Isaiah 14:23

Green's Literal Translation

Also I will make it a possession of the hedgehog and pools of water; and I will sweep it with the broom of ruin, says Jehovah of Hosts.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
“I will make her a swampland and a region for herons, and I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction.”

Hebrew Names Version
I will also make it a possession for the porcupine, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, says the LORD of Hosts.

King James Version
I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts.

English Standard Version
"And I will make it a possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction," declares the Lord of hosts.

New American Standard Bible
"I will also make it the property of the hedgehog and swamps of water, and I will sweep it away with the broom of destruction," declares the LORD of armies.

New Century Version
"I will make Babylon fit only for owls and for swamps. I will sweep Babylon as with a broom of destruction," says the Lord All-Powerful.

Amplified Bible
"I will also make Babylon a possession of the hedgehog and of swamps of water, and I will sweep it away with the broom of destruction," declares the LORD of hosts.

World English Bible
I will also make it a possession for the porcupine, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, says Yahweh of Hosts.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And I wil make it a possession to ye hedgehogge, and pooles of water, and I will sweepe it with the besome of destruction, sayeth the Lorde of hostes.

Legacy Standard Bible
"I will also make it a possession for the hedgehog and swamps of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction," declares Yahweh of hosts.

Berean Standard Bible
"I will make her a place for owls and swamplands; I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction," declares the LORD of Hosts.

Contemporary English Version
The Lord will sweep out the people, and the land will become a swamp for wild animals.

Complete Jewish Bible
"I will make it a haunt for hedgehogs, it will become a swampy waste, I will sweep it with the broom of destruction," says Adonai -Tzva'ot.

Darby Translation
And I will make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water; and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith Jehovah of hosts.

Easy-to-Read Version
"I will change Babylon. It will be a place for animals, not people. It will be a swamp. I will use the ‘broom of destruction' to sweep Babylon away." The Lord All-Powerful said this.

George Lamsa Translation
I will also make it a possession for owls, and pools of water; and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, says the LORD of hosts.

Good News Translation
I will turn Babylon into a marsh, and owls will live there. I will sweep Babylon with a broom that will sweep everything away. I, the Lord Almighty, have spoken."

Lexham English Bible
"And I will make her a possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction," declares Yahweh of hosts.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
& wil geue it to the Otters, and wil make water poddels of it. And I wil swepe them out with the besome of destruccion, sayeth the LORDE of hoostes.

American Standard Version
I will also make it a possession for the porcupine, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith Jehovah of hosts.

Bible in Basic English
And I will make you a heritage for the hedgehog, and pools of water: and I will go through it with the brush of destruction, says the Lord of armies.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water; and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts.

King James Version (1611)
I will also make it a possession for the Bitterne, and pooles of water: and I will sweepe it with the besome of destruction, sayth the Lord of hostes.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
I wyll geue it to the Otters, and wyll make water puddels of it, and I wyll sweepe them out with the besome of destruction saith the Lorde of hoastes.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And I will make the region of Babylon desert, so that hedgehogs shall dwell there, and it shall come to nothing: and I will make it a pit of clay for destruction.

English Revised Version
I will also make it a possession for the porcupine, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And Y schal sette that Babiloyne in to possessioun of an irchoun, and in to mareisis of watris; and Y schal swepe it with a beesme, and Y schal stampe, seith the Lord of oostis.

Update Bible Version
I will also make it a possession for the porcupine, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, says Yahweh of hosts.

Webster's Bible Translation
I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts.

New English Translation
"I will turn her into a place that is overrun with wild animals and covered with pools of stagnant water. I will get rid of her, just as one sweeps away dirt with a broom," says the Lord who commands armies.

New King James Version
"I will also make it a possession for the porcupine, And marshes of muddy water; I will sweep it with the broom of destruction," says the LORD of hosts.

New Living Translation
"I will make Babylon a desolate place of owls, filled with swamps and marshes. I will sweep the land with the broom of destruction. I, the Lord of Heaven's Armies, have spoken!"

