Discovery BoxIsaiah 13:19-21 
Context13:19 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
1 tn Or “most beautiful” (NCV, TEV).
2 tn Heb “the beauty of the pride of the Chaldeans.”
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
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.
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.
5 tn Or “Arab” (NAB, NASB, NIV); cf. CEV, NLT “nomads.”
6 tn יַהֵל (yahel) is probably a corrupted form of יֶאֱהַל (ye’ehal). See GKC 186 §68.k.
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.
8 tn The word “ruined” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
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).
10 tn Heb “will skip there.”
