5:5 Now I will inform you
what I am about to do to my vineyard:
I will remove its hedge and turn it into pasture, 1
I will break its wall and allow animals to graze there. 2
23:13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans,
these people who have lost their identity! 3
The Assyrians have made it a home for wild animals.
They erected their siege towers, 4
demolished 5 its fortresses,
and turned it into a heap of ruins. 6
34:11 Owls and wild animals 7 will live there, 8
all kinds of wild birds 9 will settle in it.
The Lord 10 will stretch out over her
the measuring line of ruin
and the plumb line 11 of destruction. 12
43:20 The wild animals of the desert honor me,
the jackals and ostriches,
because I put water in the desert
and streams in the wilderness,
to quench the thirst of my chosen people,
1 tn Heb “and it will become [a place for] grazing.” בָּעַר (ba’ar, “grazing”) is a homonym of the more often used verb “to burn.”
2 tn Heb “and it will become a trampled place” (NASB “trampled ground”).
3 tn Heb “this people [that] is not.”
4 tn For the meaning of this word, see HALOT 118 s.v. *בַּחוּן.
5 tn Or “laid bare.” For the meaning of this word, see HALOT 889 s.v. ערר.
6 sn This verse probably refers to the Assyrian destruction of Babylon.
7 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”).
8 tn Heb “will possess it” (so NIV).
9 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.
10 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11 tn Heb “stones,” i.e., the stones used in a plumb bob.
12 sn The metaphor in v. 11b emphasizes that God has carefully planned Edom’s demise.