But desert creatures will lie down there, and howling creatures will fill her houses. Ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will leap about.
21. But the Ziim shall lie there. {Bogus footnote} He continues the description of a desert place, and alludes to what he had formerly said, that Babylon will be destitute of inhabitants. In what way ציים (tziim) ought to be translated I cannot easily say, on account of the diversity in the opinions of translators, who differ in this, as in various names of animals and herbs.
The great havoc and destruction which it was foretold should be made by the Medes and Persians in Babylon here end in the final destruction of it. 1. It is allowed that Babylon was a noble city. It was the glory of kingdoms and the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency; it was that head of gold (Dan 2:37, Dan 2:38); it was called the lady...
Commenting on Isaiah 13:19-22
But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there,.... What sort of creatures are meant is not certain. The Targum renders it by a word which signifies monstrous, astonishing creatures; the Latin interpreter of it calls them apes. Jarchi and Kimchi say such are intended as are called martens or sables, a creature of the weasel kind.