Isaiah 34:14

Isa 34:14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest.

Ver. 14. The wild beasts of the desert.] Heb., Ziim et jiim. See Isa 13:21-22, where these monstrous creatures are said to dance: whence Basil noteth, that men learned of devils to dance, and another {a} saith that a dance is a circle, the centre whereof is the devil, the circumference all his angels.

And the satyr shall cry to his fellow.] Heb., The rough or hairy one. Chald., Daemones inter se colludent, the devils shall play among themselves; Satan is a rough harsh spirit; so are his. See Lev 17:7.

{a} Conr. Clingius.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Read Isa. 13:21.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

wild beasts of the desert . . . island--rather, "wild cats . . . jackals" (Isa 13:21).

screech owl--rather, "the night specter"; in Jewish superstition a female, elegantly dressed, that carried off children by night. The text does not assert the existence of such objects of superstition, but describes the place as one which superstition would people with such beings.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 14. The wild beasts of the desert] ציים tsiyim, the mountain cats. - Bochart.

Wild beasts of the island] איים aiyim, the jackals.

The satyr] שעיר seir, the hairy one, probably the he-goat.

The screech owl] לילית lilith, the night-bird, the night-raven, nyctycorax, from ליל layil, or לילה lailah, the night.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(14) The wild beasts of the desert . . .—Better, wild cats or hyenas shall meet wolves. The nouns that follow belong, apparently, to the region of mythical zoology. The English “satyr” expresses fairly enough the idea of a “demon-brute” haunting the waste places of the palaces of Edom, while the “screech-owl” is the Lilith, the she-vampire, who appears in the legends of the Talmud as having been Adam’s first wife, who left him and was turned into a demon. With the later Jews, Lilith, as sucking the blood of children, was the bugbear of the nursery. Night-vampire would, perhaps, be the best rendering.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14. wild beasts the desert … wild beasts of the island … satyr] See on ch. Isa_13:21 f.

the shrich owl] The Hebr. is Lîlîth, a fem. formation from Iáil “night.” Render with Cheyne: the night-hag. Lilith appears to be a creation of the Babylonian demonology. “This Lilith plays a great part in the Talmudic demonology; the cabalistic Rabbis forged a whole legend in which this spirit is said to have taken a feminine form to deceive Adam, and to have united herself to him.” (Lenormant, Chaldæan Magic, Engl. Tr. p. 38.) She is mentioned in the Bible only here.

find for herself a place of rest] On the restlessness of evil spirits, cf. Mat_12:43, “walketh through dry places, seeking rest.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the islands,.... In Rome, and take up their abode there; of these creatures, the first of which the Targum renders monstrous ones, and the latter wild cats; see Gill on Isa 13:22,

and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; or the "hairy" one (r); from which word the goat has its name; and these creatures are described by the ancients as half goats and half men; of which See Gill on Isa 13:21. The Targum renders it demons; and with this well agrees the account of Babylon or Rome as fallen, that it shall be the habitation of, devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, Rev 18:2,

the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest; there being no inhabitants to disturb her. By the name "Lilith", it appears to be a night bird, which flies and is heard in the night. The Jews call a she demon by this name, which, they say (s), has a human face, and has wings, and destroys children as soon as born; and therefore the Jews, especially in Germany, write upon the four corners of the bed of a new mother, Adam, Eve, out Lilith (t); the same with the Lamia of the Romans; and so the Vulgate Latin here renders it.

(r) "pilosus", a "capillus." (s) T. Bab. Nidda, fol. 24. 2. (t) Vid. Buxtorf. Lex. Rab. col. 1140.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The wild beasts of the desert - There is in the original here a paronomasia, which cannot be conveyed in a translation. The word rendered, ‘wild beasts of the desert’ (ציים tsı̂yı̂ym), is rendered by the Septuagint, δαιμόνια daimonia, ‘demons.’ On the meaning of the word, see the note at Isa 13:21.

The wild beasts of the island - Margin, ‘Ijim.’ Hebrew, איּים 'ı̂yym (see the note at Isa 13:22). Probably the term denotes the jackal. Gesenius supposes it is so called from its howl, or nocturnal cry - from an Arabia word signifying to howl.

And the satyr - (see the note at Isa 13:21).

Shall cry to his fellow - A most striking description of the desolation, when all that is heard among the ruins shall be the doleful cry of wild beasts.

The screech-owl - Margin, ‘Night-monster.’ The word לילית lı̂ylı̂yt (from ליל layil, night) properly denotes a night-spectre - a creature of Jewish superstition. The rabbis describe it in the form of a female elegantly dressed that lay in wait for children at night - either to carry them off, or to murder them. The Greeks had a similar idea respecting the female ἔμπουτα empouta, and this idea corresponds to the Roman fables respecting the Lamice, and Striges, and to the Arabic notions of the Ghules, whom they described as female monsters that dwell in deserts, and tear men to pieces (see Gesenius, Com. in loc; and Bochart, Hieroz. ii. 831). The margin in our version expresses the correct idea. All this is descriptive of utter and perpetual desolation - of a land that should be full of old ruins, and inhabited by the animals that usually make such ruins their abode.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Monsters. Literally, "Ass-centaurs." (Haydock) --- Hebrew, "fishermen shall find islands," chap. xiii. 21. --- Ones. Goats. --- Lamia. Hebrew lilith. Chaldean, "owl," the bird of Minerva, or the Moon, which the Arabs style Alilat. (Calmet) --- Dicodorus (20) relates that Lamia was an African queen, who having last her children, was changed into a beast, and destroyed all the children she could catch; and the Jews deal still more in fables, (Calmet0 asserting that Lilith was the first wife of Adam, &c. (Buxtorf. Syn. 2.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The satyr shall cry to his fellow: See Poole "Isa 13:21". See Poole "Isa 13:22".

