Isaiah 34:13

Douay-Rheims Bible

And thorns and nettles shall grow up in its houses, and the thistle in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be the habitation of dragons, and the pasture of ostriches.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Her palaces will be overgrown with thorns;her fortified cities, with thistles and briers.She will become a dwelling for jackals,an abode for ostriches.

Hebrew Names Version
Thorns shall come up in its palaces, nettles and thistles in the fortresses of it; and it shall be a habitation of jackals, a court for ostriches.

King James Version
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.

English Standard Version
Thorns shall grow over its strongholds, nettles and thistles in its fortresses. It shall be the haunt of jackals, an abode for ostriches.

New American Standard Bible
Thorns will come up in its fortified towers, Weeds and thistles in its fortified cities; It will also be a haunt of jackals And a habitat of ostriches.

New Century Version
Thorns will take over the strong towers, and wild bushes will grow in the walled cities. It will be a home for wild dogs and a place for owls to live.

Amplified Bible
Thorns will come up in its fortified palaces, Nettles and brambles in its fortified cities; It will be a haunt for jackals, An abode for ostriches.

World English Bible
Thorns shall come up in its palaces, nettles and thistles in the fortresses of it; and it shall be a habitation of jackals, a court for ostriches.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And it shall bring foorth thornes in the palaces thereof, nettles and thistles in the strong holdes thereof, and it shall be an habitation for dragons, and a court for ostriches.

Legacy Standard Bible
And thorns will come up in its fortified towers,Weeds and thistles in its fortified cities;It will also be a haunt of jackalsAnd an abode of ostriches.

Berean Standard Bible
Her towers will be overgrown with thorns, her fortresses with thistles and briers. She will become a haunt for jackals, an abode for ostriches.

Contemporary English Version
Its palaces and fortresses will be covered with thorns; only wolves and ostriches will make their home there.

Complete Jewish Bible
Thorns will overgrow its palaces, nettles and thistles its fortresses; it will become a lair for jackals, an enclosure for ostriches.

Darby Translation
And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in her fortresses; and it shall be a dwelling-place of wild dogs, a court for ostriches.

Easy-to-Read Version
Thorns and wild bushes will grow in all the beautiful homes there. Wild dogs and owls will live in them. Wild animals will make their homes there. Big birds will live in the grasses that grow there.

George Lamsa Translation
And thorns shall sprout up in her palaces, nettles and thistles in the fortresses thereof; and it shall be a habitation of dragons and a pasture for ostriches.

Good News Translation
Thorns and thistles will grow up in all the palaces and walled towns, and jackals and owls will live in them.

Lexham English Bible
And thorns shall go up her citadel fortress, weeds and thistle plants in her fortresses; and it shall be the settlement of jackals, green grass for the daughters of an ostrich.

Literal Translation
And thorns shall grow in her palaces, nettles and thistles in its fortresses; and it shall be a home for jackals, a court for daughters of ostriches.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Thornes shal growe in their palaces, nettels & thistles in their stronge holdes, yt the dragons maye haue their pleasure therin, & that they maye be a courte for Estriches.

American Standard Version
And thorns shall come up in its palaces, nettles and thistles in the fortresses thereof; and it shall be a habitation of jackals, a court for ostriches.

Bible in Basic English
And thorns will come up in her fair houses, and waste plants in her strong towers: and foxes will make their holes there, and it will be a meeting-place for ostriches.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and thistles in the fortresses thereof; and it shall be a habitation of wild-dogs, an enclosure for ostriches.

King James Version (1611)
And thornes shall come vp in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shalbe an habitation of dragons, and a court for owles.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Thornes shall growe in their palaces, nettles & thistles in their strong holdes, that the dragons may haue their pleasure therin, and that they may be a court for Estriches.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And thorns shall spring up in their cities, and in her strong holds: and they shall be habitations of monsters, and a court of ostriches.

English Revised Version
And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and thistles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of jackals, a court for ostriches.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And thornes and nettlis schulen growe in the housis therof, and a tasil in the strengthis therof; and it schal be the couche of dragouns, and the lesewe of ostrichis.

Update Bible Version
And thorns shall come up in its palaces, nettles and thistles in the fortresses thereof; and it shall be a habitation of jackals, a court for ostriches.

Webster's Bible Translation
And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in her fortresses, and it shall be a habitation of dragons, [and] a court for owls.

New English Translation
Her fortresses will be overgrown with thorns; thickets and weeds will grow in her fortified cities. Jackals will settle there; ostriches will live there.

New King James Version
And thorns shall come up in its palaces, Nettles and brambles in its fortresses; It shall be a habitation of jackals, A courtyard for ostriches.

New Living Translation
Thorns will overrun its palaces; nettles and thistles will grow in its forts. The ruins will become a haunt for jackals and a home for owls.

New Life Bible
Thorns will grow in its strong towers. Thistles will grow in cities where battles were fought. It will be a place for wild dogs, and a home for ostriches.

New Revised Standard
Thorns shall grow over its strongholds, nettles and thistles in its fortresses. It shall be the haunt of jackals, an abode for ostriches.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then shall come up, in her palaces thorns Nettles and thistles in her fortresses, - And she shall become A home for wild dogs, An enclosure for ostriches;

Revised Standard Version
Thorns shall grow over its strongholds, nettles and thistles in its fortresses. It shall be the haunt of jackals, an abode for ostriches.

