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isaiah 34:11-15

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Isaiah 34:11-15

King James Version (KJV)

“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”

— D.L. Moody

Scripture focus

11. But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness. 12. They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none [shall be] there, and all her princes shall be nothing. 13. And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, [and] a court for owls. 14. The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest. 15. There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate.

Isaiah 34:11-15 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on Isaiah 34:11

Theological / Devotional

The cormorant. Heb. qa’ath, an unidentified, unclean bird, possibly a species of owl or hawk. In Lev. 11:18 and Deut. 14:17 qa’ath is translated “pelican.”

Bittern. Heb. qippod, probably the “hedgehog,” or the “porcupine.” In Zeph. 2:14 the “cormorant” and “bittern” are again mentioned together.

Confusion … emptiness. Heb. tohu … bohu, the same terms translated “without form” and “void” in Gen. 1:2, and meaning “chaotic” and “empty” (see on Gen. 1:2). The same vivid picture is given of the earth as it will be during the millennium (see on Isa. 24:1, 3; Rev. 20:1–3). For the word here translated “line” see on Isa. 28:17.

By SdaBc