The screech owl also shall rest there, because there shall be no men left to disturb or affright them, Isa 17:2.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

14. The desert animals, (ziim,) hyenas, for example, (TRISTRAM’S Natural History,) there come in contact with the howlers, (ijim,) jackals, called an island creature from its dwelling near the coast, and all inhabited, fertile spots.

The satyr — Shaggy, fabulous animals, supposed to inhabit desert thickets, and hence called wood devils — objected to by Alexander only because fabulous, but without reason here, for Isaiah employs the term poetically, basing his use of it upon Lev_17:7, “And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils,” as the Hebrews had been accustomed to while resident in Egypt. It is the same word in the original, שׂעירים, (s’irim,) rendered here “satyr,” and, in Lev_17:7, “devils.” The word means the hairy ones, shaggy animals. The goat was an object of worship in Egypt, according to Herodotus (ii, 46,) and from the shaggy, rough he-goat, sprang those ideal beings supposed to bear a resemblance to the goat, such as figured in the mythology of Greece at an early period, (when the Egyptian and Grecian religions began to mix,) under the names Pan, Satyr, Selene, etc. Real they doubtless were to the ignorant Israelites when in bondage, but ideal, hateful, and forbidding, both to Moses and Isaiah. No doubt Isaiah gave not the least countenance to them as facts in nature, but poetically used the word to express what was ideally horrible to every mind he addressed. The same is to be said of the screech owl, or some nightly sounding creature, though many expositors, and Delitzsch among them, favour the meaning of nocturnal spectres. The superstitions brought from Egypt lingered with the people of Israel till Monotheism in a large measure expelled them from the popular mind. Nevertheless, later in Jewish history, a crop of legends sprung out of them, and were easily moulded into those of Persian origin; and to this day, with the Arabs, the idea is persistent of still existing devils or ghuls and spectres in the desert. The mirages, the exciting air, and the monotony of desert landscapes generally, are very favourable to the persistence of such superstitions. See SPRINGER’S Leben und Lehre des Mohammed.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Wild beasts of the desert... wild beasts of the island. In the original, tsiyim and iyim and "howlers probably jackals and wolves, or wolves and hyenas." The satyr. (see the comment on Isa_13:21) The screech owl The word here used, lilith, occurs only in this place. It may be doubted whether any bird, or other animal, is meant. Lilit was the name of a female demon, or wicked fairy, in whom the Assyrians believed a being thought to vex and persecute her victims in their sleep. The word is probably a derivative from leilah, night, and designates" the spirit of the night a mischievous being, who took advantage of the darkness to play fantastic tricks. A Jewish legend made Lilith the first wife of Adam, and said that, having pronounced the Divine Name as a charm, she was changed into a devil. It was her special delight to murder young children (Buxtorf, "Lex. Rabbin.," ad roe.). The prophets, when they employ poetic imagery, are not tied down to fact, but are free to use the beliefs of their contemporaries in order to heighten the force of their descriptions.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

“And wild (or desert) creatures shall (there) meet with howling creatures.” The verb sometimes means to meet or encounter in the sense of attacking (Exo 4:24; Hos 13:8) but here it seems to have the general sense of falling in with. These lonely creatures, as they traverse Idumea, shall encounter none but creatures like themselves “And the shaggy monster shall call to his fellow.” For the true sense of satyrs, see the comment on the plural form as it occurs in Isa 13:21. The interpretation most consistent with itself and with the etymology is that given above, ‘shaggy monsters’, on the ground that it corresponds better with the general descriptive meaning which, as we have seen above, most probably belongs to the words in the preceding clause. If that clause speaks of wild and howling beasts, and not of any one class exclusively, it is more natural that this should speak of shaggy monsters generally than of goats. “Only there reposes the night-monster and finds for herself a resting-place.” If the terms used above represent the animals occupying Idumea, first as belonging to the wilderness, then as distinguished by their fierce or melancholy cries, and then as shaggy in appearance, nothing can be more natural than that the fourth epithet should also be expressive of their habits as a class, and no such epithet could well be more appropriate than that of nocturnal or belonging to the night.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And martens shall meet cats And martens shall meet with cats. In this matter Jonathan rendered it. תַּמְוָן is נִמִּיּוֹת (martrines in O.F.), martens.

and a satyr A demon.

rests (הִרְגִּיעָה) an expression related to מַרְגּוֹעַ, rest.

lilith The name of a female demon.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

ציים The wild beasts of the desert.

איים Kites. It is the plural of אַיָה (Lev. 11:14), although it has the masculine termination.ים.

שעירים An animal, similar to the wild goat.

הרגיעה Shall rest.

לילית The screech owl. A bird that flies abroad by night.

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.