Young's Literal Translation
And gone up her palaces have thorns, Nettle and bramble [are] in her fortresses, And it hath been a habitation of dragons, A court for daughters of an ostrich.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Thorns will come up in its fortified towers, Nettles and thistles in its fortified cities; It will also be a haunt of jackals And an abode of ostriches.

Contextual Overview

⁹ And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the ground thereof into brimstone: and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. ¹⁰ Night and day it shall not be quenched, the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste, none shall pass through it for ever and ever. ¹¹ The bittern and ericius shall possess it: and the ibis and the raven shall dwell in it: and a line shall be stretched out upon it, to bring it to nothing, and a plummet, unto desolation. ¹² The nobles thereof shall not be there: they shall call rather upon the king, and all the princes thereof shall be nothing. ¹³ And thorns and nettles shall grow up in its houses, and the thistle in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be the habitation of dragons, and the pasture of ostriches. ¹⁴ And demons and monsters shall meet, and the hairy ones shall cry out one to another, there hath the lamia lain down, and found rest for herself. ¹⁵ There hath the ericius had its hole, and brought up its young ones, and hath dug round about, and cherished them in the shadow thereof: thither are the kites gathered together one to another. ¹⁶ Search ye diligently in the book of the Lord, and read: not one of them was wanting, one hath not sought for the other: for that which proceedeth out of my mouth, he hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them. ¹⁷ And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it to them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation they shall dwell therein.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

thorns: Isaiah 32:13, Isaiah 32:14, Hosea 9:6, Zephaniah 2:9

an habitation: Isaiah 13:21, Isaiah 13:22, Isaiah 35:7, Jeremiah 9:11, Jeremiah 10:22, Jeremiah 49:33, Jeremiah 50:39, Jeremiah 50:40, Jeremiah 51:37, Malachi 1:3, Revelation 18:2, Revelation 18:20-24

owls: or, ostriches, Heb. daughters of the owl

Reciprocal: 2 Kings 14:9 - The thistle Psalms 44:19 - in the Isaiah 24:10 - city Hosea 10:8 - the thorn

Cross-References

Genesis 34:18
Their offer pleased Hemor, and Sichem, his son:

Genesis 34:20
And going into the gate of the city, they spoke to the people:

Genesis 34:23
And their substance, and cattle, and all that they possess, shall be ours; only in this let us condescend, and by dwelling together, we shall make one people.

Genesis 34:24
And they all agreed, and circumcised all the males.

Genesis 34:26
And they killed also Hemor and Sichem, and took away their sister Dina out of Sichem’s house.

Genesis 34:27
And when they were gone out, the other sons of Jacob came upon the slain; and plundered the city in revenge of the rape.

Genesis 34:28
And they took their sheep, and their herds, and their asses, wasting all they had in their houses and in their fields.

Genesis 34:29
And their children and wives they took captive.

Judges 15:3
And Samson answered him: From this day I shall be blameless in what I do against the Philistines: for I will do you evils.

Job 13:4
Having first shewn that you are forgers of lies, and maintainers of perverse opinions.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And thorns shall come up in her palaces,.... Where their kings and princes dwelt, and kept their courts, popes and cardinals; here will be the tokens of God's curse, as thorns are, these being the people of his curse, as in Isaiah 34:5:

nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof; alluding to "Bozrah" which signifies a fortress; referring to the towers and fortifications of the city of Rome, and all other fortified cities within its jurisdiction:

and it shall be a habitation of dragons; literally, as it figuratively had been the seat of the old dragon, the devil, and of the beast to whom the dragon gave his power, seat, and authority; and who, though he looked like a lamb, spoke like a dragon, Revelation 12:3:

[and] a court for owls; or, "daughters of the owl"; or "ostriches", as some render it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And thorns ... - (see the note at Isaiah 5:6)

It shall be an habitation of dragons - On the meaning of the word ‘dragons,’ see the note at Isaiah 13:22.

Court for owls - A place of resort, a residence of owls. The word rendered ‘court’ (חציר châtsı̂yr) means a dwelling-place, a habitation, as well as an enclosure or court. The margin is, ‘Daughters of the owl,’ or ‘ostriches’ (see the note at Isaiah 13:21). ‘I would,’ says Stephens, when standing amidst the ruins of Petra, the capital of Idumea (see the note at Isaiah 16:1), and with this passage of Isaiah in his eye, ‘I would that the sceptic could stand as I did, among the ruins of this city among the rocks, and there open the sacred book, and read the words of the inspired penman, written when this desolate place was one of the greatest cities in the world. I see the scoff arrested, his cheek pale, his lip quivering, and his heart quaking with fear, as the ancient city cries out to him in a voice loud and powerful as one risen from the dead; though be would not believe Moses and the prophets, he believes the hand-writing of God himself, in the desolation and eternal ruin around him.’ (Incidents of Travel in Egypt, etc., vol. ii. p. 76.)

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 34:13. And thorns shall come up in her palaces — ועלו בארמנותיה vealu bearmenotheyha; so read all the ancient versions.

A court for owls. — יענה yaanah, the ostrich, from ענה anah, to cry, because of the noise it makes. "They roar," says Dr. Shaw, "sometimes like a lion-sometimes like a bull. I have often heard them groan as if in the utmost distress."