New Life Bible
"I will turn it into a place for hedgehogs, full of pools of water. And I will go over it and destroy it," says the Lord of All.

New Revised Standard
And I will make it a possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, says the Lord of hosts.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And will make her a possession for the bittern, And marshes of water, - And will sweep it with the besom of destruction, Declareth Yahweh of hosts.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And I will make it a possession for the ericius and pools of waters, and I will sweep it and wear it out with a besom, saith the Lord of hosts.

Revised Standard Version
And I will make it a possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, says the LORD of hosts."

Young's Literal Translation
And have made it for a possession of a bittern, And ponds of waters, And daubed it with the mire of destruction, The affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts!

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"I will also make it a possession for the hedgehog and swamps of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction," declares the LORD of hosts.

Contextual Overview

⁴ you shall lift up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say: How the exacter, the gold gatherer, has ceased! ⁵ Jehovah has broken the rod of the wicked, the staff of rulers, ⁶ who struck the peoples in wrath, a blow without turning away, ruling the nations in anger, dealing out persecution without restraint. ⁷ All the earth is at rest, quiet; they break forth into singing. ⁸ Yea, the fir trees rejoice over you; the cedars of Lebanon say , Since you have lain down, no one hewing will come up against us. ⁹ Sheol from below is stirred for you, to meet you at your coming; it stirs up the departed spirits for you, all the he goats of the earth. It has raised all the kings of the nations from their thrones. ¹⁰ All of them shall answer and say to you, Are you also made as weak as we? Are you likened to us? ¹¹ Your majesty is lowered into Sheol; the noise of your harps. The maggot is spread under you; yea, the worms cover you. ¹² Oh shining star, son of the morning, how you have fallen from the heavens! You weakening the nations, you are cut down to the ground. ¹³ For you have said In your heart, I will go up to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit in the mount of meeting, in the sides of the north.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

make: Isaiah 13:21, Isaiah 13:22, Isaiah 34:11-15, Jeremiah 50:39, Jeremiah 50:40, Jeremiah 51:42, Jeremiah 51:43, Zephaniah 2:14, Revelation 14:8, Revelation 18:2, Revelation 18:21-23

I will sweep: 1 Kings 14:10, 2 Kings 21:13, Jeremiah 51:25, Jeremiah 51:26

Reciprocal: Job 12:14 - he breaketh Psalms 9:6 - memorial Psalms 149:9 - to execute Isaiah 13:20 - General Isaiah 21:1 - the desert Isaiah 25:2 - For Isaiah 25:12 - to the dust Isaiah 27:7 - he smitten Isaiah 32:19 - the city shall be low Isaiah 47:5 - silent Isaiah 47:9 - they shall come Jeremiah 25:12 - perpetual Jeremiah 27:7 - until Jeremiah 49:33 - a dwelling Jeremiah 50:26 - destroy Jeremiah 51:29 - every Jeremiah 51:37 - become Jeremiah 51:62 - to cut Nahum 2:10 - empty

Cross-References

Genesis 14:9
with Chedorlaomer the king of Elam, and with Tidal the king of the nations, and Amraphel the king of Shinar, and Arioch the king of Ellasar; four kings with the five.

Genesis 14:12
And they took Lot, the son of Abram's brother, and his goods, and left; and he was living in Sodom.

Genesis 14:15
And he divided against them by night, he and his slaves, and he struck them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is on the left of Damascus.

Genesis 14:16
And he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother, and also the women and the people.

1 Kings 13:8
And the man of God said to the king, If you would give me the half of your house, I would not go in with you, nor will I eat bread, nor will I drink water in this place.

2 Kings 5:16
And he said, As Jehovah lives, before whom I stand, I shall not take. And he pressed on him to take, but he refused.

2 Kings 5:20
And Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my lord has spared this Syrian, Naaman, not to receive from his hand that which he has brought. As Jehovah lives, surely I will run after him. Then I shall take something from him.

2 Corinthians 12:14
Behold, I am ready to come to you a third time . And I will not burden you, for I do not seek your things, but you. For the children ought not to lay up treasure for the parents, but the parents for the children.

