Bible Strands
Isaiah 34:11
The desert owl and screech owl will possess it, and the great owl and raven will dwell in it. The LORD will stretch out over Edom a measuring line of chaos and a plumb line of destruction.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet announces a divine oracle against Edom, situated between declarations of its perpetual smoke and desolation (34:10) and the collapse of its ruling class (34:12).
The words — נָטָה (na.Tah) translates literally as “he will stretch out,” denoting God’s deliberate application of a measuring line of chaos and a plumb line of destruction.
The thread — The measuring line and plumb line motifs of judgment recur in 2 Kings 21:13 and Lamentations 2:8, while the motif of desolation inhabited by wild creatures appears in Zephaniah 2:14.
Why it lands — The text states that God will enforce irreversible ruin over Edom, replacing human governance with chaos and leaving no nobles or inhabitants behind. It asks the reader to recognize that divine judgment executes complete, inescapable desolation without exception or restoration.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- 2 Kings 21:13 I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab, and I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes out a bowl—wiping it and turning it upside down.
- Lamentations 2:8 The LORD determined to destroy the wall of the Daughter of Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not withdraw His hand from destroying. He made the ramparts and walls lament; together they waste away.
- Zephaniah 2:14 Herds will lie down in her midst, creatures of every kind. Both the desert owl and screech owl will roost atop her pillars. Their calls will sound from the window, but desolation will lie on the threshold, for He will expose the beams of cedar.
- Revelation 18:2 And he cried out in a mighty voice: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a lair for demons and a haunt for every unclean spirit, every unclean bird, and every detestable beast.
- 2 Samuel 8:2 David also defeated the Moabites, made them lie down on the ground, and measured them off with a cord. He measured off with two lengths those to be put to death, and with one length those to be spared. So the Moabites became subject to David and brought him tribute.
- Isaiah 14:23 “I will make her a place for owls and for swamplands; I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction,” declares the LORD of Hosts.
- Isaiah 13:20 She will never be inhabited or settled from generation to generation; no nomad will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flock there.
- Isaiah 24:10 The city of chaos is shattered; every house is closed to entry.
- Malachi 1:3 but Esau I have hated, and I have made his mountains a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
- Revelation 18:21 Then a mighty angel picked up a stone the size of a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying: “With such violence the great city of Babylon will be cast down, never to be seen again.