Isaiah 34:11 · KJV
“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. {cormorant: or, pelican}”
— Isaiah 34:11
It shall not be quenched night nor day; 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.
They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none {shall be} there, and all her princes shall be nothing.
Isaiah 34 — Context
And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.
10It shall not be quenched night nor day; 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.
11But 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. {cormorant: or, pelican}
12They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none {shall be} there, and all her princes shall be nothing.
13And 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. {owls: or, ostriches: Heb. daughters of the owl}
Cross References
2 Kings 21:13
And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as {a man} wipeth a dish, wiping {it}, and turning {it} upside down. {wiping...: Heb. he wipeth and turneth it upon the face thereof}
Lamentations 2:8
The LORD hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he hath stretched out a line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament; they languished together. {destroying: Heb. swallowing up}
Zephaniah 2:14
And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; {their} voice shall sing in the windows; desolation {shall be} in the thresholds: for he shall uncover the cedar work. {cormorant: or, pelican} {upper...: or, knops, or, chapiters} {for...: or, when he hath uncovered}
Revelation 18:2
And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
Isaiah 14:23
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.
2 Samuel 8:2
And he smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground; even with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive. And {so} the Moabites became David's servants, {and} brought gifts.
Isaiah 24:10
The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in.
Isaiah 13:20-22
It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.