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Isaiah 13:21
ESV But wild animals will lie down there, and their houses will be full of howling creatures; there ostriches will dwell, and there wild goats will dance.
NIV But desert creatures will lie there, jackals will fill her houses; there the owls will dwell, and there the wild goats will leap about.
NASB But desert creatures will lie down there, And their houses will be full of owls; Ostriches also will live there, and shaggy goats will frolic there.
CSB But desert creatures will lie down there, and owls will fill the houses. Ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will leap about.
NLT Desert animals will move into the ruined city, and the houses will be haunted by howling creatures. Owls will live among the ruins, and wild goats will go there to dance.
KJV But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.
NKJV But wild beasts of the desert will lie there, And their houses will be full of owls; Ostriches will dwell there, And wild goats will caper there.

What does Isaiah 13:21 mean?

In delivering a message from God, Isaiah has been painting a picture of how radically the city of Babylon will be transformed after God's judgment has fallen on it. The human population will be decimated, leaving no people behind to inhabit it (Isaiah 13:12). The city that was once the pinnacle of human glory and culture in the ancient world will be cut down to nothing.

In place of the people, wild animals will make their home in the rubble of the streets. Howling creatures will move into the ruins of the once-opulent homes. Ostriches and goats will dwell there instead of the people who once partied in lavish style.

To some, this recalls pictures of thriving cities during the lockdowns of the COVID–19 pandemic. Famous spots usually swarmed by thousands of tourists and citizens were empty and eerily quiet. In some cases, wild animals were caught by cameras wandering the streets. What's described here is far more severe, like a post-apocalypse story. The area will be entirely ruined and absent from human control. It would not take long for the animal world to reclaim a city that has been emptied of humanity.
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