendered it improbable. It was the capital of the pagan world; and if there was any city that seemed impregnable, it was this.

(c) It was improbable that it would be overthrown by “the Medes.” Media, at the time when the prophecy was uttered, was a dependent province of Assyria (note, Isaiah 13:17), and it was wholly improbable that the Medes would revolt; that they would subdue their masters; that they would be united to the Persians, and that thus a new kingdom would arise, that should overthrow the most mighty capital of the world.

(d) It was improbable that Babylon would become uninhabitable. It was in the midst of a most fertile country; and by no human sagacity could it have been seen that the capital would be removed to Susa, or that Seleucia would be founded, thus draining it of its inhabitants; or that by the inundation of waters it would become unhealthy. How could mere human sagacity have foreseen that there would not be a house in it in the sixteenth century; or that now, in 1839, it would be a wide and dreary waste? Can any man now tell what London, or Paris, or New York, or Philadelphia, will be two years hence? Yet a prediction that those cities shall be the residence of ‘wild beasts of the desert,’ of ‘satyrs’ and ‘dragons,’ would be as probable now as was the prediction respecting Babylon at the time when Isaiah uttered these remarkable prophecies.

(3) The prophecy is not vague conjecture. It is not a “general” statement. It is minute, and definite, and particular; and it has been as definitely, and minutely, and particularly fulfilled.

(4) This is one of the evidences of the divine origin of the Bible. How will the infidel account for this prophecy and its fulfillment? It will not do to say that it is accident. It is too minute, and too particular. It is not human sagacity. No human sagacity could have foretold it. It is not “fancied fulfillment.” It is real, in the most minute particulars. And if so, then Isaiah was commissioned by Yahweh as he claimed to be - for none but the omniscient Jehovah can foresee and describe future events as the destruction of Babylon was foreseen and described. And if “this” prophecy was inspired by God, by the same train of reasoning it can be proved that the whole Bible is a revelation from heaven. For a very interesting account of the present state of the ruins of Babylon, furnishing the most complete evidence of the fulfillment of the Prophecies in regard to it, the reader may consult an article in the “Amos Bib. Rep.,” vol. viii. pp. 177-189. (See also the two “Memoirs on the Ruins of Babylon,” by C. John Rich, Esq. London, 1816 and 1818.) The frontispiece to this volume, compiled from the sketches of recent travelers, gives accurate and interesting views of those ruins.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 13:22. In their pleasant palaces - "In their palaces"] באלמנותיו bealmenothaiv; a plain mistake, I presume, for בארמנתיו bearmenothaiv. It is so corrected in two MSS., the Syriac, Chaldee, and Vulgate.

Πουλυποδες δ' εν εμοι θαλαμας φωκαι τε μελαιναι

Οικα ποιησονται ακηδεα, χητεΐ λαων.

HOM. Hymn. in Apol. 77.

Of which the following passage of Milton may be taken for a translation, though not so designed: -

"And in their palaces,

Where luxury late reigned, sea monsters whelped,

And stabled." Par. Lost, xi. 750.

This image of desolation is handled with great propriety and force by some of the Persian poets: -

[Arabic]

[Arabic]

"The spider holds the veil in the palace of Caesar;

The owl stands centinel on the watch-tower of Afrasiab."

On this quotation Sir W. Jones observes, [Arabic] noubet is an Arabic word, signifying a turn, a change, a watch; hence [Arabic] noubet zudun in Persian signifies to relieve the guards by the sounds of drums and trumpets. Their office is given by the poet to the owl; as that of [Arabic] purdeh dar, or chamberlain, is elegantly assigned to the spider.