Hebrews 13:5
Set your way of life without money-loving, being satisfied with present things; for He has said, "Not at all will I leave you, not at all will I forsake you," never! Deut. 31:6

Gill's Notes on the Bible

I will also make it a possession for the bittern,.... Instead of being possessed by any of the family of the king of Babylon. The "bittern" is a kind of water fowl, which, by putting its bill into mire, or a broken reed, is said to make a most horrible noise. Some think the "owl" is meant, which dwells in desolate and ruinous places; and others take it to be the "ospray", a sort of eagle that preys upon fish and ducks; according to Kimchi, the "tortoise" is meant; some will have it that the "beaver" or castor is intended; Jarchi understands it of the porcupine or "hedgehog"; and in the Arabic language this creature is called "kunphud", which is pretty near the Hebrew word "kippod", here used; to which Bochartus agrees; but, whatever creature is meant, the design is to show that Babylon should not be inhabited by men, but by birds or beasts of prey, or noxious animals; and so mystical Babylon is said to be a cage of every unclean and hateful bird, Revelation 18:2:

and pools of water; Babylon being situated in a marshy ground, and by the river Euphrates; and when that river was turned by Cyrus i, and afterwards its banks neglected, in course of time the water overflowed the place where the city was, and all about it, and so easily came to be what is here predicted it should; see Revelation 18:21:

and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts; and so clear it at once of all its inhabitants, wealth, and riches, and entirely remove its large walls and stately buildings, no more to be seen, just as a house is swept clean of all its dust; intimating, that this superb city, and all belonging to it, should be reduced to dust, and be as easily swept away as dust is with a besom. The word for "sweep", and a "besom", is only used in this place, and has this signification in the Arabic language; it is said in the Talmud k, that the Rabbins knew not the meaning of this word, till they heard an Arabian girl say to her fellow servant,

"take this besom, and sweep the house.''

expressing the word here used.

i Xenophon. Cyropaedia, l. 7. c. 23. k Roshhashana, fol. 26. 2. Megilla, fol. 18. 1.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I will also make it a possession for the bittern - The word ‘bittern,’ in English, means a bird with long legs and neck, that stalks among reeds and sedge, feeding upon fish. The Hebrew word (קפד qı̂ppod), occurs but five times Isaiah 34:11; Zephaniah 2:14. According to Bochart and Gesenius, it means the hedgehog. It has been variously rendered. Some have supposed it to be a land animal; some an aquatic animal; and most have regarded it as a fowl. Bochart has proved that the hedgehog or porcupine is found on the shores of the Euphrates. He translates this place, ‘I will place Babylon for an habitation of the porcupine, even the pools of water;’ that is, the pools that are round about Babylon shall become so dry that porcupines may dwell there (see Bochart, “Hieroz.” iii. 36. pp. 1036-1042).

And pools of water - Bochart supposes this means, even the pools of water shall become dry. But the common interpretation is to be preferred, that Babylon itself should become filled with pools of water. This was done by Cyrus’ directing the waters of the Euphrates from their channel when the city was taken, and by the fact that the waters never returned again to their natural bed, so that the region was overflowed with water (see the notes at Isaiah 13:0.)

And I will sweep it with the besom of destruction - A besom is a broom; and the sense here is, that God would entirely destroy Babylon, and render it wholly uninbabitable.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 14:23. I will sweep it with the besom of destruction - "I will plunge it in the miry gulf of destruction"] I have here very nearly followed the Version of the Septuagint; the reasons for which see in the last note on De Poesi Hebr. Praelect, xxviii.

The besom of destruction, as our Version renders it. במטאטא bematate. This, says Kimchi, is a Chaldee word: and it is worthy of remark that the prophet, writing to the Chaldeans, uses several words peculiar to their own language to point out the nature of the Divine judgments, and the causes of them. Jeremiah 10:11. Sixteen of Kennicott's MSS., and seventeen of De Rossi's, and one ancient of my own, have the word במטאטי bematatey, in the plural. "I will sweep her with the besoms of destruction."