Jeremiah 50:39

Wild beasts. The phrase “the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands” is the translation of the Heb. siyyim ’eth-’iyyim. The sound of this passage when read in Hebrew suggests the shrill cries of wild animals as they prowl in the ruins of Babylon. Siyyim is variously derived by scholars from a Hebrew root meaning “dryness,” in which case it could indicate a desert animal (as KJV), or from another root meaning “to cry,” suggesting an animal that yelps. ’Iyyim, taken by the translators of the KJV to be a form of ’i “island,” is considered by recent authorities to be from a root meaning “to cry,” and to refer to the jackal.

Owls. Heb. benoth ya‘anah, probably literally, “daughters of the desert,” or “daughters of the hard, stony land.” The term denotes ostriches (see on Lev. 11:16).

No more inhabited. See on v. 13.