Discovery BoxIsaiah 13:20-21 
Context13:20 No one will live there again;
no one will ever reside there again. 1
No bedouin 2 will camp 3 there,
no shepherds will rest their flocks 4 there.
13:21 Wild animals will rest there,
the ruined 5 houses will be full of hyenas. 6
Ostriches will live there,
wild goats will skip among the ruins. 7
1 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.
2 tn Or “Arab” (NAB, NASB, NIV); cf. CEV, NLT “nomads.”
3 tn יַהֵל (yahel) is probably a corrupted form of יֶאֱהַל (ye’ehal). See GKC 186 §68.k.
4 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.
5 tn The word “ruined” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
6 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).
7 tn Heb “will skip there.”
